![Ajedrez captura al paso del peon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Ajedrez_captura_al_paso_del_peon.png)
''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
that occurs when a
pawn
Pawn most often refers to:
* Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game
* Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral
Pawn may also refer to:
Places
* Pawn, Oregon, an his ...
captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance.
The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy pawn passed over, as if the enemy pawn had advanced only one square. The rule ensures that a pawn cannot use its two-square move to safely skip past an enemy pawn.
Capturing ''en passant'' is permitted only on the turn immediately after the two-square advance; it cannot be done on a later turn. The capturing move is sometimes
notated by appending the abbreviation e.p.
Rules
![Ajedrez animación en passant](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Ajedrez_animaci%C3%B3n_en_passant.gif)
The conditions for a pawn to capture an enemy pawn ''en passant'' are as follows:
* the enemy pawn
advanced two squares on the previous move;
* the capturing pawn attacks the square that the enemy pawn passed over.
If these conditions are met, the capturing pawn can move diagonally forward to the square that the enemy pawn passed, capturing the enemy pawn as if it had moved only one square. If the right to capture ''en passant'' is not exercised immediately, it is subsequently lost. Making the capture is optional, unless there is no other legal move.
Only pawns may capture or be captured ''en passant''; other pieces with the ability to capture diagonally—the
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
,
queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
, and
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
—cannot perform the capture.
The ''en passant'' capture is the only capturing move in chess where the capturing piece moves to a square not occupied by the captured piece.
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]
Notation
In
algebraic notation, an ''en passant'' capture is notated using the capturing pawn's destination (not the captured pawn's location). In both algebraic and
descriptive notation
Descriptive notation is a chess notation system based on abbreviated natural language. Its distinctive features are that it refers to files by the piece that occupies the back rank square in the starting position and that it describes each square ...
, the move may optionally be denoted by appending "e.p." or similar. For example, in algebraic notation, bxa3 or bxa3 e.p. may be used to represent a black pawn on b4 capturing a white pawn on a4 ''en passant''.
Examples
Some
chess opening
A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defens ...
s feature the ''en passant'' capture. In the following line from
Petrov's Defence, White captures the pawn on d5 ''en passant'' on move 6:
:1. e4 e5
:2. Nf3 Nf6
:3. d4 exd4
:4. e5 Ne4
:5. Qxd4 d5 (see diagram)
:6. exd6 e.p.
An ''en passant'' capture can occur as early as move 3. For example, in the
French Defence
The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
:1. e4 e6
This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5, with Black intending ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...
after 1. e4 e6 2. e5,
if Black responds with 2... d5, White can play 3. exd6 e.p. (diagram). This occurred in the game
Steinitz Steinitz may refer to:
* Steinitz, Germany, a town in the district of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany
* Steinitz (surname)
{{Disambiguation ...
–
Fleissig, Vienna 1882.
In the diagram, the move 1... g5+ may seem to
checkmate
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess, the king is ...
White, but it is in fact a
blunder: White can counter this check with the ''en passant'' capture 2. fxg6 e.p., which
cross-check
In chess, a cross-check is a tactic in which a check is played in response to a check, especially when the original check is blocked by a piece that itself either delivers check or reveals a discovered check from another piece. Sometimes the term ...
s and checkmates Black. (Black can draw in the diagrammed position by playing 1...Qxf2+.)
In a game between
Gunnar Gundersen and Albert H. Faul, Black played 12...f7-f5. White could have captured the black f-pawn ''en passant'' with his e-pawn, but he instead played:
:13. h5+ Kh6 14. Nxe6+
The bishop on c1 effects a
discovered check
In chess, a discovered attack is a direct attack revealed when one piece moves out of the way of another. Discovered attacks can be extremely powerful, as the piece moved can make a threat independently of the piece it reveals. Like many chess t ...
. 14...Kh7 results in 15.Qxg7#.
:14... g5 15. hxg6 e.p.#
The ''en passant'' capture places Black in
double check
In chess and other related games, a double check is a check delivered by two pieces simultaneously. In chess notation, it is almost always represented the same way as a single check ("+"), but it is sometimes symbolized by "++" (however, "++" i ...
and
checkmate
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess, the king is ...
(in fact, White's bishop is not necessary for the mate). An ''en passant'' capture is the only way a double check can be delivered without one of the checking pieces moving, as in this case.
The largest known number of ''en passant'' captures in one game is three. This record is shared by three games; in none of them were all three captures by the same player. The earliest known example is a 1980 game between
Alexandru Segal Alexandru Sorin Segal (October 4, 1947 in Bucharest – 6 January 2015) was an economist and chess player Jewish and Romanian naturalized Brazilian. He was Brazilian chess champion in 1974 and 1978. He became internationally known for his part ...
and Karl-Heinz Podzielny.
History
In old versions of chess, the pawn could not advance two squares on its first move. The two-square advance was introduced later, between the 13th and 16th centuries, to speed up games. The ''en passant'' capture may have been introduced at that time, or may have come later; the earliest references to this rule date to the 16th century.
The ''en passant'' capture was one of the last major additions to European chess.
In some parts of Europe, particularly in Italy, the rule was excluded; this exclusion was known as ''passar battaglia''. In 1880, Italy adopted the rules used by the rest of the world, including the ''en passant'' capture, in preparation for the 1881 Milan tournament.
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Draw by repetition and stalemate
In the context of
threefold and fivefold repetition, two positions are considered different if the opportunity to perform a given ''en passant'' capture exists in one position but not the other.
[
]
When a player is not in check, and capturing ''en passant'' is their only legal move, they are forbidden to "claim" a draw by
stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior ...
; they must either perform the move or end the game on their turn via normal means. In his book on chess organization and rules,
International Arbiter {{No footnotes, date=April 2022
In chess tournaments, an arbiter is an official who oversees matches and ensures that the rules of chess are followed.
International Arbiter
''International Arbiter'' is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed ...
Kenneth Harkness
Kenneth Harkness (byname of Stanley Edgar; November 12, 1896 – October 4, 1972) was a chess organizer. He is the creator of the Harkness rating system.
Life and career
He was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was Business Manager of the United Sta ...
wrote that people frequently asked if this is the case.
[
] Chess players debated this point in the 19th century, with some arguing that the right to capture ''en passant'' is a "privilege" that one cannot be compelled to exercise. In his 1860 book ''Chess Praxis'',
Howard Staunton
Howard Staunton (April 1810 – 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Am ...
wrote that the ''en passant'' capture is mandatory in such a position; the
rules of chess were amended to make this clear.
Chess problems
The ''en passant'' capture is often used as a theme in
chess problem
A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by the composer using chess pieces on a chess board, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to ...
s. According to Kenneth S. Howard, "En passant pawn captures frequently produce striking effects in the opening and closing of lines, both for white and black."
By
retrograde analysis
In chess problems, retrograde analysis is a technique employed to determine which moves were played leading up to a given position. While this technique is rarely needed for solving ordinary chess problems, there is a whole subgenre of chess pr ...
convention, a pawn may be captured ''en passant'' only if it can be proven to have advanced two squares on the previous move.
In the diagrammed 1938 composition by Howard, the
:1. d4
introduces the threat of 2.d5+ cxd5 3.Bxd5#. Black can capture the d4-pawn ''en passant'' in either of two ways:
:1... exd3 e.p.
shifting the e4-pawn from the e- to the d-file, preventing an ''en passant'' capture after White plays 2.f4. To stop the threat of 3.f5#, Black can advance 2...f5, but this allows White to play 3.exf6 e.p.# due to the decisive opening of the .
Or Black can play
:1... cxd3 e.p.
and now White exploits the newly opened a2–g8 diagonal with 2.Qa2+ d5 3.cxd6 e.p.#.
The diagrammed 1902 composition by Sommerfeldt
Open chess diary
by Tim Krabbé – #234 shows the effect of pins
A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together.
Pin or PIN may also refer to:
Computers and technology
* Personal identification number (PIN), to access a secured system
** PIN pad, a PIN entry device
* PIN, a former Dutch de ...
on ''en passant'' captures.
The key
:1. d4!
threatens 2.Qf2#. The moves of the black e-pawn are restricted in an unusual manner. The ''en passant'' capture 1...exd3 e.p.+ is illegal (it exposes Black’s king to check), but
:1... e3+
is legal. This, however, removes the black king's access to e3, allowing
:2. d5#
Chess variants
In most chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways.
"International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...
s, pawns move as in standard chess, so the ''en passant'' capture is the same. Some larger variants allow pawns to make an initial move of more than two squares. For example, a pawn can make an initial move of up to four squares in double chess, and up to six squares in chess on a really big board. Such games usually allow an ''en passant'' capture on any square the pawn passes.
In some three-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...
variants, such as millennium 3D chess
Millennium 3D chess is a three-dimensional chess variant created by William L. d'Agostino in 2001. It employs three vertically stacked 8×8 boards, with each player controlling a standard set of chess pieces. The inventor describes his objective ...
or Alice chess
Alice chess is a chess variant invented in 1953 by V. R. Parton which employs two chessboards rather than one, and a slight (but significant) alteration to the standard rules of chess. The game is named after the main character "Alice" in Lewis C ...
, capturing ''en passant'' is allowed, though in the former case, the captured pawn's two-square move cannot have been purely vertical. In '' 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel'', capturing ''en passant'' is allowed within the spatial dimensions but not across time or between timelines.
Some fairy chess piece
A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some chess problems. Compared to conventional pieces, fair ...
s can capture ''en passant'', such as the Berolina pawn.
The ''en passant'' capture is not present in some chess variants that do not allow the pawns to advance two squares, such as Dragonchess
Dragonchess is a three-dimensional fantasy chess variant created by Gary Gygax, co-creator of the famed role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The game was introduced in 1985 in issue No. 100 of '' Dragon Magazine''.
Boards and pieces
The ...
and Raumschach
Three-dimensional chess (or 3‑D chess) is any chess variant that replaces the two-dimensional board with a three-dimensional array of cells between which the pieces can move. In practical play, this is usually achieved by boards representing d ...
. This includes some traditional Asian games of the chess family, such as shogi
, also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōgi'' ...
, xiangqi
''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ch ...
and janggi (in fact in these variants pawns cannot even capture diagonally).
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
En passant (Chess) by Edward Winter
En passant Lichess lesson
{{DEFAULTSORT:En Passant
Rules of chess
Chess terminology
15th century in chess
pl:Pion (szachy)#Bicie w przelocie