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A chess set thrown out as rubbish by one of north Wales’s biggest landowners could fetch £5,000 for relatives of the butler who saved it from the bonfire.

The French carved ivory figures which once belonged to Lord Mostyn are due to be auctioned by Christie’s in London.

They are being sold by the great grandchildren of James Baxter, who served the third Baron Mostyn at Mostyn Hall, Flintshire, in the late 1800s.

The auction house said chess sets from the era are “rarely” found complete.

Through Mostyn Estates Ltd, the Mostyn family own large areas of Llandudno, Conwy, and their connection with the resort and its development dates back 500 years.

The chess set, made in Dieppe in the late 18th to early 19th Century, is estimated to fetch between £3,000 to £5,000 when it is auctioned on Tuesday.

According to Christie’s, James Baxter was the butler at Mostyn Hall around the 1880s-1890s. Read More

A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as intiated by white or defenses, as created on reply to black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants.

I have found this excellent resource over at about.com I have been casually following Mark Weeks for a couple of years now and he continues to provide quality information for the general chess community. Below is his list of the top ten chess openings currently being used. Feel free to click on the links and see actual moves and strategy ideas. Once you feel comfortable with an opening feel free to challenge me at chess.com on the right.

1. Sicilian Defense – …d6 Variations
2. Sicilian Defense – Black avoids an early …d6
3. Ruy Lopez 4.Ba4
4. Italian Game
5. French Defense
6. Nimzo Indian or Queen’s Indian?
7. King’s Indian or Gruenfeld?
8. Closed Game
9. Reti System
10. English Opening