Can the pawn take the rook in this position?

Question

I have a question regarding the way that pawns are allowed to attack. Sorry I’m a beginner, but me and my friend are playing and I don’t want to make this move if I’m not allowed to. I have a picture of how it is. I’m clear he’s white, am I allowed to attack his Rook?

Answer 1

Pawns are a pretty complex piece. They can make the following types of moves:

• Move one square forward, if that square is not occupied by any other piece.
• Move two square forward on their first move, if neither of those squares is occupied by any other piece
• Capture a piece diagonally in front of it
• Capture an enemy pawn "en passant".
• When they get to the 8th rank, they can "promote" to a Queen, Rook, Knight or Bishop

So, in the position you're showing, your pawn can capture either the enemy rook or the knight, but not the pawn right in front of it.

Answer 2

Since you are a beginner in chess, first you need to know how pawn capture other pieces in chess. The pawn is the only one of the chess pieces that can capture other pieces in a method that’s different from how it normally moves. There are two ways a pawn can capture:-

1. The pawn captures by moving one square diagonally forward to the left or right.
2. En passant capture https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant

So, in the above picture black pawn can capture either White's rook or the knight.