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This first question was closed as a duplicate of the second.

Chess. What is it called when a pawn takes a pawn by being passed What is the "En passant" rule in chess?

The first asks what it is called in chess when a pawn captures another pawn by passing it. The second asks what the "En Passant" rule is in chess.

Yes, these questions are related. Yes, the answer to the second answers the first. But that doesn't seem like it makes them the same question. The two questions are actually reasonable answers to each other. This is how you know they are not asking the same thing.

Is this how it is supposed to work? Even though the asker would have had to already know the answer to the question to identify the second question as the answer that was desired, it gets deemed to be the same question?

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    Thank you everyone for your valuable feedback. I understand now this is a bad question and will do everything in my power to improve it. As soon as I know what that is.
    – Matt
    Feb 19, 2019 at 21:32

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They are both asking about the same rule which is En Passant which means they can both be answered by the same question. Just because one is only asking about the name doesn't mean it can't be answered by another question that is asking about how the rule works. In the end having it as a duplicate is not a bad thing as that way others who don't know the name can have a better chance of finding the answer which not only give the name but explains the rule as well.

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  • Aren't closed questions usually automatically deleted by the system after some time?
    – Matt
    Feb 18, 2019 at 19:55
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    @Matt duplicate questions are not automatically deleted as they are a special type of closed question which is to help people find answers.
    – Joe W
    Feb 18, 2019 at 19:57
  • @Matt the purpose of marking a question as a duplicate is to let users find that question and be pointed to where the best answer is, so "When a pawn takes a pawn by being passed" will stay on the site, with the duplicate notification linking to the question about "En Passant"
    – Andrew
    Feb 19, 2019 at 21:12
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    @Andrew Yeah, that makes sense, I didnt realize duplicates stuck around. Although I'm still not convinced they are the same question. If I asked for someone to ID a game would it get closed as a duplicate of a question asking for that game's rules? I suspect not and I dont really see this as different. But I guess thats the minority view.
    – Matt
    Feb 19, 2019 at 21:30
  • @Matt Perhaps, though in this case also, though some may not think that way, the fact that the move of taking a pawn with another pawn "in passing" is called "En Passant" literally in passing in French lends it a little more to being a duplicate.
    – Andrew
    Feb 19, 2019 at 21:34
  • @Matt as for duplicates staying around, the oldest duplicate I could find on BGSE is this question: boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/2412/… 8 years old this month
    – Andrew
    Feb 19, 2019 at 21:37

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