Where do chess players castle?
64.3% of players castle kingside.
every level and clock · 3.1B games
Who wins when the kings castle on opposite sides?
White +0.6 pts vs both kingside
White’s win rate under each pattern, at every level and clock; the gap is coloured for the side you play.
Where do White and Black castle?
| Side | Kingside | Queenside | None |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 66.2% | 12.7% | 21.1% |
| Black | 62.4% | 11.6% | 25.9% |
Each side’s own split, at every level and clock.
Kingside castling by rating
The share of kings castled kingside at each rating.
Opposite-side castling by rating
White wins more with opposite-side castling than when both castle kingside at 8 of 9 ratings, about the same at 1.
Opposite-side castling by time control
White’s win rate with the kings on opposite sides, on each clock.
Methodology
64.3% of players castle kingside. Scope: every level and clock. Sample: 3,126,052,307 analyzed games. Rated Lichess games played September 2023 to August 2026. TrueElo analysis of Lichess data. The rate averages White’s and Black’s king placements; the sample counts games, with two players per game.
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https://trueelo.app/stats/castlingHow the figures are made
- How to read this page
- Each side's castling is counted once per game: kingside is O-O, queenside O-O-O, and no castling is a king that never castled. White's win rate under a pattern is the share of those games White won; the colour of the gap is its meaning for the side you play.
- Whose games these are
- 3B+ rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
- Which games we count
- Rated games only — nothing casual.
- Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
- At least 2 moves played.
- A game is filed under White’s rating.
- Why every number comes with a range
- A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of chess players castle kingside vs queenside?
64.3% of players castle kingside. In Lichess games White castles kingside 66.2% and queenside 12.7%, and Black kingside 62.4% and queenside 11.6%.
What is the win rate when players castle on opposite sides?
White wins 49.3% when the kings castle on opposite sides, against 48.7% when both castle kingside. The difference is small.
How often do chess players not castle at all?
White doesn't castle in 21.1% of games, and Black skips castling 25.9% of the time.
Does castling frequency change at different rating levels?
Yes. At 2500+, players castle kingside in 75.2% of games and don't castle in 14.3%; at 0-999, 41.1% and 49.3%. Higher-rated players castle kingside more often.
Does time control affect how often players castle?
Hardly. In Classical, players castle kingside in 54.3% of games and don't castle in 36.5%; in UltraBullet, 54.5% and 37.6%.
Is queenside castling worse than kingside castling?
This page can't tell you. It counts how often each side castles queenside (12.7% of White players, 11.6% of Black), not how those games end.
What percentage of games have opposite-side castling?
The kings end up castled on opposite sides in 14.2% of Lichess games.