Answers.Body: <p>Castling is a combination move of both pieces.  The king should be moved first or both pieces simultaneously, since a rook move could stand alone and an opponent might make you stop your move at that point as being "legal", not letting you complete castling.</p>
  
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  <p>As a purely separate thought on
  the stupidity of the current rule
  consider the following hypothetical case: 
  White can castle, but both the f- and h-files are open.
  White plays Rf1, suddenly realises he has missed a much
  stronger move and quickly moves his king to g1 . As the rule
  stands his opponent or, as happened in a recent Soviet event,
  the arbiter can insist on a rook move. White calmly plays the
  winning Rh1-h8. </p>
  
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Answers.Text: Rather seems like an incorrect application of the rules to me. In addition to "touch-move", there's the little brother rule that says that if a player let's go of a piece, the move is completed and he can't retract that move (if it was legal), period. If White has let go of the rook on f1, then nothing  that happens with the king afterwards changes the fact that he has just played Rf1. He might as well put his king on a1 before pressing the clock (another illegal action)... Rf1 stands.
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Answers.Text: By the way, "recent Soviet"? 28+ years is not "recent". ;)
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Answers.Text: Formerly the arbiter only gave a warning when a player had castled incorrectly.  Since the FIDE congress of Thessaloniki 1984 a player is punished with an obligatory move with the rook with which he wanted to castle.
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Answers.Body: <p>The <a href="http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf" rel="noreferrer">FIDE rules</a> say this about castling:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>This is a move of the king and either rook of the same colour along 
    the player’s first rank, counting as a single  move of the king</p>
  </blockquote>
  
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Answers.Text: Strange definition: This is a move of the king **and**...rook..., counting as a move of the king. Does this "counting" only apply to the  touch-move rule or to anything else?
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Answers.Text: "Counting as a single move of the king" applies to everything of course. Castle is a king's move that's it. It does involve two pieces but that is the same as capturing a piece or promoting a pawn these moves also involve two pieces but they are single moves of only one of them.
Answers.UserDisplayName: IA Petr Harasimovic
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Answers.Text: @IAPetrHarasimovic What do you mean by "everything". Or asked differently: If this rule did not exist, how would this change chess?
Answers.UserDisplayName: user1583209
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Answers.Text: @user1583209 You must touch and move the king first.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Paul
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Answers.Text: I'm not 100% sure about the proposed edit - especially the part where "This is for sure the reasons why many sites and apps show Castling available only when selecting the king not the rook.".  Honestly, the programs are probably written that way because it's unambiguous, not because of FIDE touch-move rules that don't really apply to programs anyway.  If you move your king two squares, that's obviously a castle.  But if you move your rook to f1 or d1, that's a perfectly legal move - how would the program know whether you wanted to castle or just move the rook?
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Answers.Text: @Paul: I understand that the king need's to be touched/moved first when castling. My question was, whether the statement "counting as a single move of the king" has any other effect for playing chess. If not, I don't see the relevance of defining whether it is a single move of the king or not. One could just define directly that when castling the king needs to be touched/moved first.
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Answers.Text: Touch-move is the only application I can think of for counting as a move of the king.  The FIDE rules do specifically state (in another section) that if you deliberately touch the rook first, you can't castle and must move the rook (if legal).
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Body: <p>Most computer chess games consider castling to be a king move. You click on the king and it shows an option to castle.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/V7jgt.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/V7jgt.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>What do the FIDE's rules say about this though? Is castling a king move, a rook move, both, or neither?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-06-02T04:19:03.427Z
Comments.Text: As far as I know, you should touch king first. Touching rook against moron could lead to moves like Rg1 or Rf1.
Comments.UserDisplayName: hoacin
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Comments.CreationDate: 2017-06-02T09:27:43.637Z
Comments.Text: Why don't you read the laws first? It is pretty unambiguous on this one. Anyway, DM answered your question.
Comments.UserDisplayName: IA Petr Harasimovic
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Comments.CreationDate: 2017-06-02T13:14:01.657Z
Comments.Text: If it wasn't counted as a king move, maybe you could castle twice.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Dag Oskar Madsen
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Comments.CreationDate: 2018-02-23T14:45:19.090Z
Comments.Text: In a tournament a couple of years back my opponent's king moved to f7 and back to e8. He then tried to castle, illegally, and because castling is a move of the king the arbiter required him to move his king. There was only one possible square, and this dropped his other rook.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Ian Bush
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-04-21T03:45:40.837Z
Comments.Text: I once lost a game because I touched my rook first and opponent called the arbiter.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Allure
Tags: <rules><online-chess><castling><rooks><kings>
Title: Is castling a king move or a rook move?
ThreadText: # Is castling a king move or a rook move?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-01)
  
  Most computer chess games consider castling to be a king move. You click on the king and it shows an option to castle.
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/V7jgt.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/V7jgt.png)
  
  What do the FIDE's rules say about this though? Is castling a king move, a rook move, both, or neither?
  
  **Tags:** rules, online-chess, castling, rooks, kings
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: As far as I know, you should touch king first. Touching rook against moron could lead to moves like Rg1 or Rf1.  
  > **username_2**: Why don't you read the laws first? It is pretty unambiguous on this one. Anyway, DM answered your question.  
  > **username_3**: If it wasn't counted as a king move, maybe you could castle twice.  
  > **username_4**: In a tournament a couple of years back my opponent's king moved to f7 and back to e8. He then tried to castle, illegally, and because castling is a move of the king the arbiter required him to move his king. There was only one possible square, and this dropped his other rook.  
  > **username_5**: I once lost a game because I touched my rook first and opponent called the arbiter.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_9 on 2017-06-02. Score: 12 | Accepted answer
  
  The [FIDE rules](http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf) say this about castling:
  
  > This is a move of the king and either rook of the same colour along
  > the player’s first rank, counting as a single move of the king
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_10**: Strange definition: This is a move of the king **and**...rook..., counting as a move of the king. Does this "counting" only apply to the  touch-move rule or to anything else?  
  > **username_2**: "Counting as a single move of the king" applies to everything of course. Castle is a king's move that's it. It does involve two pieces but that is the same as capturing a piece or promoting a pawn these moves also involve two pieces but they are single moves of only one of them.  
  > **username_10**: @IAPetrHarasimovic What do you mean by "everything". Or asked differently: If this rule did not exist, how would this change chess?  
  > **username_11**: @username_10 You must touch and move the king first.  
  > **username_9**: I'm not 100% sure about the proposed edit - especially the part where "This is for sure the reasons why many sites and apps show Castling available only when selecting the king not the rook.".  Honestly, the programs are probably written that way because it's unambiguous, not because of FIDE touch-move rules that don't really apply to programs anyway.  If you move your king two squares, that's obviously a castle.  But if you move your rook to f1 or d1, that's a perfectly legal move - how would the program know whether you wanted to castle or just move the rook?  
  > **username_10**: @username_11: I understand that the king need's to be touched/moved first when castling. My question was, whether the statement "counting as a single move of the king" has any other effect for playing chess. If not, I don't see the relevance of defining whether it is a single move of the king or not. One could just define directly that when castling the king needs to be touched/moved first.  
  > **username_9**: Touch-move is the only application I can think of for counting as a move of the king.  The FIDE rules do specifically state (in another section) that if you deliberately touch the rook first, you can't castle and must move the rook (if legal).  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2017-06-02. Score: 3
  
  Castling is a combination move of both pieces. The king should be moved first or both pieces simultaneously, since a rook move could stand alone and an opponent might make you stop your move at that point as being "legal", not letting you complete castling.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2018-02-23. Score: 1
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/EDyPE.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/EDyPE.png)
  
  As a purely separate thought on
  the stupidity of the current rule
  consider the following hypothetical case:
  White can castle, but both the f- and h-files are open.
  White plays Rf1, suddenly realises he has missed a much
  stronger move and quickly moves his king to g1 . As the rule
  stands his opponent or, as happened in a recent Soviet event,
  the arbiter can insist on a rook move. White calmly plays the
  winning Rh1-h8.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_8**: Rather seems like an incorrect application of the rules to me. In addition to "touch-move", there's the little brother rule that says that if a player let's go of a piece, the move is completed and he can't retract that move (if it was legal), period. If White has let go of the rook on f1, then nothing  that happens with the king afterwards changes the fact that he has just played Rf1. He might as well put his king on a1 before pressing the clock (another illegal action)... Rf1 stands.  
  > **username_8**: By the way, "recent Soviet"? 28+ years is not "recent". ;)  
  > **username_7**: Formerly the arbiter only gave a warning when a player had castled incorrectly.  Since the FIDE congress of Thessaloniki 1984 a player is punished with an obligatory move with the rook with which he wanted to castle.  
  
  ---
  
  