A chess set that was due to be burnt on a bonfire at Mostyn Hall has been successfully auctioned off at double the expected price. The French designed ivory figures along with the walnut vintage wood chess board fetched over £10,000 at Christie’s the upmarket London auctioneer.
It was Lord Mostyn who originally owned the chess set, and it was rescued from a bonfire in the 1800’s at Mostyn hall by the then butler James Baxter. James’ great grandchildren sent the ivory chess set to be auctioned last Tuesday.
Great grandson Christopher Baxter is quoted as saying “We have no idea who it went to, but we’re very pleased it’s been recognised for what it is, which is a fine piece of carving”
Christopher used the Christie’s website to watch the auction live on the Internet from his house in Surrey. He made the point that it was his grandfather that deserved the full credit for rescuing the chess set; he felt that he hadn’t probably rescued it for the purpose of his grandchildren to sell it for thousands of dollars.
He believes that he and his siblings were just custodians of the set, before it passed to a different owner. The chess set had apparently been kept in a cardboard box for the last 100 or so years anyway.
The opening move in a game of chess can sometimes make or break the game; and I know that lots of you constantly search for chess opening books to help you with this essential part of the game.
I’ve gathered together some reviews of the top chess opening books below with a couple of links. If there is a particular chess book you want reviewing or you disagree with the reviews below please leave a comment.
Winning Chess Openings
- ISBN 13: 9781857443493
- ISBN 10: 1857443497
- SKU: BTR-1857443497
- Title: Winning Chess Openings (Winning Chess Series)
- Author: Yasser Seirawan
- Publisher: Everyman Chess
- Media: Paperback
- Pages: 272
This book starts with two chapters “Early Days” and “Basic Opening Principles” where the author Seirawan starts with some of his games from childhood where he makes ALL the mistakes you could imagine. Yes we’ve all made them, and after a few glasses of red wine, some of us still do 
Following this there is a short chapter where he gives some advice on how to play the opening. Through the next 4 chapters Seirawan shows the different openings, their names and what both sides should strive for.
So was the book any good? Well even though the first 30 or so pages were pretty much just filler, I would suggest that this was a good bet for the beginners that it is targeted at. I’ve included a few links to a few more chess books below which may be of use:
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Chess Opening Strategy
You may well have seen this opening chess strategy before, but not known that it is actually called the Evans Gambit after Captain Evans who first used it in the 1800’s. The video below goes throught how to pull off the strategy and ideally win the chess game.
As usual any comments please leave them below.
Thanks
The Game of Chess
Author: Dave Markel
Chess is probably one of the oldest and most famous games in the world. It is believed to have originated from India as early as the seventh century, although the exact origins of chess are unknown. Chess has appeared in many shapes and forms. Today most people play what is known as Europeans chess. Chess is a universal game - universal in the sense that it is accepted and played in every country and culture. There are many tournaments held worldwide and many more in each individual country.
The basic rules of chess are simple, however to be able to play strategically and master tactics requires skill and dedication. In its modern form the game consists of an eight by eight board of alternating black and white squares and chess pieces. Each player has sixteen different pieces, which are used to play the game with. A player starts off with a king, a queen, eight pawns, and two each of bishops, knights and rooks. The aim of the game is to corner and immobilize the opponent’s king so he cannot make any further moves.
Modern chess is also known as the ‘queens chess’ as the queen is the piece with the most power. It can move any number of squares in any direction, given there is enough space to maneuver. All pieces move in straight or diagonal lines with the exception of knights. A knight’s movements are similar to the shape of the letter ‘L’. When the opponent’s king piece has been immobilized it is known as “checkmate”.
Chess has many benefits and it is now being taught in many schools over the world to children from a young age. It has many academic benefits and improves ones ability and skill. Chess improves a child’s thinking ability by teaching many skills. These include the ability to focus, plan tasks ahead, thinking analytically, abstractly and strategically and consider all the options before making a move. They also improve one’s social and communication skills by playing against another human player. Research has shown that kids that play chess regularly have a significant improvement in their math and reading ability.
Nowadays chess can be played pretty much anywhere. All you need is the board and pieces and somebody to play against. If you cannot find another person to challenge then there are plenty of computerized versions of chess. The software comes in many different versions such as 2D or 3D and with nice animated effects or just as a plain board and pieces. It is possible to play against a computer player and up the difficulty level if required. With the advent of the Internet it is now easily possible to search for many other players online whom to play against.
Garry Kasparov is one of the world’s most famous chess players. He is a chess grandmaster and one of the strongest chess players in history. He has the highest ranking on the FIDE listing. Ranked first in the world for nearly all of the 20 years from 1985 to 2005, Kasparov was the last undisputed World Chess Champion from 1985 until 1993; and continued to be “classical” World Chess Champion until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000.
In February 1996, IBM’s chess computer Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in one game using normal time controls, in Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1. However, Kasparov retorted with 3 wins and 2 draws, soundly winning the match. In May 1997, an updated version of Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in a highly publicized six-game match. This was the first time a computer had ever defeated a world champion in match play. An award-winning documentary film was made about this famous match up entitled Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Game of Chess