Obscure chess move en passant was added in the fifteenth century specifically to counter the newly introduced rule that allowed pawns to move two squares forward on their first turn.

A closer look

Obscure chess move en passant was added in the fifteenth century specifically to counter the newly introduced rule that allowed pawns to move two squares forward on their first turn. Without it, players could cowardly bypass enemy pawns, so the French basically invented a magical ghost-capture mechanic just to spite people trying to avoid confrontation. Hundreds of years later, amateur players still accuse each other of blatant cheating when this incredibly confusing maneuver is executed, inevitably leading to furious online searches to prove it is actually legal. It is comforting to know that even centuries ago, game developers were hastily patching new mechanics to fix massive exploits created by their previous game-breaking updates just to keep the player base happy