How many use "En Passant?"

I rarely use "En Passant" which is a legal, legitimate move, and yet am astonished that so many don't even know what it is. Comments please.

You use en passant when it's the best move for the situation; Otherwise, you don't use it.

Whenever you start to play with someone who isn't big into chess, you have to point out the e.p. rule and explain it endlessly so that when they jump past your pawn on the 5th, they won't accuse you of making up stuff.

Isn't there an age-old rule of thumb that you never use en passant when you're playing a stranger in a pub?

Tactic rule #1:

Always do En Passant when possible!

I'm calling BS on that one!

I remember playing blitz or bullet (mostly bullet tho) OTB with my friends NewArdweaden about 2 years ago. It was funny because when En Passant was possible, we always thought "Hey, you want me to take En Passant? Well, I won't!". 

You 'rarely use' en passant?  Seems like a strong player uses whatever is optimal in any given circumstance to achieve their goal, and if en passant is rarely used, it would imply that circumstances don't often call for it.  

But to make a point of using it or not using it on a regular basis seems as  absurd as saying you always castle king side no matter what, or you never move your knight to C3 before the 10th move, or you always wear the tee shirt with the beer stein on it when you play for good luck.

If you get the chance, always play en passant immediately, without even thinking (that's what tactics trainer teaches you to do  ).  It's like the nuke of the chessboard.

The whole purpose of En Passant is to teach beginning chess players French, because chess is, first and foremost, a gentle[wo]man's pastime, based on sophistication and refinement. The aristocracy doesn't want unworldly buffoons cavorting around chess circles and squares.

And " zugzwang " teaches them German and " fianchetto " teaches them Italian !  Now I get it ... 

这是正确的

Yeah who cares if taking the pawn hangs your queen do it anyway! 😒

Time4Tea wrote:

If you get the chance, always play en passant immediately, without even thinking (that's what tactics trainer teaches you to do  ).  It's like the nuke of the chessboard.

When someone says they use en passant rarely, I have to assume they're saying that the opportunity to use it doesn't come up in every game (or even every 3rd or 4th game). But when the opportunity does arise, it's like any other move on the board: consider the position and make your decision based on that. And when the chance does come up, one always has to consider whether the opponent WANTS you to take e.p. If so, you must decline.

Get a Smart Phone, then you can use En Passant in bars and google the facts, and get anyone else in the bar to as well. To play it safe, bring a biker gang with you to back you up in case a brawl breaks out.

There is an anecdote that Max Euwe in 1970, long after he had retired from serious chess, took an airplane ride sitting next to an amateur who was studying something on a miniature chess board. The amateur noticed Euwe looking at the board and challenged him to a game. At some point the person complained when Euwe tried to make an en passant capture. Instead of arguing Euwe agreeably took the move back and played something else. At the end of the game as the amateur was ruefully looking over the wreckage of his position, Euwe heard the guy mutter out loud: "How could I lose this badly to a beginner who doesn't even know the rules?"

Ever taken on a newer player, who, priding themselves on their sophistication, and ready to show you they know what's up, takes the en passant option, just because they can, even though doing so sets them up for catastrophe?

Great anecdote!  I saw a GM game in an article on here somewhere where both GMs overlooked an en-passant capture that would have won the game.  I'll have to see if I can find it ... I think one player was Michael Adams. 

I use it my friend!

I often use it, I use it even more often just as a threat, to prevent a pawn from moving forward. My opponents won't dare push that pawn, for fear that I will en passant it.

Which leaves me in control.