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En passant right

Also known as: en passant availability

A temporary chance to capture an enemy pawn immediately after its initial two-square advance.

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Explanation

An en passant right may arise when an enemy pawn has just made a from its original square and finishes beside one of your pawns. On the immediate reply, your pawn may capture it as though the enemy pawn had advanced only one square.

A right created by -

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- is the double push that can create an en passant right.
Before the double push

The black pawn remains on , with the white pawn on beside the d-file.

The capture has unusual geometry: the capturing pawn moves one square diagonally onto the square the enemy pawn crossed, while the enemy pawn is removed from the adjacent square where it finished. The right exists only if the capture leaves the capturing side’s king safe, meaning it is not left under attack.

An apparent capture that exposes the king

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The pawn on blocks the line between the rook on and the king on .
Before the double push

The white pawn on helps block the line between the black rook on and the white king on .

The right is temporary . If the player chooses any other move, the opportunity disappears and cannot be used later. Therefore, two boards with the same pieces on the same squares may differ for a repetition claim, which allows a player to claim a draw when the same position appears for the third time: a legal en passant capture may exist in one position but not the other.

The same board without the right

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- is a single push and does not create an en passant right.
Before the single push

The black pawn is already on , so its next advance covers only one square.

Common confusions

The right and the completed capture

The right is an option available for one turn. The en passant capture is the move that uses that option.

Capturing on the enemy pawn’s final square

The capturing pawn lands on the crossed square, not on the square where the captured pawn finished.

Sources

  1. 1.Article 3: The Moves of the Pieces, FIDE Rules Commission
  2. 2.Article 9: The Drawn Game, FIDE Rules Commission

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