When I was a child, my uncle use to play with his best friend, what they called ‘Distance Chess’. Basically, they send letters to each other (I am talking letters because they use to leave in different countries during the summer and the actually use the Postman to deliver the mail), yes this was before Pine, email or IM.
The idea was simple, you make a move, write a letter and send it to your friend, he receive the letter and do the same.
I use to play like that, many years ago, my first ‘Distance Chess’ was done over IRC, later on over ICQ, and sometime after that it got lost.
Last week some friends from Florida sent me an invitation to play with ‘Chess with Friends’ on the iPhone, a new game by NewToy inc.
Honestly had been a blast to begin playing chess again, I use to play a lot, and love the game, but I love the social part of the game that the computer never provide for me, now with ‘Chess with Friends’ I am playing again and having a blast.
This application, works on the iPhone or iPod touch, and has a premium and a free (with ads) version. It has been great to be back to my child days, and to discover how much I need to play again to improve.