John Bartholomew

GM Dmitrij Kollars is a 22 year-old German Grandmaster rated 2622 FIDE (161st in the world) who also regularly puts in strong Titled Tuesday performances. I was playing an hour of focused blitz on my Twitch stream (twitch.tv/johnbartholomew), and I happened to get in a mini match of 9 games against him. It turned out to be quite competitive - enjoy! Support the channel: … [Read more...] about Close Match vs. GM Dmitrij Kollars (FIDE: 2622)

In this continuation of the "Climbing the Rating Ladder" series I take on players of various ratings levels while pointing out typical mistakes and spots for improvement along the way (possibly my own!? :)). Here I commentate a 10+0 game against a player rated 1349 on Chess.com. Early in the Philidor Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6), my opponent makes a common and tempting pawn push, … [Read more...] about Reacting to the …c7-c5 Push | Climbing the Rating Ladder vs. Carlos7a0b (1349)

I've been playing some focused, timed Chess.com blitz sessions on stream lately (twitch.tv/johnbartholomew), and today my play was hitting on all cyclinders. Let's keep climbing! Support the channel: https://streamlabs.com/johnbartholomew or via PayPal: https://t.co/VBFOLJHt2m Follow me on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/johnbartholomew Follow me on Twitter: … [Read more...] about Achieving My Highest Blitz Rating (2849)!

Francesco Rambaldi is a 22 year-old Italian Grandmaster rated 2569 FIDE classical. I actually played him over-the-board back in 2015 at the London Chess Classic (recap here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UokBqE_MewQ), so it was nice to face him again in this 10-game blitz match! Support the channel: https://streamlabs.com/johnbartholomew or via PayPal: … [Read more...] about Match vs. GM Francesco Rambaldi (FIDE: 2569)

Hope you're all enjoying the World Championship :) After I notch a bizarrely easy victory early on, my fast-playing opponent begins to create problems. Never take your competition lightly! My goals in this series are to 1) stay even or ahead of my opponents on the clock, and 2) trust my decision-making. Follow along as I try to avoid perfectionist tendencies and apply pressure … [Read more...] about Underestimating a Wild Opponent | Using the Clock as a Weapon #42