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Take a look at the accompanying diagram. On the left side of the board, a white Pawn has advanced to its fifth row. In the adjacent column is a black Pawn still on its initial square. According to the rules it has the option to advance one or two squares, as shown by the green circles.
On the right side of the board, a black Pawn has advanced to its fifth row. In the next column is a white Pawn which also has the option to advance two squares.
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Now the black Pawn on the left has advanced two squares in a single move. It looks like it has avoided being captured by the white Pawn. This is the condition necessary for capturing 'en passant', also known as 'e.p.'.
The white Pawn can now pretend that the black Pawn stopped on the square that is still marked by the green circle. That would leave the black Pawn on a square subject to capture by the white Pawn.
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To capture en passant, the white Pawn moves as though it were capturing on its diagonal and the black Pawn disappears from the board.
The en passant option is available to the white Pawn only on the move immediately following the black Pawn's bold attempt to run past the white Pawn. If White makes another move, the option disappears. Of course, if Black had a Pawn sitting on its original square on the other column adjacent to the white Pawn, and if it also advanced two squares, the en passant option would appear on that side for the following move.
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This diagram shows a similar situation, except the white Pawn is now trying to run past the black Pawn. The en passant option is now available to the black Pawn.
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Here it's the black Pawn pretending that the white Pawn advanced a single square. The black Pawn captures on its diagonal and the white Pawn disappears from the board.
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