It always surprises me how many players are either confused or 'blissfully unaware' of the En Passant rule of chess. Simply put, this game collection has been prepared to demonstrate to beginners just how to use En Passant. Of course, by perusing the each game in its entirety, they may learn other points as well. That adage, check it out, you may learn something along the way does apply most definitely to chess games. More than one fish is usually caught in a net, even in a small river.

The privilege of pushing a Pawn up two squares on its first turn, ply or step was balanced by the En Passant rule. These changes were part of the process of making chess games go faster back in ancient times after the game came to Europe. Castling was also part of this process.

So, that Pawn that does a double square advance is not safe from the Pawn that was already on the fifth rank on the other side's team. It must be emphasized that the Pawn must be on its fifth rank BEFORE the double-square advance. Pay attention to the Black Pawn on f4.

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The one restriction is that the other side must take the leaping Pawn immediately. So, if White plays e4 and Black takes a step with its King, then after White makes a King step, Black is not allowed to capture the White Pawn on d4.

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However, since that Pawn is in the field (not in an edge file) there may be another adjoining Pawn that is eligible to take a double square leap. In this specific position, this possibility is for the g2 Pawn. Now, En Passant could be used by the same Pawn that declined to capture by En Passant earlier, namely the f4 Pawn.

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Thus, Black can choose to either capture the g4 Pawn with f4 or with h5. The power of the h5 Pawn to capture remains as long as the g4 Pawn and h5 Pawn sit there, but f4 only has one shot, only for this turn itself.

Some beginners get En Prise and En Passant mixed up, but usually that's more about French than the situations on the board. Chess notation helps matters a bit, because En Prise need not be written at all and En Passant is an optional recording. So, the beginner merely needs more practice to have a tactile and visual '3D' sense of their differences.

An important point is that En Passant, like several other chess rules, may be inflicted upon the other side as a tactic. It is not just something that a young player should know and use in a simple way. The keen eye will look for opportunities to bring more than one task to a turn that effects a chess rule, even winning a piece or making checkmate.

Our marvelous fellow subscriber <FSR> has even contributed an En Passant Mate to ChessGames.com, which is included below. Rare and beautiful to see, indeed!

ChessCoachClark (CCC) originated this game collection in October of 2021 and he updates it on occasion. This project is a work in progress, culling games from various sources, including several chess training books and personal research. The games are ordered by date (oldest first), not by importance.

Be well.
Be safe.