Basically, I want to keep my king safe after a kingside castle.
I want to avoid this:
8/8/8/8/8/8/5PPP/2r3K1 w - - 0 1
The configuration is such that none of my pieces can access the f1 square. I can’t trust any of the pawn advances, because:
For this one,
8/8/8/8/8/7P/5PP1/6K1 w - - 0 1
I’ll get stuck if Black plays Bxh3 from this position.
8/8/4b3/6q1/8/7P/5PP1/6K1 w - - 0 1
For this,
8/1b6/8/8/8/6P1/5P1P/6K1 w - - 0 1
the bishop/queen can control basically all of the squares that the king can move to.
For this,
8/8/8/8/8/5P2/6PP/6K1 w - - 0 1
the problem is that the king is susceptible to such attacks and can be pushed to the corner a1:
8/8/1b6/8/8/5P2/6PP/6K1 w - - 0 1
With my fledgling (1 month) experience of playing chess regularly, I have found these to be the two best configurations while playing:
8/8/8/8/8/5N1P/5PP1/6K1 w - - 0 1
and
8/8/8/8/8/7P/5PPB/6K1 w - - 0 1
I would be really grateful if I could have some advice as to beneficial positions with regards to keeping the king safe.