En Passant in Chess

What is en passant?

En passant (French for "in passing") is a special pawn capture. When a pawn moves two squares forward from its starting square and lands right beside an enemy pawn, that enemy pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square. The capture has to be made on the very next move. Wait one move and the chance is gone.

It is the only capture in chess where the capturing piece does not land on the square of the piece it takes. That is why it surprises so many players: a pawn disappears from a square that nothing moved to.

The four conditions

An en passant capture is legal only when all four are true:

1. Your pawn is on its fifth rank. For White that is the 5th rank (e5, d5 and so on). For Black it is the 4th rank, which is Black's fifth counting from its own side.
2. An enemy pawn on a neighbouring file has just moved two squares from its starting square (the 7th rank for Black, the 2nd for White) and stopped directly beside your pawn.
3. You capture on the very next move. Any other move first, and that pawn can no longer be taken en passant.
4. The capture is otherwise legal. Like every move, it cannot leave your own king in check. There is a sneaky case of this further down.

Your pawn moves diagonally forward to the square the enemy pawn skipped over. The enemy pawn is then removed from the square where it stopped.

Example: White captures en passant

This comes from a real opening, Alekhine's Defence: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 d5. White's pawn has reached e5. Black's d-pawn jumps from d7 to d5, straight past d6, a square the e5-pawn attacks. Had it moved just one square, White could have taken it on d6. En passant lets White do exactly that.

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Notice where everything ends up. White's pawn finishes on d6, the square Black skipped. Black's pawn is taken off d5, even though no White piece moved to d5.

Example: Black captures en passant

The rule works the same way for Black, one rank lower. After 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 d4 3.c4, Black's pawn stands on d4, its fifth rank. White's c-pawn has jumped from c2 to c4, past c3. Black can reply 3...dxc3 e.p., moving to c3 and removing the pawn on c4.

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The window closes after one move

Suppose Black ignores the chance and plays 3...Nf6, and White answers 4.b3. The pawns still stand side by side on c4 and d4, but 4...dxc3 is now illegal. The same goes for a pawn that walks c2-c3 and then c3-c4 in two single steps: it never made the two-square jump, so it can never be taken en passant.

Why does en passant exist?

In medieval chess a pawn could only ever move one square. When the two-square first move was introduced, around the 15th century, to speed up the opening, it created a loophole: a pawn could use the jump to slip past an enemy pawn that was guarding the square it skipped. En passant closes that loophole. The jumping pawn is treated as if it had stopped on the square it passed over, so the defending pawn keeps the capture it would have had.

The rule matters most for pawn structure. Without it, a pawn on the fifth rank would be easy to bypass, and passed pawns (pawns with no enemy pawn able to stop them) would appear far too easily. The double step was meant to save time, not to let pawns walk past each other for free.

How to write en passant

In algebraic chess notation en passant is written like any pawn capture: the file the pawn leaves, an "x", and the square it lands on. In the first example that is 3.exd6, not exd5. You may add e.p. to make it obvious, as in 3.exd6 e.p., but it is optional, and PGN game files leave it out.

Computers track the rule through the FEN string, which records a position in one line of text. Its fourth field is the en passant square. After 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 d5 the FEN reads:

The d6 near the end tells an engine the capture is available. Paste that FEN into the chess calculator and Stockfish will treat exd6 as a legal move. Copy the same position with a dash in that field and the capture disappears.

Three tricky cases

1. An en passant capture that is illegal

En passant removes two pawns from the same rank at once. That can open a line to your own king. Below, Black has just played ...c7-c5. White's b5-pawn seems able to take on c6, but after bxc6 both pawns would be gone from the fifth rank and the rook on h5 would attack the king on a5. A move that leaves your king in check is illegal, so en passant is not allowed here.

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2. Using en passant to escape check

A pawn that makes the two-square jump can give check. Here Black has just played ...e7-e5+ against the king on f4. One legal answer is dxe6 e.p., which removes the checking pawn. The king could also step away, so en passant is a choice here, not an obligation.

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3. Checkmate by en passant

The most famous en passant in history ended a game. Gundersen vs Faul, Christchurch 1928, went 1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 cxd4 5.cxd4 Bb4+ 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Nge7 8.Bd3 O-O 9.Bxh7+ Kxh7 10.Ng5+ Kg6 11.h4 Nxd4 12.Qg4 f5 13.h5+ Kh6 14.Nxe6+ g5. Black's last move blocked a check from the bishop on c1 with a two-square pawn jump.

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15.hxg6 e.p.# removes the pawn on g5, which reopens the bishop's diagonal from c1 to h6, and the h-pawn leaving h5 opens the h-file for the rook on h1. It is a double check, so the king must move, and it has no safe square.

Common misconceptions

Should you take en passant?

Knowing the rule is the easy part. Deciding whether to use it is a real chess decision, because the capture changes the pawn structure for the rest of the game. A typical decision comes up in the French Defence, Advance Variation: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 f5. White can play 6.exf6 e.p., but that gives up the e5-pawn that cramps Black's position and opens the f-file for Black's rook after castling. Keeping the pawn on e5 holds the bind.

• Take it when it wins material, stops a dangerous passed pawn, or opens a file or diagonal toward the enemy king.
• Leave it when your advanced pawn is doing more good where it stands, for example cramping the opponent's pieces.
• Watch for it in defence: if your opponent has a pawn on its fifth rank, a two-square push beside it can be captured. Sometimes one square is the safer move.

Why people say "Google en passant"

En passant is also the best-known joke in online chess. On forums such as Reddit's r/AnarchyChess, "Google en passant" became a running gag, usually aimed at a player who has just accused an opponent of cheating after a pawn vanished. The joke works because the rule really does catch people out. It is not a glitch: every rated tournament, chess site and engine plays it exactly as described on this page.