Check out Symmetric Chess, our featured variant for March, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Jean-Yves Boulay.

The Toddler

By Jean-Yves Boulay

Introduction

The Toddler® is a large chess variant whose moves extend the usual chess moves. The pieces protect each other in an unprecedented number of ways. Other interesting features include a different promotion rule for Soldiers (into a piece which is allowed to move twice in a row) and the interdiction for the most mobile pieces (the Phenixes) to capture each other.

Board and Setup

The Toddler® is played on an 11 x 11 board.
The lines are numbered from 1 to 11 starting from top, and the columns from A to K.

setup

White
Toddler (T): F11
Emperor (E): H11
Empress (I): D11
Guardian Angel (W): E11
Genius (G): G11
Phoenixes (P): C11 I11
Androids (A): B11 K11
Nurses (N): A11 J11
Captain (C): F9
Soldiers (S) : A9 B9 C9 D9 E9 G9 H9 I9 J9 K9
Black
Toddler (T): F1
Emperor (E): D1
Empress (I): H1
Guardian Angel (W): G1
Genius (G): E1
Phoenixes (P): C1 I1
Androids (A): A1 J1
Nurses (N): B1 K1
Captain (C): F3
Soldiers (S) : A3 B3 C3 D3 E3 G3 H3 I3 J3 K3

The Pieces

Other rules

A player always has the right to pass his turn.

When both players have passed in succession, or when a Toddler which was not in check reaches a square adjacent to the other Toddler's square, the game is a draw. (It doesn't matter whether the Toddler is now in check.)

Contact

The Toddler® is copyrighted and waits for a publisher. The copyright has been registered at the site copyrightdepot.com and at the French Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI). A complete translation of the rules is available here. For further information, visit the author's web site (in French).