Il Vaticano

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About

Il Vaticano refers to a hoax orchestrated by the subreddit /r/AnarchyChess, where participants discuss and make memes about a special move named "Il Vaticano." The supposed special move involves two bishops flanking two chess pieces on either side and switching positions with each other as a means of capturing the middle pieces. The hoax began in late December 2022, with Redditor MidnightFireworks being the earliest creator to discuss the move on December 20th. The subreddit /r/AnarchyChess often creates hoax chess moves, sometimes bolstered by the inclusion of the "En Passant," a real although uncommon chess move involving pawns.

Origin

On December 20th, 2022, Redditor /u/MidnightFireworks posted a graphic to /r/AnarchyChess showing the normal and "special" moves of various chess pieces, with the pawn's special move being the "En Passant"^[1] and the bishop's special move supposedly being the "Il Vaticano." The post^[2] gathered over 7,000 upvotes in over a month (seen below).

Spread

The replies to the aforementioned post contained various theories on how the move originated, with Redditor /u/HylianPikachu posting a comment^[3] speculating about the origin of the supposed move (seen below, left). On December 22nd, 2022, Redditor /u/KnewAgedMancHind posted a screenshot of an unknown user asking /r/chess if Il Vatcano is a real move. The post^[4] gathered over 14,000 upvotes in over a month (seen below, right).

On December 22nd, Redditor ^[5] /u/Quarterdillon posted another theory about the origins of the supposed move in the replies to the aforementioned post (seen below, left). On December 23rd Redditor /u/TheHayLord posted a image to /r/AnarchyChess,^[6] showing how two rooks can be utilized to "block" the supposed Il Vaticano move. The post gathered over 2,000 upvotes in over a month (seen below, right).

Also on December 23rd, Redditor /u/kamiland posted an image^[7] containing various memes popular on the /r/AnarchyChess subreddit, including a knight-rook wearing Deal With It glasses, a set-up for the "en passant" pawn move, a castled king and the Il Vaticano. The post gathered over 8,000 upvotes in over a month (seen below, left). On December 30th, Redditor /u/DaStalkingBiscuit posted an image^[8] of a chessboard alongside the caption, "shit shit shit guys I accidentally performed Il Vaticano on my king and queen, how do I undo this???" The post gathered over 5,000 upvotes in over a month (seen below, right).