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John Bartholomew

Standard Chess #266: MrFrankCastle vs. IM Bartholomew (Caro-Kann Defense)

In Karpov's preferred variation of the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7) my opponent makes an early sacrifice on f7 akin to the Game 6 of Deep Blue vs. Kasparov. However, this version of the sacrifice doesn't give Black too many problems, and I soon find shelter for my king. White throws his kingside pawns forward in an effort to complicate my conversion task, … [Read more...] about Standard Chess #266: MrFrankCastle vs. IM Bartholomew (Caro-Kann Defense)

Stjernen Blitz: IM Bartholomew vs. Simen (Queen’s Gambit Declined)

This is a casual 3+2 blitz game I played against Simen, an attendee at the Oslo, Norway meetup held on Oct. 8, 2017 at Stjernen Chess Club (http://skstjernen.no/). Simen had someone record the game, and he later shared this footage with me. Simen told me this was his first-ever over-the-board (OTB) chess game despite having played thousands of games online! This was music to my … [Read more...] about Stjernen Blitz: IM Bartholomew vs. Simen (Queen’s Gambit Declined)