user19438: I am new to chess, so sorry for this obvious question. I was surfing through the web and learned the en passant rule. In this question they say "You cannot wait a few moves and then use the en passant capture." So I went searching through websites to find out if I can wait, then play the en passant capture and found nothing. So what I want to know is, if for example there are 2 pawns by each other, can I wait and play a few moves and then perform the move. Example: (I know the image below can't happen, but just saying.)

And then play a few moves like shown below.

And finally capture the white piece using en passant.

user10075: En-passant can only occur immediately after a pawn moves two squares from its starting square, where it could have been captured had it only moved one square.
You cannot wait a move: if you choose not to immediately capture en-passant, you lose the ability to do so next move.

19438: <p>I am new to chess, so sorry for this obvious question. I was surfing through the web and learned the en passant rule. In <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/5662/when-is-it-possible-to-carry-out-the-en-passant-manoeuvre">this question</a> they say "You cannot wait a few moves and then use the en passant capture." So I went searching through websites to find out if I can wait, then play the en passant capture and found nothing. So what I want to know is, if for example there are 2 pawns by each other, can I wait and play a few moves and then perform the move. Example: (I know the image below can't happen, but just saying.)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/5LwNH.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/5LwNH.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>And then play a few moves like shown below.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yApDv.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yApDv.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>And finally capture the white piece using en passant.</p>
 10075: <p>En-passant can only occur <em>immediately</em> after a pawn moves two squares from its starting square, where it could have been captured had it only moved one square.</p>

<p>You cannot wait a move: if you choose not to immediately capture en-passant, you lose the ability to do so next move.</p>
