Il Vaticano meme · memes.md

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Title card explaining the fictional 'il Vaticano' chess move, in which two bishops swap positions while capturing two enemy pawns between them.
The original Reddit post that popularized the 'il Vaticano' bishop swap as a supposed chess special move.
A viral comment thread joking that the 'il Vaticano' move parodies the Catholic Church's practice of quietly relocating accused priests.
A Reddit crosspost mocking newcomers who search whether 'il Vaticano' is a legitimate chess move.
A commenter spins an elaborate false etymology tying 'il Vaticano' to a chess match between Pope Clement VII and King Henry VIII.
A follow-up Reddit joke post explaining how to 'defend' against 'il Vaticano' by walling off the board with rooks.
A tongue-in-cheek post from a 'chess beginner' asking why the game won't allow the fictional 'il Vaticano' move.
A joke Reddit post where a user pretends to have 'accidentally' performed il Vaticano on their own king and queen.
A meta crosspost celebrating the collective effort of Reddit users to spread the il Vaticano hoax to chess newcomers.

History

Il Vaticano is a fake chess special move invented as a hoax by the /r/AnarchyChess subreddit in December 2022, where two same-colored bishops flanking two enemy pieces swap positions and capture the pieces between them. It became a running gag on the subreddit alongside its long-standing en passant jokes.

Origin

Redditor /u/MidnightFireworks kicked off the joke on December 20, 2022 with a post to /r/AnarchyChess showing normal and 'special' moves for each chess piece[1]. The pawn's special was the real en passant, while the bishop's special was the newly invented Il Vaticano. The graphic pulled over 7,000 upvotes within about a month[3].

Platform: Reddit (r/AnarchyChess)
Creator: /u/MidnightFireworks
Date: 2022

Overview

Il Vaticano is a made-up chess move popularized by the /r/AnarchyChess subreddit. The supposed rule lets two same-colored bishops sitting on the same rank or file with two enemy pieces between them swap places and capture both middle pieces in a single move[1]. It does not exist in official chess rules and was invented purely as an in-joke.

The bit works because /r/AnarchyChess regularly leans on the real but obscure en passant pawn capture to bait newcomers, so bolting a fake bishop equivalent onto the same graphic feels plausible at a glance[2]. Screenshots of boards set up for Il Vaticano started circulating beyond the subreddit within days of the first post[3].

How It Spread

Comments under the original post treated the move as if it were real. Redditor /u/HylianPikachu speculated about how Il Vaticano supposedly originated, and /u/Quarterdillon offered a rival origin theory two days later[4]. On December 22, 2022, /u/KnewAgedMancHind posted a screenshot of an unrelated user asking /r/chess whether Il Vaticano was a real move, and that meta-post cleared 14,000 upvotes[2].

The gag kept building through the following week. On December 23, /u/TheHayLord published a diagram claiming two rooks could 'block' Il Vaticano, playing along with the fiction[5]. That same day, /u/kamiland posted a compilation image bundling every recurring /r/AnarchyChess bit at once, including a Deal With It knight-rook, an en passant setup, and Il Vaticano[6]. A week later, /u/DaStalkingBiscuit posted a fake distress message reading, 'shit shit shit guys I accidentally performed Il Vaticano on my king and queen, how do I undo this???'[7]

How to Use

The joke typically works one of two ways. People either post a chessboard mid-Il Vaticano and treat it as a straight rules question, or they drop the move into wider chess drama posts as if it decided a real game. Urban Dictionary's example entry runs with this, using a fake line about 'Hans Niemann used Il Vaticano against Magnus Carlsen'[8].

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Il Vaticano?

Il Vaticano is a fictional chess move invented by /r/AnarchyChess where two same-colored bishops flanking two enemy pieces swap positions and capture the pieces between them[1].