Chess Rules - Special Moves: En Passant

En Passant is a simple, but often confused rule.

The En Passant rule applies when a player moves a pawn 2 squares forward from it's initial position, and an opposing pawn could have captured it if it had only moved one square. In the turn immediately after this occurs (and only this turn) the opposing player may capture the pawn as if it had only moved 1 square.

The best way to understand the rule is to study the diagrams below:

In this position, the white Pawn controls the marked square.

The black Pawn now moves two squares forward.

On the next turn, the white Pawn can capture the black Pawn as if it had only moved one square.