The Hazards of Correspondence Chess

I'm playing in the 2010 Electronic Knights tournament, an email correspondence tournament hosted mainly for the USCF.  I play a lot of Correspondence games mainly because I don't have time, the gas money, or the opportunities to play in many OTB tournaments.  The ones I get to play in are usually blitz tournaments, and I do terrible on short clock.  For anyone else in this situation, I would HIGHLY recommend playing USCF (or other nationality) correspondence games, email if you can because it's MUCH quicker than postal.  There are a few hazards that I, and my fellow postals, have faced.  Be glad Chess.com offers you an interactive board that holds the moves!

Hazard One:
Relocating.  Relocation has caused me to lose so much time due to unavailability of the internet, specifically my chess.com email that I use for my Eknights games.  While 10moves/30days doesn't seem like much a time crunch, it does have a psychological tole knowing you almost have to respond the second you get the email or you're going to run out of time, when you've got 3 days left to make 8 of those first 10 moves.

Hazard Two:
Power Outtages/Maintenance.  I WAS in a stable position, but I couldn't access my internet due to maintenance on the cable lines in my neighborhood.  This cost me more time, I almost forgot my plans, and luckily I keep a back-up written copy of my analysis in my notebooks, since most of it is done on one of my private blogs.

Hazard Three, the Destroyer of Worlds:
Setting up the board wrong. I beat the highest seeded player in the first round of the tournament, after a grueling, positional 32 move struggle where the small errors made the difference.  I turned around, not a day later, and lost to the second seed after only 8 moves, because I set up the board incorrectly(actually it was fine, one of my dogs hit the board with her tail, and I come back from the WC to analyse, make a sound move, to get a reply 2 hours later with my checkmate in hand).  I just won a game because my opponent blundered his Queen away for exactly the same reason.  To his credit, he was in a losing position, and had he not resigned, he had a nice combination that would have made the win that much harder.  It doesn't sound like it's that big of a deal, and honestly, it shouldn't be.  We both should've taken special care to double check the board.  The real hazard comes when you've got the board set up, and in the process of double checking to make sure your move is sound, you forget the plan behind the move, and when the guy makes the reply you had planned on, you forget where you were going in the first place.

For anyone wanting to take up Correspondence chess in the ~real~ rated world, I would definately recommend it.  But before entering into a tournament, make sure you've got the resources and a back-up plan before charging full speed into the postal abyss.

The USCF used to sell little books with chess boards so you can keep track of the current position in all games. I used them when playing postal. Now, I record my moves in a database that exists for that purpose (any chess.com games that call for extensive research go in there as well).