Correspondence Chess

Correspondence chess is a chess where the two players play a game of chess and don't sit and play at the same chess board at the same time.
They mabe play from

different towns, cities
different parts of the same country
different countries

For transmission of moves correspondence chess servers (entering the moves on your screen), email (sending each move by a new email) or snail mail (the good old postcard chess) are used.

Reflection time is limited and normally measured in days.

A player can compete in different tournaments at the same time.

Today players normally use computer chess programs to generate or control their moves before they send them to their opponent.

The usage of these chess programs cannot be prevented.

As the leading computer programs are now very strong, correspondence chess has lost a lot of it's charme.

The top organizations have lost a lot of members in the last years.

The influence of computer generated analysis is overwhelming.

Only a few top players are capable of beating opponents who rely on the best hardware/software combinations.

But playing on such a level might be already a fulltime job. And there is no money in correspondence chess.

Correspondence Chess organizations:

ICCF (International Correspondence Chess organization)

The ICCF is the leading correspondence chess organization. The ICCF is the head of the national correspondence chess organizations and organizes
Worldchampionships, Olympiads, team matches and international tournaments.
They organize tournaments by their correspondence chess server, by email and by snail mail.
In most of their tournaments you have to pay entry fees to start playing. There is only one type of tournament where you can win money prizes.

IECG (International Email Chess group)

The IECG is the number two in popularity of correspondence chess organizations. They organize many different tournaments
(among others Worldchampionships, Cup tournaments, thematic tournaments).
Tournaments are played on their own correspondence chess server or by email.
There are no entrie fees.

Last update : 30-04-2009 16:36