5

Are there any professional matches from serious players where neither player castles during the course of the game?

2 Answers 2

11

It won't be terribly common, but it's not unheard of either. Here are a few examples involving well-known grandmasters:

Ivanchuk-Csom (1989):

[fen ""]
[Event "Yerevan"]
[Site "Yerevan"]
[Date "1989.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Vassily Ivanchuk"]
[Black "Istvan Csom"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "49"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 c5 5.d5 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nh5 7.g3
f5 8.e4 f4 9.dxe6 fxg3 10.Qd5 g2 11.Qxh5+ g6 12.Qe5 Qh4+
13.Ke2 gxh1=Q 14.Qxh8+ Ke7 15.Qg7+ Kxe6 16.Bh3+ Kd6 17.Qf8+
Kc7 18.Bf4+ Qxf4 19.Qxf4+ d6 20.Rd1 Nc6 21.Qxd6+ Kb6 22.Qg3 h5
23.Bxc8 Rxc8 24.Nh3 h4 25.Qf2 1-0

Sutovsky-Morozevich (1998):

[fen ""]
[Event "Pamplona International"]
[Site "Pamplona ESP"]
[Date "1998.12.31"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "05"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Emil Sutovsky"]
[Black "Alexander Morozevich"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2575"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "52"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6
gxf6 7. Nf3 a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. Qh6 Bb7 10. Bd3 Nd7 11. Ng3 f5
12. Nh5 Bf8 13. Qe3 Nf6 14. Qe5 Nxh5 15. Qxh8 Bxf3 16. gxf3
Nf6 17. Rg1 Qxd4 18. Rg8 Ke7 19. Kf1 Bg7 20. Qxg7 Rxg8 21. Qh6
Qxb2 22. Re1 Qc3 23. Qh4 c5 24. Rd1 c4 25. Bxf5 Qxf3 26. Qd4
Nd5 0-1

Andreikin-Jumabayev (2009):

[fen ""]
[Event "48th World Junior Championship"]
[Site "Puerto Madryn ARG"]
[Date "2009.10.31"]
[EventDate "2009.10.22"]
[Round "10"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Dmitry Andreikin"]
[Black "Rinat Jumabayev"]
[ECO "E38"]
[WhiteElo "2659"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "41"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 Bxc5 6. Nf3
Qb6 7. e3 Qc7 8. g4 h6 9. Rg1 b6 10. g5 hxg5 11. Nb5 Qd8
12. Nxg5 Bf8 13. c5 Rh5 14. Nd6+ Bxd6 15. cxd6 Bb7 16. Nxf7
Be4 17. Qxe4 Nxe4 18. Nxd8 Kxd8 19. Bg2 Rg5 20. Kf1 Rxg2
21. Kxg2 1-0
5
  • Amazing that you remember those games!
    – SmallChess
    Jun 19, 2015 at 1:04
  • @StudentT, no no, I sought them out when I saw this question. I definitely didn't mean to give the impression that I remembered them offhand.
    – ETD
    Jun 19, 2015 at 1:28
  • How did you search them out? Is there some kind of database of professional chess matches?
    – math_lover
    Jun 19, 2015 at 5:02
  • There are lots of lots of databases, and you can filter them in many ways. Jun 19, 2015 at 13:19
  • 1
    @JoshuaBenabou, in this particular case I got by just googling, without using any chess-specific tools to search. But Remco's general point is a good one; large sets of games can be found freely available, and then database programs such as SCID (free) or ChessBase have built-in functionality for searching/filtering within such collections. The most extensive tool I know for this sort of thing is the Chess Query Language -- as discussed in another thread here -- which allows for constructing complicated queries against a PGN game collection.
    – ETD
    Jun 19, 2015 at 21:27
1

I know of two bizarre games in which neither player castles. They are both mentioned in the "Longest immobility" section of Tim Krabbe "Chess Records" page.

In this game, none of the four rooks moved whatsoever!

[Title "Szabo-Ristoja, Helsinki Finland, 1975"]
[FEN ""]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Be7 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. Nge2 Nf8 8. Ng3 g6 9. h4 h5 10. Nf1 Ng4 11. f3 Nh6 12. g3 a6 13. Qc2 Bd7 14. a3 Qb8 15. a4 Bd8 16. a5 Bc7 17. Bg5 Ng8 18. Nd1 f6 19. Bd2 Kf7 20. Nfe3 Nh6 21. Nf2 b6 22. axb6 Bxb6 23. f4 a5 24. Be2 Kg7 25. f5 Be8 26. g4 hxg4 27. Nfxg4 Nxg4 28. Bxg4 a4 29. fxg6 Nxg6 30. Nf5+ Kg8 31. h5 Nf4 32. Bxf4 exf4 33. h6 Ba5+ 34. Kf1 Kf8 35. Qf2 Qb3 36. Qxf4 Bc7 37. h7 Bf7 38. Qh6+ Ke8 39. Qxf6 Qd3+ 40. Kg2 Qxe4+ 41. Bf3

In this game, neither of the kings moved at all!

[Title " Thorhallsson T.-Johannesson, Hafnarborg Iceland, 2003"]
[FEN ""]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nge2 Nc6 5. e5 Nge7 6. h4 h6 7. h5 f6 8. exf6 gxf6 9. a3 Ba5 10. b4 Bb6 11. Na4 e5 12. Bb2 e4 13. Bc1 Bg4 14. c3 Qd7 15. Bf4 Nd8 16. Qc2 Ne6 17. Bd2 Qc6 18. Qb3 Nf5 19. Rc1 Nd6 20. Rh4 Bxe2 21. Bxe2 a6 22. Rg4 Ng5 23. Nc5 Ba7 24. Rf4 Rf8 25. a4 Bxc5 26. bxc5 Nc8 27. Rb1 Rb8 28. c4 Ne7 29. cxd5 Nxd5 30. Bxa6 Qxa6 31. Qxd5 Rd8 32. Qxb7 Qxa4 33. Be3 f5 34. Qxc7 Ne6 35. Qe5 Qa2 36. Rc1 Qd5 37. Rh4 Qxe5 38. dxe5 f4 39. Bd2 Rd5 40. c6 Rf7 41. c7 Nxc7 42. Bxf4 Ne6 43. Bxh6 Rxe5 44. Be3 Rff5 45. h6 Rh5 46. Rxh5 Rxh5 47. Rc4

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