Mastering Chess Notation: The Guide to Writing En Passant Correctly

Chess notation is a crucial aspect of the game, allowing players to record and analyze their moves while communicating with others in the chess community.

One specific notation that players must master is en passant, a unique move that can change the course of a game.

We will explore what en passant is, how to write it in chess notation, and why it is essential for players to understand.

From learning the rules to practicing with examples, we will cover everything you need to know about en passant in chess notation.

What is Chess Notation?

Chess notation is a way of organizing and recording chess games. Notation is the system used by chess players and authors to describe the moves of a game. This system removes ambiguity by providing a standardized way to represent the board and enumerate all possible moves.

Chess notation is used by writers, annotators (people who comment on games in progress), and players to keep track of the game. It is especially useful for tracking a game that one is not witnessing in person. Chess notation is useful not only as a reminder of past moves, but also as a tool for studying the history of a game. En passant refers to a specific rule in chess notation by which one pawn takes another pawn. This move is written ‘e.p.’ or ‘ep’ where the representing pawn is provided in parentheses followed by the abbreviation.

Why is Chess Notation Important?

Chess notation is a language that allows players to read and write games, quickly see past moves, easily analyze games, and improve that strongest of chess skills, memory. Special notations help indicate a capture or even overrules a check or checkmate in situations where moves are difficult to see.

If you are playing blindfold chess, even if with a computer that displays the position for you, you might need to imagine the pieces and remember the game in order to win. This is where a strong understanding of the notation system can be essential. In summary, notation is important both for enjoyment and as an aid to understanding the game.

How to Write en Passant in Chess Notation?

As of October 2021, the only major chess dictionary, The Oxford Companion to Chess by David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, steers clear of en passant altogether. FIDE and US Chess do not address how to write en passant in chess notation in their respective official rules or instruction guides. Observing how en passant is handled in respected sources such as New In Chess and legendary chess writer Ihor Stetsko‘s Mastering Chess Theory suggests that en passant is consistently recorded with e.p..

What is en Passant?

in Passant is a special movement in the game of chess which describes when pawns are passed abnormally from one player to another. It was created in the 15th century to streamline pawns that were known as leaping pawns which could jump two squares forward when their first move began from the second row.

En passant has several restrictions. In order for an en passant to occur, there must be a white pawn in the fifth rank moving two squares forward to fifth rank, if there is no white pawn at those coordinates, en passant is not allowed. Pawns switching in the game will also need to move to another white pawn’s spot to allow the switch.

In chess notation, en passant is indicated by showing the coordinates of the square that the moving pawn passes through, as well as the coordinates it lands on. To indicate en passant, the coordinate of the initial crossed-over square (known as the captured square according to the FIDE rules), for example, the square d6, is shown in the notation after the moving pawn but before the coordinate of the newly landed square when it captures the opponent’s pawn.

How to Indicate en Passant in Chess Notation?

There are two different ways to indicate en passant in algebraic chess notation. One way gives the square that the rating piece moves to, and the other states that the pawn is taken en passant.

World Champions Wilhelm Steinitz (1894), Emanuel Lasker (1910), Jose Capablanca (1921), Alexander Alekhine (1937), Vasily Smyslov (1958), Tigran Petrosian (1963), Anatoly Karpov (1975), and Garry Kasparov (1985) all used the positional notation. From the Kramnik-Kasparov (2000) world championship match on, the alternate method was used.

Are There Any Special Rules for Writing en Passant in Chess Notation?

There are no special rules in standard chess notation for writing en passant. The term en passant itself defines the move type for capturing a pawn that has made a double move from its initial starting position. If the only move Information one needs to know for a game is the relevant position when an en passant capture has occurred, including the number of moves that have occurred the move number before and during the en passant capture sequence.

In the most technical notation formats, this is two moves. This allows the position to be reconstructed on a chess board and provides the needed historical context. The following example demonstrates the special rules in action. In this situation white plays c4-c5 so that the board appears just prior to the en passant move. They then switch positions of the pieces on the d and e file if necessary.

What is the Purpose of Writing en Passant in Chess Notation?

The purpose of writing en passant in chess notation is to indicate a move that a pawn can make to capture an opponent’s pawn. This move is not always explicitly noted, as the description of what it means is usually not included in the main notation sheet of the game. Carrying out the en passant move does not achieve the goal needed to win the game until later down the line, and recording every single en passant capture in the notation would be time-consuming to do.

Typically when en passant can be played, it has negative implications for the player whose pawn is being captured, so should it be recorded in the notation, the result must be constantly updated by both players, providing little value. En passant move is thus only recorded in the addition of the notation sheet for instructive purposes.

How to Read en Passant in Chess Notation?

To read the en passant move in chess notation, look out for lowercase e.p. after the pawn. Neither the e nor the p individual letters denote the move. The e stands only for en and does not interact with the p which does not interact with the *. It simply means preceding as plural of * asterisk which means same square, emphasizing that nothing is different at the destination at this moment in time.

What are the Advantages of Using Chess Notation?

Notation in chess is key to the game and offers the following advantages according to US Chess Federation National Master Charles Hertan in Pawns, Knights, and Bishops: Conquering the Common Mistakes. Listed as the primary advantages are that it is a way to learn and remember moves like a tape recorder or to see the overall picture of your chess strategy, plan, and position. This is because you are able to go back and forth to prior moves even within this same game to understand the strategy you or your opponent is trying to implement, which is especially useful after the game for postmortems. Secondly, notation is a way to distance yourself from the imperfect world and imperceptible emotions of the game pointing out that our emotions affect the way we perceive events. In short, notation helps us to accurately perceive reality and avoid wishful thinking.

French Hungarian Grandmaster Georges Koltanowski as quoted by the United States Chess Federation says “This is because the body and the mind act much more rapidly than can the pencil which marks the moves on the score sheet”. So when you are dealing with the high-energy emotions of a game or even tournament, you can easily lose track of the show score, but by writing down the moves you are able to confirm what has and has not been played.

Accurate Record Keeping

The proper way to write en passant in algebraic chess notation is to record it as e.p. after the move that occurs before the en passant capture. Prior moves should also be recorded as necessary. The viewer needs to be able to backtrack through moves to determine where the en passant possibility occurred. Recording the event as e.p. criteria helps them know when to apply this move in practice.

Accurate recordkeeping is an important benefit of a well-functional notation and is one of the main advantages that caused descriptive notation to be replaced by algebraic notation. Participants are able to clearly see all the moves that were previously made that led up to the current position. Knowing when the en passant rule can be invoked is one of the instances where these prior moves matter.

The e5 square is an example. A white pawn capturing on e5 performs the en passant action only if the enemy black pawn has previously done a double-advance move to e4.

Ability to Analyze Games

The second reason to write en passant in algebraic chess notation is to improve the ability to analyze games. If the en passant rule for attacking inaccurately placed pieces were erroneously played, but not written, it is likely that no one analyzing the game would notice, including the player. If a board position is restored from an online game, en passant must be identified by including clues in the text where the e.p. function was simulated. Describing a position of e.p. would unnecessarily complicate the analysis.

Instructional and tutorial content typically emphasizes proper chess notation as one of the foundations of chess analysis. In these lessons, the en passant capture in portable game notation is typically omitted, especially since every pgn viewer has the functionality of recognizing legal moves that can be played, including en passant. pgn viewer and training software typically color squares red for legal moves according to what version of the game being played: green (San Sebatián 1911 – Brussels 1901), or yellow (Parsl 1943) or white for classical chess.

Communication with Other Chess Players

When using notation as part of your transcribed or recorded game, en passant should always be indicated in the case of diagnosis as to the possible past course of play. This is a fundamental rule of proper notation and is necessary to create a high degree of reliability and accuracy in the study, instruction, and improvement of the game.

The move notating is the only language shared by all chess players regardless of native spoken or written language or the edition of the chess rules that they use.

What are the Different Types of Chess Notation?

The different types of chess notation are:

1. Descriptive notation, where the pieces are referenced with respect to the player owing them. Files are labeled with the rank containing the first letter of the corresponding piece (King, Qeen, Rook, Bishop, Night, and Pawn). All ranks and files are oriented from White’s perspective.
2. Algebraic notation, where the pieces are referenced with respect to the player whose move it is. It is composed of a letter (K, Q, B, N, R for king, queen, bishop, knight, and rook) followed by a symbol to indicate the movement (no symbol means a pawn move), and the alphanumeric coordinates of the board.
3. Long algebraic notation, a more verbose variation of regular algebraic notation that adds the starting cell of the moving piece to the notation. This eliminates any ambiguity of notation if multiple pieces of the same type can make the same move.
4. User interface notation, which is not uniform across platforms and may use words or color coding to give information alongside the move.

Algebraic Notation

1. Algebraic Notation:

You write En passant is indicated by suffixing “ep” to the move. This sentence is included as an example under heading 6 of en passant in the official TOM Database, the Chess Rules of Americas Foundation. These are used internationally, as well as by online chess platforms such as LiChess. alterating in the actual notation in the above document if you task google to “show me a move in chess notation” and the “Viewer” doesn’t have En passant turned on.

Descriptive Notation

Descriptive notation was mainly used in the English-speaking world until the late 1980s. The move of a pawn two squares forward was known as a ‘two-square move.’ If there is an opponent’s pawn on an adjacent file, that pawn may pass through the file containing the opposing pawn and be captured by it, and passed pawn and capturing pawn stop there, then the opposing pawn captures the passed pawn en passant on the next move, and the notation lists the description of the two pawns and notation of en passant capture space for the checksum. For example, if Black’s f7 pawn moved two squares forward and is threatened by White’s e5 pawn, then White’s e5 pawn captures en passant the Black f7 pawn, with the descriptive notation of the following 2 moves:

• g1 = f3
• d2 = d4 e p d4
• e p d4 f p d4+
• e6

2-square move

Coordinate Notation

Coordinate notation in chess is the most basic form of chess notation and is a method in which the chessboard is divided into 64 squares, ranging from “a1 the top-left square of the board, to “h8 the bottom right square. Using the Miller notation system, a file is represented by the first letter of the file, from “a” to “h and the rank by the rank number. The moves “a6” and “d6” look on the board like this: Pa6 Pd6. The importance of coordinates as opposed to SAN or LAN is that it is both a communication and a training tool.

How to Practice Writing en Passant in Chess Notation?

One practice writing en passant in chess notation is by looking at previous chess games in magazines, books, or notation programs and then copying the notation to reinforce the concepts. The exercise of watching the chess game of Joel Lautier vs. Arshak Petrosian Gelligener in 1997 forces notation learners to record multiple pawn captures.

A second idea is to go to Twitter @agadmator, where international master Antonio Radi published more than 450 videos of historic chess games from the internet under the title “The Molecules Behind Chess”. Watch any game that includes an en passant capture then try to write the moves down for that game up to the en passant action.

The best way to practice writing en passant in chess notation is to play online chess. Select online games but play without the pieces visualizing the game on a blank board. When an opponent makes an en passant capture, write it down in the chess notation that the software provides. Not all sites offer the move number, but if they do, always include it.

Study Notation Examples

One way to learn to write the en passant move in algebraic chess notation is to study examples. Start by looking at your own play history. If you can find en passant moves or any chess game where an en passant move wasn’t played when it could have been, focus on those games.

Another good way to study is via games played by professionals or high-elo players. There are entire websites and youtube channels devoted to broadcasting games of chess legends, such as the channel Agadmator on youtube. These do usually clearly mark the en passant moves.

Play Through Games Using Notation

En passant capture is infrequent during games even when accounting for hundreds of thousands of games every year. Nonetheless, Grandmasters and professionals occasionally lose games due to en passant errors. Furthermore, novice players frequently misidentify moves as en passant and promote inaccuracies and misunderstandings perpetuating the confusion on the subject.

To reduce errors while training, it is important to get comfortable with standard notation in general before attempting to write or read moves featuring en passant. One of the simplest ways to familiarize yourself with en passant capture and other strategies and tactics, as well as learning how to write them down, is to play through famous and instructive games. You will become more familiar with how chess games are described and written while learning from some of the greatest players of all time.

International Master John Bartholomew’s series of Standard Chess Games on his YouTube channel is an excellent place to start for this purpose. The format is him stepping through famous games, usually with a theme in mind, in a relaxed and educational setting. It is one of the YouTube chess royalty and his channel has millions of dedicated viewers. The analysis he performs is valuable for beginning players who can pick up tactical ideas and hone their critical thinking capacities.

Practice Writing Notation on Your Own Games

Playing through games makes you a stronger player. It can be useful to write down suggested moves in the smaller notation that takes up less space than the larger notation. Writing down en passant captures in your notations is a good way to ensure you have the rules correct.

Both descriptive and algebraic notations can be used when reviewing your games. Chessgames.com makes this easy with a switch from PGN (download this to see algebraic notation) to descriptive notation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I write en passant in chess notation?

En passant is written using the abbreviation “e.p.” after the move, for example “c4 e.p.” means a pawn on c4 captured en passant on d3.

Do I have to write en passant in chess notation?

Yes, en passant should always be indicated in chess notation, as it is an important rule in the game.

Can en passant be used to capture any piece?

No, en passant can only be used to capture a pawn that has just made a two-square move, and only on the next move.

Can I use en passant even if it’s not the best move?

Yes, as long as the opportunity to capture en passant is available, it is a legal move and can be played.

Is there a specific way to indicate which pawn is being captured en passant?

No, the notation “e.p.” is used to indicate that the capture is happening en passant, regardless of which pawn is actually being captured.

What if I miss the opportunity to capture en passant?

If a player forgets to capture en passant on their next move, the opportunity is lost and the game continues as usual. It is important to pay attention to en passant opportunities during the game.