The en passant move was developed after pawns were allowed to move more than one square on their initial move. This was done to make sure they retained some of the restrictions imposed by slow movement, while at the same time speeding up the game.

they probably made it so this could happen:

and not this:

RyanMK wrote:

The en passant move was developed after pawns were allowed to move more than one square on their initial move. This was done to make sure they retained some of the restrictions imposed by slow movement, while at the same time speeding up the game.

 I knew the answer to this question. However, you sneaked in and stole my opportunity to look smart :(

We are now at a time where chess is being speeded up again. I've heard a few grumbles about new time controls in tournaments. Soon we'll all be clock punching monkeys :)

i hope not, i cant think under much time-pressure /

What's wrong with clock punching as long as the monkey is cute or has lots of money?

as in anger of him jumping forward right before you could reach him , hence ANGER!!!!!!

Do you insult someone in every forum laporte?

He's a french canadian...

I don't know why it was invented, but I've never been a big fan of it.  I always forget to play it when the chance is there, and have been burned by it in the past as well.

 the rule did not favour player on the defensive, hence it accelarate the pace of the game tremendously in the mdern chess world.

I sincerely not faouring to this ruling, Thanks

Dear All

Originally the pawns could only move one square at a time thus games were slow 

Someone came up with the idea of allowing the pawns to move two squares if the player wish to, this speeded the game up however,

it was soon noticed that, a player could move his pawn up to his fifth rank, just to have his opponent pass by. This would not have happened in the original game and made it almost pointless moving the pawn up to the fifth rank so, 

to counter act this and make it worth while moving the pawn to the fifth rank, the pawn on the fifth rank, was allowed to take the opposing pawn as though it had moved to the third rank, as would have happened in the original game.

if the player on the fifth rank chose not to take immediately it was deemed the pawn had passed, hence the term, en passant ( on passing )

Hope this helps

Kind regards Bonsai

Once upon a time pawns moved forward one square at a time the whole game through. It was then decided that to bring the opposing armies closer to each other more quickly that the humble pawn could at the outset of his journey take a gigantic jump and cover two squares in a single bound, the birth of SuperPawn! The pawns loved this magnificent new power, until they realised that if they had made the journey 5/8's of the way to their crowning moment, where they had previously restricted their counterparts from commencing their journey for fear of death, that this newly bestowed power now allowed their adversaries to leap forward without fear as they could stand aside them, out of their reach. So the Pawn Union quickly called a stopwork meeting to protest this abhorrent development. The Kings, Queens, Bishops, Knights and Rooks of the chess community listened to their complaint. They decided that they liked the space they had gained from being able to gently prod a pawn at the right moment and making him leap two squares down the board and the glee it bought from all the other pawns to see one pawn turn around and beg all his mates to hurry up and join in the fight as the enemy looked much larger when you got close to them. So to appease their complaints, they decided that if a pawn had been brave and bold enough to reach the fifth rank, that if his counterpart leaped over the square that his lance covered, that this pawn would be allowed to jump to the usual capturing square, turn and lance his opponent from the rear, and toss him to the side of the board with all the other unwanted pieces. This satisfied the pawns and they readily signed the new Workplace Agreement without realising that from that day forward, there would be utter confusion within their ranks as they struggled to work out when they could perform the in passing move or not.

Always amazed at how personal some people get.  It's wood pieces on a board! Nationality aside, I prefer en passant as it keeps penetration to a minimum.  If I don't want to move my pawns, and the opponent has made it across the board, he/she will hit the pawn "wall".  If I only move one pawn, and he/she tries to squeak by, BOOM!  taken down WWF style.  LOL.  Actually, I don't think very much at all of en passant.  It's a rule in a game with wood pieces.  If I don't like the rule, I don't play.  That's why I never took up boxing.  The rule that says you have to hit someone else so many times they fall down...not my thing.  But it might work for some in this forum!

RyanMK wrote:

The en passant move was developed after pawns were allowed to move more than one square on their initial move. This was done to make sure they retained some of the restrictions imposed by slow movement, while at the same time speeding up the game.

This is pretty much it. However, the features they were trying to retain were not slow movement.

Two pawns placed on adjacent files, two ranks apart restrict each others movement. This is one of the fundamental powers of the pawn, and is very important in endgames. The initial double-move was created to speed up the game, and not to change the fundamental features of the movement of the pieces. As Mebeme demonstrated, if en passant did not exist, it would be very easy to create a passed pawn. Given a passed pawn is such a potent threat, it was decided that it should not be so easy to create one. Imagine the pawns in Mebeme's diagrams on the b and c-files. White could actually win if en passant did not exist. Hope that helps.

~TO

" Although known since the 15 century the en passant law been universally accepted only since 1880 when Italian players abandoned the PASSAR BATTAGLIA (I will look at that up later, if u what me to.) law" The Oxford Companion to Chess. It that helpful ?

It would be too easy to interlock the pawns without it. Once the pawns are interlocked, it is hard for either side to make any progress and their would be more draws. 

From wiki: 

Historically, allowing en passant is one of the last major rule changes in European chess that occurred in the 14th to 15th century, together with the introduction of the two-square first move for pawns, castling, and the unlimited range for queens and bishops. 

The motivation for en passant was to prevent the newly-added two-square first move for pawns from allowing them to evade capture by an enemy pawn. Specifically, it should still allow pawns on the player's fifth rank the opportunity to capture a pawn on an adjacent file which advances two squares from its starting square.