Sir, Smyslov fan, are you a coach? Can we play a correspondence game if you have time please?
Does correspondence chess really improve your game?
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To be honest, i only tried it once... So i cannot judge it 100%... But, since it is a game itself, i suppose it has it's benefits... The only negative element is that you have to wait (even days) for the opponent's move! So the game may have no rythm...
I've found it helpful. Two pitfalls to avoid:
(1) Don't play too many games. Correspondence is helpful when you deeply analyze the interesting positions that arise. If you are playing 80 games (and want to have any kind of life) you won't be able to do that--you'll just be making superficial moves in each game and this isn't educational. For me personally the limit is 20 and 10-15 is better.
(2) Don't blindly rely on the opening databases. Looking at the databases is legal and can be helpful, but *you* shoud be making all of your moves. Otherwise you don't even learn the opening you're playing, because you won't memorize it by just picking the #1 database move (at least, I can't memorize that way!) A good use of the database is if you first work out what move you want to play, then check the database: if it is missing or has a terrible score, try to find out why.
+1