I like the concept a lot, actually - needing to do the weird movement option to complete the objective is neat. I think my main criticism here would be the weak positive/negative feedback loop - playing good isn't particularly rewarded and playing bad isn't particularly punished - with the title "Chain em" I was expecting some kind of reward for "Chaining" together rings - perhaps there could be some score multiplier for collecting multiple rings without releasing space? Like 1 point for the first ring, 2 for the second, 3 for the third and so on.
I also think there should be more of a downside for slamming into obstacles, I don't feel enough of a punishment from losing 2 points and grinding to a halt, something I'm already intending to do by releasing the space bar - mind you, the physics could definitely use some fine tuning if you were to try this, but with the player speeding up there's a clear theme of "Chaos" intended here, maybe colliding with an asteroid could make the ship's momentum carry on, and send them careening into space? I'm armchair designing here, do what you want, but I think with the existing wacky movement, this could be leaned into a lot.