Just in a desperate search for help of course :). 

 

You see, the ICCF (international correspondence chess...) works very closely with FIDE (FIDE recognizes all ICCF titles, etc.).  My hope is that I can join the ICCF and therefore gain a 'real' rating.  Because of where I live, it is impractical to travel and therefore correspondence tournaments/games would be far better.  Here's my problem...

I can't figure out how to join the ICCF and therefore get a rating.  www.iccf.com is a rather terrible site imho.  Anyways, if anyone has the answer to this I'd be deeply appreciative.

Have you checked out the Canadian Chess Association Correspondence Chess site for starters?

http://correspondencechess.com/ccca/

Usually if you start with your national chess association and get a correspondence rating there it makes it easier to move up to ICCF play (and the experience of course is very valuable)

The method seems a bit round-abount (I did it a while back). But basically, you go to the "webchess" portion of the site, and look up upcoming events. You can see that here: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventsAnnouncements.aspx

Find an event you want to join, (the only ones you will likely be qualified for right now are the "individiual open" events), and to the right of it, click the "enter" link.

From there, follow the instructions for getting an ICCF ID#, and payment instructions etc. I don't know all the details for you from this point, cause they may vary from country to country.

 Hope that helps,

Josh

If you see anyone called Micheal jeffeys on ICC challenge him.

Thankyou very much Baseball fan.  I've followed your 'directions' and now have entered into a tournament.  I am waiting for further info via email... it cost me 11 bucks :S... god forbid it doesn't work out :P.

 

Well, since the Canadian CC association (or whatever its called there), is now involved, I can't really speak to what will happen, but I know when I enetered, it took about a week and a half from the time I paid till I got the e-mail saying when my tournament started, and everything went smoothly.