en passent

Well why shouldnt a knight gain more favour and become a rook?  Seems fair to me.

 Actually, I am.  When I play poker, I'm OK with a full house beating a straight.  And when I play Monopoly, I collect $200 after passing "Go." 

I only spell correctly in English, not French. :p

 I spot a Woody Allen fan. You must have read the "Gossage-Vardebedian Papers."

Anyone who teaches their students the en passant rule, but doesn't teach them how to spell it is doing them a disservice.

I haven't seen anybody around here spell it right:  "In passing."

@MrBlunderful - Indeed. It's one of the most brilliant humorous pieces ever written IMO.

Do you truly not get it?  Castling and en passant are the rules of chess.  Nothing's broken.  This isn't something like the DH rule where we've still got a lot of people living who remember the game before the rule change and think the old way was better.

I actually learned en passant pretty early in my chess life, but for years was under the assumption you could en passant here:

Oh well. :(

Some might say that 'en passent' is nothing short of interference in the rules by the the French, but I suspect that is historically inaccurate...?

Hey, I'm pretty sure that when chess was invented, these rules were also invented. Let's play chess the way it was invented.

That means the Queen moves exactly like the King, and you roll dice to see what piece you get to move.

Interesting, is that really true?

Let's not forget the elephants.

What's that?

interesting

Chess is a strage creation ... it's actually the end product of several other games originating from Asia and the Orient if I'm not mistaken.

For all it's exponential possibilities, for all it's tactical coplexities and artistic simplicity ... there isn't any mathematical equation, or set of moves,that one can play successfully all the time as either Black, or as White (if there were, it would have been discovered by now).

It might seem like Chess would benefit better without the use of Castling and the En Passant ... Chess might appear to be a beautiful geometric, clock-work system that was working perfectly, and then got a sabot tossed in it's gears ... however, if all the rules were followed without castling and the en passant ... the math would stay the same, and the game might be predictable, perhaps even monotonous.

Now, throw in the "flux" ... the "anomoly" ... the "contingency" ... the "unexpected" into the Chess equation ... and now the game is unpredictable, chaotic and perhaps even frightening ... ...

... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... sounds a lot like a "mathematical model for LIFE" ... perhaps testing if one has the courage to face their threats, or testing if one has the vision to seize opportunity.

On the same note, the Knight would represent the "flux" in a perfect geometric equation for the pieces on the gameboard ... so where the Queen, Bishop, Rook, King and Pawn ALL move either one square or more in either direction, the Knight, in it's ability to jump over pieces and "walls" and in its ability to threaten 8 squares at once, provides the variable needed to change the orthodoxy of how the other pieces relate to the game and how the game functions as a whole.

There was a Native American tribe whose women would weave perfectly geometrical designs into their clothe ... but they would end the last stitch with a "mistake" ... an error in the design ... ... it was believe that if the design was completed perfectly ... the women's souls would be caught inside the design, never to escape and the would lead a sad and unhappy life.

Perhaps, imperfection is necessary.It's almost as if, not being perfect ... is somewhat ... in and of itself ... "perfect."

After all ... ... .... .... ... Chess IS the perfect game.