Correspondence chess

Correspondence chess is chess played by some sort of long-distance correspondence, usually through a Correspondence Chess Server or e-mail or the postal system. Less usual methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon. It is opposed to so-called over-the-board (OTB) chess, where the players sit at a chessboard, at the same time.
I play chess regularly at ItsYourTurn. My UserId is IndianGuru. Since I started playing there, I have paid their membership fee and am now a full member. Somehow, I like their
user interface and prefer it over many similar sites. I especially like their Ladder matches. Ofcourse, two other sites I like to play at occasionally, are QueenAlice and SchemingMind.
Some sites suggested by other bloggers are:
GameKnot
Red Hot Pawn
Net-Chess
Chessworld.Net
ChessHounds
Chess
Mail

Where do you play Correspondence chess and why?

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Chess Nonsense Blog

While browsing the net I came across the Chess Nonsense blog that I found very interesting. I have been trying to improve my game of chess and when Paul Salcido mentioned about 'Errant Knights' and their plans to increase their chess ratings by '400 points in 400 days', I immediately got interested. I found a link which talks about Rapid Chess Improvement by Michael de la Maza. His plan is essentially to do just over 1200 problems of increasing difficulty seven times each over the course of about 5 months. The first 3-4 times are supposed to develop one's ability to use tactics in a game. The last 3 are supposed to improve one's ability to recognize patterns/similar situations so that in an actual game the person is able to see the correct move immediately. I am unable to get the book in my city so I am downloading his articles 400 Points in 400 Days - Part 1 and 2. I am going to give it a shot. The Boylston Chess Club Weblog talks about me and wonders if I too would become a Knights Errant. Let's see.
However, not everyone is enamoured of Michael de la Maza's book and method. Jeremy Silman, for example, gave it a terribly unfavorable review.

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One more Chess Blog

I got hooked on to Chess at school but then stopped playing about 30 years back. I have been trying to get back into form by playing Correspondence Chess. My performance indicates that my skills are average (probably Class F). At 50, it's a very, very slow climb!

As I age, I would like to keep mentally fit by playing Chess and devote this blog to everything Chess, my games and learning progression.

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Technorati Tags: Chess, Blogs, IndianGuru, Satish Talim's Chess Blog, Chess Blog, MDLM, Blogging, Internet, Blog, PGN