Every time I think I’ve found one the rules seem to allow for endless matches - 7 days between moves before a forfeit.
I can’t get out often and when I do it’s hard to find people who are at my level who want to play at the same time.
On-line sounds perfect, if I can find where to play.
Yahoo! Games has chess, and you can set timers. Players are rated, so you’ll be able to find one at your level more easily.
QED, I have not tried the Yahoo chess games…
but I have tried to play Hearts via Yahoo games
However I found, too often ,that it was difficult to get to a game
There was some way frequent players had a clique
and kicked people off their games while they waited
for those they knew.
I have not tried chess on the MS Gamezone, so I don’t know if they have the problems you mentioned. Check it out:
I have three. Blitz, USCF, and Fritz 7’s site, which you can access without the CD. To play on the USCF, you have to be a member. Blitz (International Chess) costs $50. a year.
http://www.uschess.org/
The Fritz 7 is playchess.com. I believe the address is www.playchess.com, but I access it thru my CD.
Oops! I have a fourth, but it’s a mirror image of msn.com and Yahoo:
Pogo
I hardly use this one as the others are better.
[sub]Edited link. See my post below. - DrMatrix[/sub]
This may or may not be what you’re looking for, but if you have a PlayStation 2, you can play ChessMaster online! I’m definitely picking up this game and playing online when it comes out. And it’s only $19.99. 
I use the Fritz 7 site too. You can also watch other games. Sometime there are 600+ people on that site
barbitu8,
I edited your link to go to Pogo’s main page. When I clicked on your link, I was already logged in as you.
DrMatrix - GQ Moderator
I recommend Yahoo games.
The interface is polished.
There’s always thousands of player online.
Has a neat ranking system, but you can play anybody you like if you wish.
The latest Fritz is Fritz 8, but I don’t think it’s worth $50 to upgrade. You can watch othe games on the other sites too. Blitz (ICC) has grandmasters playing blitz games all the time, which you can watch and are notified that they are playing. In addition, every hour it has an old grandmaster game replayed with annotation. It’s neat to watch those games as the computer will reposition in no time, run through the variations, and then return to the game. You can just sit back, relax, enjoy, and possibly learn.
Someone has to plug freechess.org, which runs FICS- which is similar to ICC but without as many features.
But hey, it’s free, and lots of fun. I would never touch something like Yahoo Chess.