Being a persistent loser you should probably choose to disregard this comment, but (for those of you who know me will understand) I couldn't resist myself ...

I find that when the opponent castles it is a benefit to me as I know which side of the board to concentrate my attack on, this is particularly so when castling happens early in the game and piece development is still underway (so many pieces and so many places to put them!). I realise this is a somewhat simplistic assessment, but maybe that reflects my shallow play :(

This is, in part I believe, due to the number of diagonal pieces (four) available which can hone in on the corners (there is even one more in Janus Chess but in that variation there seems to be less castling, but let's not go there right now) and the width of the board makes it easier to position in threatening, yet distant, locations.

So, as a defensive move I try to castle after the opponent and to the opposite corner depending upon where their pieces are ...

and this, of course, relies upon me lasting that long :)

<>Personally, I have not made up my mind about this as of yet. Castling too early can be deadly. Not castling at all can be deadly, and castling too late can be deadly!

The best solution is to checkmate your opponent before you castle so you don't have to worry about castling!

Hear, hear!!!

I think that I don't castle in most of my games [especially those with Matthewhall :)]. I don't know, but it seems to me that I have two extra pieces to develop [AB and C] that I'd rather save the castling move unless I absolutely need it.

It doesn't help that both the new pieces are extremely suited to corner mating. The only castled position I've seen so far that is proving quite difficult to break down is Robert's [chesscarpenter] Indian-type dragon-bishop setup.

Maybe we should name this opening after him! Any votes for this? :)

The Colanzi Dragon would be nice! Then, you might be able to maneuver a Double-Dragon with the other Bishop going to f4-h2 in the case of White.

It does have that Dragon serpentine look to the pawn structure. Hmmm.

Thanks for the support...of course I'll 3rd the motion!! As for castling, I know what Whisperz is saying but the same can be said of chess. Gothic does have the advantage of having the extra pieces over chess, but the other player still has those same pieces to defend with. Look at Bobby Fischer's games and you will see that he castled almost as early as you possibly can...I know this is Gothic Chess but the fact remains that there are only a couple of openings discovered. I think all of our future games will decide the issue, but everyone wants an answer now and not later....so castle when you feel it is the right time!

Had a quick look but haven't reviewed the game in detail yet but my preferrence would actually be for white's castled postion.

Personally, if I were white, I would have avoided castling as it seems as though it would have been apparent that black was heading this way. Instead, I would have looked to be ready to swing my pieces over to this side and launch an attack down the flank along the rook file as I think the J pawn can prove difficult to defend ... this has sometimes worked for me :)