John Bartholomew

Wisconsin and Minnesota friends: in collaboration with the Eau Claire Chess Club, I will be conducting a free simul & Q+A in Eau Claire, WI this Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1:30 pm.



All are welcome, and there are still several simul spots open! Details: volumeone.org/articles/2025/02/13/358199-play-yout…

2 months ago | [YT] | 143

John Bartholomew

Heads up to chess history enjoyers! A wonderful 48-minute BBC documentary about the 1988 Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece, is now available to watch for free on YouTube. It's extremely well-produced, and it features some amazing insider footage from the event, as well as interviews with many well-known players (Kasparov, Karpov, the Polgar sisters, etc.). There's a special focus on the powerful English team.

I enjoyed it immensely. Hope you do as well!

1 year ago | [YT] | 76

John Bartholomew

After 1.5 year, I'm returning to TITLED TUESDAY today on Chess.com!

I'll be playing the late version, which starts in a little under two hours from this post (5:00 pm EST/11:00 pm CET). It'll be LIVE on my Twitch channel: twitch.tv/johnbartholomew I'll also post the edited VOD here on YouTube afterwards, of course.

Been a long time - LET's GO!!!

1 year ago | [YT] | 196

John Bartholomew

Today, I'm thrilled to announce that my personal website is LIVE! I'd be honored if you spent a few minutes checking it out: johnbartholomewchess.com

For chess improvers, I've created a page detailing my best recommendations for players from beginner-1400, 1400-2000, and 2000+. There is a treasure trove of actionable advice here based on my 25+ years as a chess player and teacher. My hope is that any aspiring or improving player can use this page as a roadmap on their chess journey.

For chess organizations as well as non-chess businesses/groups, I've created a couple pages detailing my professional experience and how I may be able to assist you. Don't hesitate to reach out!

There's an extensive biographical page. If you're curious about my background - from picking up the game from a friend at school, to battling a 72-level tabletop chess computer, to learning from legendary coach FM Eduard Zelkind, to success on the state and national level, to becoming an IM, to dropping out of law school and pursuing chess full-time, to co-founding Chessable - it's all there!

I'm also starting the Chess Mindset newsletter. I am SUPER excited about this, and I'd love if you signed up (it's completely free!): johnbartholomewchess.com/the-chess-mindset-newslet… I truly enjoy reading and writing, and after journaling extensively for the past year, I've decided I want to become more serious in putting my thoughts out there. I plan to cover a good mix of practical and "meta" chess topics - such as time management and dealing with triumphs/setbacks - as well as chess history and current events. Much of what I discuss ought to be useful in your life and career, too. Once again, this newsletter is 100% free, and it will come directly to your inbox.

By the way, you can even get on the waitlist for my upcoming 3...Qa5 Scandinavian course: johnbartholomewchess.com/master-the-qa5-scandinavi… The people on this list will be the very first to know when this course drops!

Finally, in creating this site, I thought extensively about my philosophy of continual improvement in chess and life. Distilled, it is:

"Only through our inevitable blunders shall we pave the road to mastery."

It's a certainty that we will make mistakes in chess and life. We shouldn't try to run from such blunders - in fact, we should WELCOME them! These are the moments that provide us with the best personalized feedback for growth on our path to excellence. Check out my "open letter" under the Brand Statement page for further exposition on this concept, as well as the other core values I seek to foster in the chess world.

Special thanks to my friend and chess student, Steve Fies, for helping make this website a reality. I appreciate you reading, and please drop me a line if you have any questions or feedback (or even just to say hello)!

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1 year ago | [YT] | 782

John Bartholomew

Hey guys! I haven't uploaded for 4-5 weeks and I'm seeing comments trickling in wondering where I'm at, so I thought I'd give you a quick update. Bottom line: I've been in the LAB, and I'm PUMPED for the months ahead!! 😁

For the past few months, I've been working with a few awesome people on a complete re-brand of my channel. Since I started posting on YouTube as a hobby back in 2014, I've focused almost entirely on producing instructional videos, and very little on thumbnails/banners/editing, etc. That has worked out fine, but it has always felt a little amateurish, and I want to push myself and give you guys as high-quality content as possible in the years to come (I view YouTube in terms of years/decades). I've recently updated my profile photo here on YouTube (goodbye cartoon John!), and you might have noticed that some of my most-viewed videos have custom thumbnails. Pretty soon, popular series like "Climbing the Rating Ladder," "Using the Clock as as Weapon," and "Standard Chess" will get their own distinctive thumbs. I'll also be updating the logo, banners. I hope you'll like the changes - I included a little preview here!

The thing I've been working on pretty much every day since April is my upcoming 3...Qa5 Scandinavian course, which I plan to self-release around February. I've got 240 hours invested into this bad boy since April, and I think it will one of the most useful works I ever produce in chess. As you're probably aware, the Scandinavian Defense is near and dear to me, and I'm creating a resource that I believe will enable anyone to meet 1.e4 confidently, and - most importantly - ENJOY doing so! This course will feature a master PGN file of book quality/length (hence the 240+ hours, haha), a "practical repertoire" of the most common lines you can expect to face, videos, and very likely model games and other learning modules. I'll be ironing out the details, but the current plan is to release it on a third-party course platform (think Udemy/Teachable, though I'm not necessarily planning on either of those) where students of the course can easily access/download all the material, as well as engage with me and other students of the course as a community of Scandi players (#notacult, I swear). I've been devoting pretty much all my spare time to analyzing and thinking about this course from all angles, because I want it to be one of the best opening resources on the market. More on this in the next 2-3 months!

Did I mention I'm building a personal website, too? That is coming along nicely, and it will coincide with the course release. I'll be starting a regular chess improvement newsletter in conjunction with the site release, too (another thing I've been meaning to do for awhile).

Alright, this is getting long 😅 I'll be back to uploading here on YouTube soon, and you can also find me on Twitch several times per week playing viewers, bullet/blitz/rapid arenas, etc. The weather has been unseasonably warm here in Minnesota, and I've been getting outside for 1-2 hours per day. I leave you with a few pics I took while hiking recently. Hope everyone has been doing well, and continuing to climb their personal chess improvement ladder! Thanks a lot for your continued support over the years - appreciate you guys reading this - I'll see you all again soon.

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1 year ago | [YT] | 920

John Bartholomew

Update from Charlotte: I tied for first in the G/45+5 event with GM Olexander Bortnyk on 3.5/4! This was my first serious OTB event since 2019, so I was pleased to perform well. I even got in a Scandi in my first game (gif below; you can also play through it on lichess here: lichess.org/RVYFuwcG) featuring a move order nuance I'll be recommending in my upcoming course.

Today, there is a G/10+3 rapid event, as well as a 3+2 blitz event. GM Daniel Naroditsky is back from a commentary gig he just did in Norway, so he will be joining the field as well. My play was strong yesterday but my time management could definitely be better (some things never change, right? 😀), and I look forward to more chess today! First game of 16 games today starts in about 30 minutes, and I have my Starbucks...let's GO!

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1 year ago | [YT] | 837

John Bartholomew

Hope everyone is having a great start to their week! My voice has been pretty rough lately, so I'm resting and refraining from hour-long Standard videos for the moment 😉 In the meantime, just a heads up that the 2023 World Championship is less than a month away: it starts on Apr. 7 in Kazakhstan! Though we're all disappointed that Magnus will not defend, Ian Nepomniachtchi (winner of the 2022 Candidates) and Ding Liren (runner-up at the Candidates) are two worthy claimants to the crown. My gut instinct is that Nepo is a favorite (perhaps 60/40) due to his match experience and fine form this past year since losing to Magnus. What do you think?

By the way, back in 2019 I played Ding Liren - then World #4 - in a 15+2 PRO Chess League match on Chess.com. If you haven't seen the video recap, check it out below! It was a memorable experience for me, especially in experiencing the speed of sound decision-making that top-level players possess. At times I felt I could match my world-class opponent in move quality, but stringing these accurate moves together *and* doing so quickly is why these players are so strong. This is a paradigm you see in many lopsided rating matchups, and it's rare for me to experience this as a decent IM (I felt the same way the two times I faced Wesley So OTB).

Take care, all! See you in the comments again soon.

2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 69

John Bartholomew

Hey guys, I wanted to express my appreciation for all your positive comments on my CTRL and Standard videos! It's incredible to see how much you appreciate and learn from this long-form instructional content!

I'd like to work in some of your opening preferences into these series. If you have a specific opening you'd like to see me play (within reason - no Bongclouds or Englund Gambits please, haha - gotta keep it instructional) for *either* color, please drop it here in the comments. I'll start playing the top-voted responses 👍 Thanks again for your support, all!

2 years ago | [YT] | 852

John Bartholomew

Greetings, all! Quick post letting you know two things:


1) We've been running a free Chessable raffle for some cool prizes: 7 copies of 100 Endgames You Must Know autographed by Magnus Carlsen, 7 lessons with me, 7 three-month Premium Memberships on Chess24, and 7 one-year PRO Memberships with Chessable. We're drawing winners in about 24 hours, so please enter quickly! Entry link: gleam.io/F4TKE/the-chessable-magnus-carlsen-giveaw…

2) I was recently on the Perpetual Chess podcast with Ben Johnson: www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/2/11/episo… We had a nice, long conversation about chess improvement, Starbucks iced coffee, and many other topics. Good listen if you're on a roadtrip or just have some time to kill.


Thanks as always for your support and viewership. Have a good weekend, guys!

5 years ago | [YT] | 405

John Bartholomew

Hey guys! Hope 2020 is treating everyone well. I've been busy these past few months working on a comprehensive endgame video course for the website I co-founded, Chessable. It took me about 3 months, 200+ individual videos, probably 150 Starbucks iced coffees, and thousands of re-takes, but I'm happy to announce that as of this past Monday, Jan. 21, it's out! Please check it out below.


Full 100 Endgames You Must Know course: www.chessable.com/100-endgames-you-must-know/cours…

Free endgame bootcamp (good if you want to get a flavor for the content or brush up on some endings): www.chessable.com/endgame-bootcamp-with-john-barth…

I also want to share something amazing that happened just this week in connection with the 100 Endgames release. Since our company was purchased by Play Magnus/chess24 this past August, the world champion himself, GM Magnus Carlsen, has taken a keen interest in the Chessable platform. Magnus has been playing in the annual Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands the past two weeks, but - astoundingly - he agree to film a brief promotional video for us *during* the tournament on one of his rest days! My awesome Chessable co-founder, David Kramaley, arranged the whole thing on short notice, and soon I was on a plane from Minnesota to Amsterdam. Long story short, on Thursday, I was able to sit down and record and chat with Magnus for about 30 minutes! Truly an experience I will remember for a lifetime. I hope to share the video on my channel with you guys soon.


Thanks for reading, and I hope you all are having a good weekend!

5 years ago | [YT] | 1,650