

What Is The Rare Chess Move 'Il Vaticano?' The Reddit-Certified Special Move Explained
A chess move called the Il Vaticano has been gaining some notoriety in recent weeks for being a hitherto unrecognized and underappreciated special move. The trick supposedly involves the use of two bishops and can be used to decimate two of your opponent's pieces at once. Some say that the move, when used in conjunction with the Bongcloud attack, can decimate your chess opponent's strategy.

But where did this move originate, and why did it only resurface after getting renewed interest on the chess subreddit /r/AnarchyChess? Here's the history behind the resounding hoax.
What Is The Il Vaticano?
In December 2022, a /r/AnarchyChess resident poster shared an infographic showing the various "special moves" they know and enjoy using in a game of chess. The moves shared by Redditor /u/MidnightFireworks included two legitimate special moves, castling and the en passant. However, the post also contained a bizarre move dubbed the "Il Vaticano."

For those not in the know, /r/AnarchyChess is a joke chess forum full of chess fans and chess trolls alike. The users of the subreddit jumped at the opportunity to share even more special chess moves, but the allure of the "Il Vaticano" lingered.
How Did The Il Vaticano Become A Meme?
Rookie chess enjoyers who stumbled across a subreddit sharing "rare" chess moves were bamboozled by the existence of the Il Vaticano. The legitimacy of the en passant move added to the confusion around the Il Vaticano, and people began making falsified histories to account for the move.
![Il Vaticano [-] HylianPikachu 188 points 1 month ago Il Vaticano allows you to shuffle around your bishops without actually creating any overall change in the game. This rule is based on the Catholic Church policy where priests who were accused of sx scandals were simply relocated to a different area so the church could turn a blind eye to the abuses done by Catholic priests. permalink source embed save save-RES report give award reply hide child comments [-] Howardavery 59 points 1 month ago Holy see permalink source embed save save-RES parent report give award reply [-] shitstough 2 points 1 month ago Lol permalink source embed save save-RES parent report give award reply](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/576/831/b0e.png)
![Il Vaticano [-] Quarterdillon156 935 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) Yes and no. Il Vaticano is actually a very old move, in multiple versions of different kinds of Chess. However the move was eventually scrapped due to disagreements on whether or not the move applied to pieces, or just powns. In today's Chess it's nearly non-existent, as most major chess websites prefer to pretend it doesn't exist. permalink source embed save save-RES report give award reply hide child comments [-] Turtlehunter239 points 1 month ago Was it called the Il Vaticano back then or something else? permalink source embed save save-RES parent report give award reply hide child comments [-] Quarterdillon156 147 points 1 month ago It was called Il Vaticano, yes, but some called it Il Vaticino, some called it Intervento Divino. Some bonus history is that there was a small schism in the Church when a Pope Clement VII played against King Henry VIII. Pope Clement used Il Vaticano, which King Henry declared illegal, and due to this there became a schism in the Church which led to the founding of the Church of England. (Most people believe the schism was due to Henry wanting to divorce his wife, but this is a simple misinterpretation of events.) permalink source embed save save-RES parent report give award reply hide child comments](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/576/833/bf7.png)
Some people even began to pose as chess players fumbling their use of the Il Vaticano move, with one person making up a fake strategy for avoiding the move, and another person lamenting about how they "Il Vaticano-ed" their own King and Queen pieces.


For the full history of the Il Vaticano, be sure to check out our entry on the meme here for even more information.
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