What is Correspondence Chess

Correspondence chess is played by two people who don't necessarily sit in front of the board to play. Moves are transmitted via regular mail, email or even via fax. Moves have been known to have been sent via homing pigeon! In Dawn of the Dead, Ving Rhames and Bruce Bohne play correspondence chess on top of opposite building rooftops by holding up large marker boards while zombies below try to figure out a way to get inside the buildings and kill them!

The time period between moves is agreed upon in advance and if a person doesn't make a move within said time period, their upon may claim a time period expiration victory. Unlike live chess, if you make your move within the allotted time period, your time period is reset for your next move. So, for example, if a game is set for 1 day per move and you make a move with 12 hours left, your time is reset to 1 day for your next move. In live chess, your time doesn't get replenished with each move.

The benefit of correspondence chess is that you don't have to carve out a certain period of time to play chess. If you're a busy person who never seems to have a large block of time set aside to play chess, you can start a game, make a move, come back an hour later (or 12 hours later) and make another move.