I was six-years-old when I received my first chess set. It was one of those with the cardboard chessboard and manila and black plastic pieces. I’m sure it came with a rulebook, but I doubt I read it. Perhaps I should have.
There are six pieces in chess. Each piece has its own movement restrictions. The smallest and seemingly the most worthless piece is the pawn. It can move to one unoccupied space on every move with the option to move forward two squares on its first move provided both squares are also unoccupied. It can only move forward unless it is attacking in which case it must move diagonally to capture an opponent’s piece. And, the pawn has a special shape-shifting move in which it can be promoted to any chess piece if it makes it to the eighth rank (the opponent’s back row). That’s it. Or, so I thought. Enter the en passant.
In my most recent game of chess (via Chess With Friends) I fell victim to this little known move. In this game it’s the fifteenth move, I’m black, and it’s my turn. Assessing the board, I decide it’s time for the pawn on e7 to get involved.
I move my pawn forward two squares from e7 to e5. Looking around, the only noticeable threat is the knight on f3. I’m not worried since if my opponent captures my pawn with his knight I can take his knight with my pawn on f6, or my knight on g6 . OK, I’m going for it.
My opponent then moves his pawn from d5 to e6 and captures my pawn. Wait, what? My pawn wasn’t even on that square. It was on e5 NOT e6!
Great son of Zeus! My chess app totally broke. Instead of contacting the developer to report the “bug”, I fired off a chat to my opponent.
ME: I got robbed!
OPPONENT: Ha! Check your e-mail.
ME: I hate you.
OPPONENT: LOL!
ME: I hate you.
Yep. A totally legal move. En passant is a capture move that allows the player to capture their opponent’s pawn as if their opponent had only moved one square. FYI, the move can only be made on the immediate subsequent move. That sucks. And to make matters worse I ended up losing the game 30 moves later. So, let my ignorance be a lesson to all of you. The next time you play chess beware the en passant.