Anichess

Anichess is a browser-based chess variant from Animoca Brands, built in partnership with Chess.com and fronted by grandmaster ambassadors including Magnus Carlsen. It departs from the original far further than the blockchain framing suggests: pieces move as they always have, but each player also banks mana — one per turn you decline to cast, up to a ceiling of eight — and spends it on spells picked before the match. Parkour Mech permanently turns a piece into a knight; Imposter swaps one of your pieces with the opponent's; House Recruit drops a pawn onto an empty square. There is no check or checkmate, because hidden information can conceal it, so games end when a king is captured.

The variant itself is the strongest part: mana costs and cast limits force real tempo decisions, and familiar time controls, a Glicko-2 ranked ladder and bot training give it structure a club player recognises. The chain side is thinner than the label implies — moves are not written on-chain. What is on-chain is M8, a free seasonal points layer on Base tied to the CHECK token, earned largely by turning up daily and spent on cosmetics, lootboxes and buy-in modes. Season rules change often, so this month's earning terms may not hold next.

It suits chess players open to a rules-bending variant and to rewards that cost nothing to chase. Purists, and anyone expecting a deep on-chain economy, should look elsewhere.