Chess Chaos

Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of the well known collectible card game Magic, the Gathering had announced to publish a chess variant game, where cards are used in addition to a chess set.

Upon a request for information, Eric Cagle from WotC Non-Rules Customer Service wrote me in July 1996:

Chess Chaos has been in development by Wizards of the Coast for the past three years with the concept being created in 1981! It is currently being scheduled for release by the fall of 1996. The concept of Chess Chaos is an exciting way to alter Chess with cards, and contains 80 unique cards with 80 unique abilities.

It might be interesting to note that a similar looking game is now being sold by Steve Jackson Games: Knightmare Chess. Also, it might be interesting to know that Richard Garfield (director of WotC) has bought a copy of David Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (this was mentioned by Pritchard in Variant Chess.)

However, Chess Chaos has not been released in fall 1996, and Spring 1998 nothing was heard anymore of this game. It seems that the project has been cancelled by Wizards of the Coast.