En Passant Chess Puzzles

About en passant puzzles

En passant is chess's most misunderstood rule — a special pawn capture that can only occur immediately after an opponent advances a pawn two squares from its starting position. The capturing pawn moves diagonally to the square the advancing pawn passed through, removing it from the board. En passant puzzles train you to recognise when this rule applies and how to use it tactically. In some positions, en passant is the only way to prevent a passed pawn or to maintain a pawn chain. Practising these puzzles ensures you never miss an en passant opportunity in a game and that you always remember this rare but important special pawn capture rule.

How to train en passant

These positions sit outside the usual patterns, which is exactly why they are worth practising. Expect to be surprised, and check the moves you would normally dismiss.

Questions

How many en passant puzzles are there?

Enough that you will not repeat them — this set is drawn from a library of over 1,000,000 puzzles taken from real games, graded from easy to hard.

What level is this suitable for?

Children from about age 5 upward, once they know how the pieces move, through to rated tournament players. Start on the easy set and move up when you are solving most of them at a glance.