En Passant
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How does the en passant work? I have been learning chess for years but I don’t get it.
Jul 6, 2021
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#2
En Passant works whenever a player moves a pawn from their starting square two squares forward in one turn so that their pawn ends up side by side an opponents pawn, either on the 5th or 4th rank of the chessboard depending if it’s white or black that moved their pawn forward (4th rank if it was white, 5th rank for black). En Passant must immediately be done after their opponent moves in this way, and to capture “En Passant” you simply act like the pawn that moves only moves one square, so that your pawn lands on the square directly behind the pawn and you remove their pawn from the board.
The principle of this unique pawn rule is that by moving two squares immediately, your pawn never had the chance to capture it. The rule was to reduce the likelihood of locking pawn walls where nothing could pass through unless it was a knight or forcing sacrificing more valuable pieces in order to break through the structures easily, as well as reducing the abuse of the unique two squares forward at a time pawn move rule in general, acting as a counter balancing rule. Pawns are the most unique pieces in the chess game, having the most rules and various movements and it’s often why initially chess players learn about pawns before any of the other pieces in the game.
The principle of this unique pawn rule is that by moving two squares immediately, your pawn never had the chance to capture it. The rule was to reduce the likelihood of locking pawn walls where nothing could pass through unless it was a knight or forcing sacrificing more valuable pieces in order to break through the structures easily, as well as reducing the abuse of the unique two squares forward at a time pawn move rule in general, acting as a counter balancing rule. Pawns are the most unique pieces in the chess game, having the most rules and various movements and it’s often why initially chess players learn about pawns before any of the other pieces in the game.