My latest obsession has been something I call Tonks Chess — a twist on the classic game, with a sprinkle of chaos and color. It’s a brand new online chess variant that turns traditional strategy on its head.
The idea came out of a casual thought: what if, instead of capturing an opponent’s piece, you possessed it? In Tonks Chess, whenever you take an opponent’s piece, you don’t remove it from the board. Instead, it flips allegiance, changes color to your side, and swaps position with your capturing piece. It’s like if chess and Uno had a magical baby.
I wanted to see what this rule tweak would do to strategy and flow. The result? Everything changes. You can no longer freely trade pieces — every capture becomes a positional puzzle. Do you really want that knight switching places with your queen? Do you want a pawn suddenly joining your ranks deep in enemy territory?
What’s surprised me most is how quickly your own army can turn against you if you’re careless. A single misstep can give your opponent both material and positioning advantage. It’s a game of momentum, misdirection, and mid-game mutinies — perfect if you’re a fan of strategy board games and chess with a twist.
I’ve now built and hosted Tonks Chess online — you can try it out at tonkschess.com. You can play chess against AI or challenge your friends in multiplayer mode. The game is live and ready for chaos.
It started with a silly idea and ended up bending how I think about something familiar. If you’re into fun online chess alternatives, or just like games that flip the script, Tonks Chess might be your kind of chaos.
Let me know if you’d like to play a game. But beware: every piece you capture might just come back to haunt you.