Is this some kind of computer glitch or is it cheating?

I've seen this a few times now and my head is scratching everytime I see this happen. I've got evidence to prove it.

Let's say there's two pawns on the same rank. A pawn of mine and a pawn of theirs. They'll capture this pawn of mine with theirs that's on the same rank!? 

Is this some kind of computer glitch or is it cheating? 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant

en passant?

I never knew that! Thanks, that explains it!

En Passant and Castling were two moves that quickly terminated an attempt by my stepfather to "bond" by playing chess with me.

He knocked over the pieces and accused me of cheating when I (age 9) castled and didn't immediately take back the move. Then he stormed out of the room. 

So yeah, a lot of people don't know about these moves. We don't all get such colorful memories from that reality, though  :P

I've only got back into chess since the past couple of years. I used to spend school lunchtime indoors playing around 9, but it fizzled out for some reason. I wish I carried on playing. I've got some serious catching up to do.

But yeah when I got back into it, admittedly even forgetting what the pieces did, I was told that the pawns could only take diagonally and it stuck with me ever since. 

What are some others...

You can have more than 1 queen (after promoting 1 or more pawns).

Stalemate is a draw.

Pinned pieces still attack squares.  The white king can't move here:

Yeah I know all of these. The en passat was the final garnish, that was the only one I'd never come across.

ok :)

But because of your game post, I'd get rid of the rook. They're too dominant in the end game. What's your opinion?

I first saw this "glitch" in battle chess back in 1989 or something where the pawn moved sideways to battle the other pawn first...

Yeah, easiest way to draw is to play bishop takes rook.

Everything else being equal, pawnless rook vs bishop is a draw.  With many pawns still on the board the rook often does very well against the bishop, but here with only rook pawns blocking each other it's as good as pawnless.  Which is to say white could draw without taking the rook, but that just leaves room for error.  Best to just take the rook.

Well... I didn't say 1.Bxb6