John Bartholomew

I'm back from Arizona! Right off the bat, I get paired with my long-time friend and former college roommate, IM Keaton Kiewra. No early draw will be agreed - that's for sure :) In this video, I play five blitz games (3+0) on Chess.com. 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 … [Read more...] about Swindling My College Roommate | Using the Clock as a Weapon #26

A late-night session before I head to the Western Invitational Chess Champ (http://www.westernchesscamp.com/) in Tucson, Arizona, July 14-18. Time scrambles feature prominently again, and I experience a close shave in one such scramble! In this video, I play five blitz games (3+0) on Chess.com. My goals in this series are to 1) stay even or ahead of my opponents on the clock, … [Read more...] about A Perpetual Pattern | Using the Clock as a Weapon #25

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 5+5 game against a player rated 1546 on Chess.com. On the White side of the French Rubinstein, I insert an early Bh4xf6, planning to deliver a … [Read more...] about Facing Determined Defense | Climbing the Rating Ladder vs. nerishamat (1546)

This session features undefended pieces, some reversion to perfectionist tendencies (working on it!), and a couple of games where I run my h-pawn aggressively down the board against White's king in the Sicilian (including an encounter against GM Mikhail Golubev, who wrote a book on that opening, "Understanding the Sicilian"). In this video, I play five blitz games (3+0) on … [Read more...] about Charging my h-pawn in the Sicilian | Using the Clock as a Weapon #24

Playing the July 2019 Titled Tuesday Chess.com! 433 titled players competed in this 10 round, 3+2 blitz event. Follow along for the good, the bad, and the ugly in this always-tense event! #Chess #TitledTuesday Final standings: https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/-titled-tuesday-blitz-1078636?ref=jbrl Support the channel: https://streamlabs.com/johnbartholomew or via PayPal: … [Read more...] about Letting Go of Perfectionism | Titled Tuesday – July 2019