46 votes
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When en passant is the only legal move

You are right, this is nonsense. From the FIDE laws of chess, article 5: The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. The game is said to end in ‘...
Glorfindel's user avatar
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37 votes
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When capturing en passant, is a position possible such that there is a pin over the square of the taken pawn, rather than the taking pawn?

Really interesting question. I think the following shows that such a situation is sort of possible, depending on how you define the pin. [StartFlipped "0"] [FEN "7k/4p3/8/2KP3r/8/8/8/8 ...
Cleveland's user avatar
  • 7,504
35 votes
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En Passant Checkmate

It is not checkmate if the other player has any legal move that gets them out of check. Capturing the checking piece is one such way; whether the capture is en passant or not is irrelevant for the ...
itub's user avatar
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33 votes

Can a pawn move 2 spaces if doing so would cause en passant mate?

Can a pawn move 2 spaces if doing so would cause en passant mate? Of course! There are no rules which forbid blundering mate in 1, even forced mate in one.
Brian Towers's user avatar
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23 votes

Can a pawn that performed an en passant capture promote at all?

From FIDE rules (3.7 e): When a pawn reaches the rank furthest from its starting position it must be exchanged as part of the same move on the same square for a new queen, rook, bishop or knight ...
Алёхин's user avatar
23 votes

Can a pawn move 2 spaces if doing so would cause en passant mate?

Yes - Magnus Carlsen did exactly this in a game against Jon Ludwig Hammer. You can see the game: www.chess.com/game/live/66685869281 According to GothamChess' analysis at www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
pierrecurie's user avatar
21 votes

Can a player capture en passant two times in a row?

Yes, given that the opponent helps the capturing side, it is possible to capture en passant two times or more in a row Here is a famous example from a real game. The score came from chessgames.com You ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
18 votes
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En passant for beginners

How can we teach this rule to a Beginner? (in a plain language or simplified way or associating any story to it) The history gives the story. At one time pawns could only move one square at a time ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
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17 votes
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The chess.com engine didn’t show a checkmate

As White's previous move was pawn on h2 to h4 then pawn g4xh3 is a legal en passant capture. For more info - see Rule 3.7.d of the laws of chess
Donal O'Danachair's user avatar
16 votes

Fastest possible checkmate by en passant

According to this page the shortest known mate by en passant capture is in 5.5 moves (that is, White mates on move 6), and was published by Benko in Chess Live & Review in 1976: [Title "Pal Benko'...
Noam D. Elkies's user avatar
15 votes
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Can you capture a pawn en passant with a king?

An en passant capture is a move that involves pawns, exclusively. In particular, the king is not allowed to capture en passant. From Wikipedia (link): It is a special pawn capture, that can only ...
Zvonimir's user avatar
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15 votes
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Why is en passant hardly heard of?

It is taught together with the rest of the rules of the game. You playing for years without knowing about it has nothing to do with that, either you learn the rules or you don't, you won't self-...
user929304's user avatar
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15 votes
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Fastest possible checkmate by en passant

The same question has also been discussed and answered in the lichess forum, and as mentioned by others already, the answer is 11 half-moves for white and 12 half-moves for black. You might find some ...
Fabian Fichter's user avatar
14 votes
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How do you use 'en passant'?

Perhaps it helps if you remember the (presumed) reason for having this special move. Originally pawns were only allowed to make single steps. This meant that pawns on adjacent files could not pass ...
user1583209's user avatar
  • 20.7k
13 votes

En Passant vs In Passing

According to wikipedia: En passant (from French: in passing) is a move in chess. As far as i can find, 'In passing' is the translation of the name of the move, however it is not actually spoken as ...
Aric's user avatar
  • 2,081
13 votes

When and why was en passant invented?

The answers currently here don't fully explain the motivation for the rule. One answer quoted this Wikipedia passage: The motivation for en passant was to prevent the newly added two-square first ...
Kef Schecter's user avatar
11 votes

Pawn giving checkmate

Maybe your pawn happened to be pinned? 8/8/7r/5K1k/7p/8/6P1/7R w - - 0 1 1. g4+# hxg3?? 2. Rxh5
Noam D. Elkies's user avatar
10 votes

En passant for beginners

In simple words: if a pawn jumps two squares and lands right next to an opponent's pawn, then the opponent can capture that pawn in the following turn as if it had moved only 1 square. That is, only ...
user929304's user avatar
  • 3,386
9 votes

When capturing en passant, is a position possible such that there is a pin over the square of the taken pawn, rather than the taking pawn?

On a related note, enjoy a chess problem that demonstrates the weird mechanism of the pawn being pinned by the taken pawn. I pulled this from Yet Another Chess Problem Database. [Title "Erich ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Why is en passant only possible on the first opportunity?

The OP asked me to provide sources supporting the claim that the double step was originally a double move. I'll do my best. The immediate predecessor of modern chess, the game Shatranj, did have ...
Dag Oskar Madsen's user avatar
9 votes

Why is en passant only possible on the first opportunity?

A pawn which 'exposes' itself to en passant will be distinct from one that doesn't. Say, for a black pawn on a4 and a white pawn on b4: giving black the option of playing ...axb3 at any time after b2-...
Ken Wei's user avatar
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8 votes

Can a pawn that performed an en passant capture promote at all?

For as long as I can remember, there has never been a rule like that in any official matter. The pawn captures en passant and lately it can promote like any other pawn.
Daniel Alfredo Sottile's user avatar
8 votes
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FIDE threefold repetition and possible moves

Hi I have clarified this over the years with the senior FIDE International Arbiter at the time, Stewart Reuben, who is busy now writing the definitive book on the History of the Laws of Chess. You ...
Laska's user avatar
  • 11k
8 votes
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What is the maximum number of en passants possible?

Every pawn has to take a pawn in an en passant capture, and each pawn taking another pawn will leave the 5th rank. Hence, the total possible number of en passant captures in a game is simply the ...
Wais Kamal's user avatar
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8 votes
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Seeking a particular problem

I found a problem that perfectly fits your description! I’ve played the position back a move for the double step. [Title "Kurt Keller, Stuttgarter Nachrichten & Südwest Presse (Ulm) 1993, ...
Rewan Demontay's user avatar
7 votes

En Passant vs In Passing

"In passing" is english for the french phrase "en passant." Just like "vis-a-vis" and "tete-a-tete" is acceptable as are "face-to-face" and "head-to-head." I consider using the language of the ...
Mike Jones's user avatar
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7 votes
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En Passant - Usage after one or more move(s)

No. You can take a pawn en passant only on the next move. See 3.7d, here. A pawn attacking a square crossed by an opponent’s pawn which has advanced two squares in one move from its original ...
Tony Ennis's user avatar
  • 19.9k
7 votes

Fastest possible checkmate by en passant

Thanks for the subject! A natural, fun extension of the question is to ask what is the shortest Unique Proof Game ending in e.p. checkmate. The idea with one of these is you are given just the end ...
Laska's user avatar
  • 11k
7 votes
Accepted

In the case of en passant, should I move my pawn first or remove my opponent's one?

Both methods are legal. There is, however, one difference between the two options. If the en passant turns out to be illegal, then you must make a move involving the first piece you touched, if it is ...
D M's user avatar
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7 votes
Accepted

Rules: How does right to castle and en passant get considered for the purpose of calculating a threefold repetition?

You have identified the correct rule governing these situations. 9.2.2 is the relevant clause that applies; 9.2.2.1 and 9.2.2.2 are just clarifications of this rule. So to answer your queries: 1) ...
Remellion's user avatar
  • 4,980

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