En passant (French for “in passing”) is a special pawn capture. If an enemy pawn moves two squares from its starting square and lands right next to your pawn, you may capture it as if it had moved only one square.
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The rules
- Only a pawn can capture en passant, and only an enemy pawn that just made a two-square move.
- Your pawn must be on its fifth rank (rank 5 for White, rank 4 for Black).
- It must be done on the very next move. Wait one turn and the chance is gone.
- Your pawn moves diagonally to the square the enemy pawn skipped over.
En passant is optional, unless it is your only legal move.
Related terms: Promotion · Castling · Chess notation
