Can I capture my own piece? This may seem like a very amateur question, but I was playing chess with my dad, and when my dad won, I realized that I could've captured my own pawn in order to evade checkmate. I tried to do this move, but my dad said that it was cheating to do so. So can anybody settle this debate?
From the FIDE Laws of Chess, §3.1:


  It is not permitted to move a piece to a square occupied by a piece of the same colour. If a  piece  moves  to  a  square  occupied  by  an  opponent’s  piece the  latter  is  captured  and  removed  from  the  chessboard  as  part  of  the  same  move.


(emphasis mine).

So you can't capture your own piece.