A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, my grandfather and I were playing a game of chess.  He was playing white and opened by pushing the two rook pawns one square forward at the same time.  I question the move, but he did say it was a legal move.  I was six at the time.

 

Was this ever a legal move in chess history or was my grandpa full of .....  I have not seen such opening ever since. 

Moving both pawns at the same time, to my knowledge, is not now, nor has ever been a legal move in Chess. 

My friend tried that as well according to him that is how they play in Kosovo (he is a Kosovor) previously Serbia I believe.  I doubt this is true and I attribute it to being a local thing.  I don't think it was ever a legal move.

 

 

i've never heard anything so ridiculious in all of my life!  Your grandfather was pulling your leg and your mate is trying the other one because it has bells on

When playing newcomers, me and my friend used to make up a few rules for a laugh.  You know how beginners dont know en passant or castling?  Likewise they dont know this moving both rooks pawn thing.  One of my favourites was the 'Bishop's Privelege' whereby your King Bishop could do a jump over a blocked pawn centre on its first move.  Another comes from a chess variant called 'Knighted Chess' (this actually exists by the way) where you can move pieces within a Knights move of a Knight like a Knight.  Can anybody think of some more?  Of course, you tell them immediately afterwards and offer a bit of proper advice!!  It's not funny to let someone suffer.

 

I guess it was mean of my grandpa not to tell me afterwards it was not really a legal move, unless he himself did not know it wasn't.  I really do not remember him being really good a chess.

Shortly after teaching the en-passant rule, you can teach the en-horsant rule. Just make up some illegal knight capture that is beneficial to you at the moment and call it en-horsant.

Loomis wrote: Shortly after teaching the en-passant rule, you can teach the en-horsant rule. Just make up some illegal knight capture that is beneficial to you at the moment and call it en-horsant.

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 LOL

StacyBearden wrote: Loomis wrote: Shortly after teaching the en-passant rule, you can teach the en-horsant rule. Just make up some illegal knight capture that is beneficial to you at the moment and call it en-horsant.

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 LOL

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 Yes, very funny post.

This reminded me of the old days when I played a lot of one minute chess on the internet. One minute translates to sloppy games when played over the board and you can get away with some sleight of hand. For example, when you castle short, bring the rook all the way to the e-file since that's likely to be an open file at some point. Or, instead of playing h3, play h3 3/4 -- get that pawn up on the line between the squares! This way it's ready to capture anything  on g4 or go to h5 to start your attack. Basically keep those pieces on ambigous squares, your opponent will be too obsessed with the clock to know the difference!

 

*disclaimer: these methods are not endorsed by chess.com, Loomis, or any other entity known or unknown.

You've just proved what I've been saying all along!!

 

I have no idea what you've been saying, but here's a quick hint: It's called comedy.

Seriously, there are many local variations of chess rules, particularly in central Asia, and it is possible the rook-pawns-move on first move could derive from one of them. The Arabs used to play a form of chess which allowed  each side to set up its pieces in  any set configuration  they liked  on their own side of the  board at the start of the game. These configurations were called -- I forget. Batgirl, help me out here. 

ACCORDING TO MXDPLAY4, HIM AND HIS FRIEND MAKE UP A NEW RULES IN CHESS FOR FUN. HOW ABOUT IF WE ADD MORE RULE LIFE FOR EXAMPLE, LETS MAKE THE KNIGHT AS A SUPER KNIGHT, THAT HE CAN MOVE LIKE A BISHOP, ROOK, AND A QUEEN. INCLUDING HIS ORIGINAL MOVE. I THINK THAT'S REALLY A COMEDY AND A LOTS OF FUN.

 

In my childhood, it was common to hear people that Moving two pawns in the opening was legal movement

I am from Cyprus. Moving 2 pawns in the opening is very common among players that haven't played chess since their childhood. I thought it was some kind of misbelief only on the island, but then when I went vacation to Rome I saw an amateur chess player trying to make this kind of move...

I've actually heard about the 2 Rook pawn thing, it's some sort of localised variant.

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Presuming black can also do the same, this is potentially dis-advantageous for white. Using your example of playing e4 and nf3. I might play 2. Nf3 in response to ... e5 from black, but prefer to play 2. c3 in response to ... c5. Even worse, what if white plays 1.e4 2. Nf3 and black responds 1. ... d5 2. ... dxe4. Ouch.

I don't know if that's a playable gambit or not. Even if it is, it means that in this variant white has to be willing to play that gambit if he tries to play the Ruy Lopez, the Open Sicilian, etc. Really white's opening choices are quite limited it seems if the rules are the players make two moves on their first turn.