Sorry for the huge screen shots.  My question is, what gives nizmo the right to take my pawn here? Is it a glitch or a rule I am unaware of?

There is a rule called "en passant". Read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant

The move is perfectly legal.

Its a rule you are unaware of. It is called en passant.

ah, thanks.

Rule

u were unaware

haha en passant. it's french for 'in passing' and has been around since the early 19th century. [no name calling, please]

Oh hey, in case the first answer did not make it clear, I'll join my colleagues above in stating that there's a rule you are not aware of called "en passant".

I invite other members on chess.com to reinforce the point further by repeating this exact answer.

A lot of people have given you the correct answer (en passant), but let me clarify how it works. IF you have advanced a pawn to the 5th rank, and a pawn on an adjacent file that has NOT moved advances two squares, then on the NEXT MOVE ONLY, you may capture that pawn as if it had moved only one square.

This rule was added in the 15th (not 19th) century, at the same time as the rule allowing pawns to advance two squares on their first move.

thx, this is very helpful

I would like to jump on the bandwagon here, the move is called en passant. Thank you for this.

ahh no, I thought 15th Century.
I read it somewhere, think WikiPedia.

Never knew that flesh looked so funny by the way.