castling short
- noun
- Specialized
:
enroque corto
- In many opening positions, castling short is considered the safest option for the king.
Examples
-
After castling short, White quickly began an attack on the opposite side of the board.
-
Some players prefer castling short, while others take risks with queenside castling.
-
He performed a quick castling short to protect his king.
-
During the game, she executed a castling short move.
-
In many situations, castling short helps to secure the king's safety quickly.
-
After castling short, the player's rook was well-positioned to support an attack.
-
Many beginners learn that castling short is a fundamental defensive strategy in chess.
Synonyms
To move the king two squares toward its rook and put that rook beside the king
A chess move where the king moves two squares toward the kingside rook and that rook moves beside the king
Surface Forms
Morphology
castling + short
Although 'castling' names a chess move and 'short' is a common adjective meaning 'not long' or 'small', the sense 'short' = 'kingside' is an internal, conventional chess label rather than a meaning derivable from the word 'short' itself. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but lacks chess-specific convention would not predict that 'castling short' means castling on the kingside, so the expression is domain-specific and non-compositional.
Etymology
Castling short comes from chess: in castling the king moves two squares toward the rook and the rook then sits next to the king, and the word short shows the king only makes a small move. So, castling short means 'castling on the king's side', where the king moves only a short distance toward its rook.
