Can You Castle If The Rook Is Under Attack?

With such an enormous variety of attacking and defending moves, chess is certainly one of the most dynamic games ever. Since the invention of its predecessor, the Chaturanga, the main idea of the game has been to capture the opponent’s most valuable piece, the king.

When chess reached the Western world, through the migration of North African peoples into what is currently the European continent, the game went through a few changes to make it more similar to the new reality.

Elephants were turned into knights, counselors into queens, and soldiers into pawns. The older version, however, didn’t foresee castling as a possible move.

What Is Castling In Chess?

Castling, as you can see, comes from the word castle and it has a strong connection with the medieval aspect that is embedded in what is called modern chess.

The world castle also has a relevant connotation of protection and defense, as it represents an imponent and inviolable stone structure. It is the fortified safekeep where the royal family and the most important members of the society of the time took guard.

So, castling could only mean a defensive movement and have something to do with the king or the queen.

If you think castling involves the king, you couldn’t be more correct. However, the king alone is not capable of performing such a strong defensive move. That is where the rook comes in.

The rook represents the tower that, on one hand, allows a strong attack and, on the other hand, is a rock structure that protects whoever is on the inside from threats.

So, castling is the move in which the king gets protected by going ‘behind’ the rook. It is the only move in the whole game that changes the position of two pieces at the same time.

When castling, the rook moves to one of the central squares, which are 1d or 1e for white and 8d or 8e for black while the king takes the position right next to it.

Can You Castle If Rook Is Under Attack?

Is It Possible To Castle With A Threatened Rook?

To answer the question, yes, it is! The rules only forbid castling when the squares to which the king will pass, or end on, are in threat. As for the rook, it may as well be captured on the move right after castling.

Since the move is meant to protect the king and not the rook, the fact that the latter will be under threat with the move does not forbid it.

Feel free to castle whether your rook is, will be, or even if the passing squares are positions in which the rook will be under threat. Just remember that castling can only be done if neither the king nor the castling rook has already moved.

Additionally, the square through which the king will pass and the one he’s landing on cannot be under threat as the king can never be put in danger intentionally.