Artificial castling, also known as castling by hand (or manual castling), is a positional maneuver used by players that want to achieve a castled position without the use of castling. It is a slower but sometimes the only available method to hide the king (who lost the right to castle by making another move) to safety.
Just a quick reminder – castling is permitted provided all the following conditions are met:
- Neither the king nor the rook has previously moved.
- There are no pieces between the king and the rook.
- The king is not currently in check.
- The king does not pass through or finish on a square that is attacked by an enemy piece.
Example 1: Ruy Lopéz Opening, Classical Defense
Example 2: Vienna Game: Frankenstein-Dracula Variation
Did you manage to castle artificially in your own chess games? Add a comment, I will gladly discuss it. 😎