IM John Barthomew is a former scholastic national champion turned popular and longtime chess Youtuber and serial entrepreneur. His clear and friendly teaching style has garnered him over 200,000 subs and many devotees of the Scandinavian defense, the opening for which he is best known. In our conversation we discuss:
Five chess improvement conclusions that John drew from playing in (and documenting) The LiChess LoneWolf League
The challenges and rewards of helping to build Chessiverse. Chessiverse offers over 600 “human-like” bots to play against, and is also the site where you can find John’s new, Comprehensive Scandinavian course.
Lastly, John told a few memorable stories about his good friend GM Daniel Naroditsky that reflect Daniel’s unusual talents.
It is always enjoyable talking chess with John, and there are many nuggets to be gleaned from this conversation.
0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link:
https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro
And you can check out their new offerings here:
https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/
00:00 Intro and Guest Introduction
03:00 IM John Bartholomew joins. We start with John’s chess improvement lessons learned from the LiChess Lone Wolf League
https://lichess.org/@/Fins/blog/what-i-learned-from-playing-lonewolf-league-season-37/19yaMKfW
Here is John’s Lone Wolf game recap playlist-
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCYu9m5ji2tJgIoU7JMHkD9&si=Lg1RvP2PhmX2M68Q
06:00- Self-Talk and Thought Process in Chess
09:00- The Importance of Time Management
John’s Using the Clock as a Weapon Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MD7go55KaMPOGKSHxXhWED_&si=e34rgZ05auwzOauQ
12:00 The Importance of Opening Variety
14:30 The Value of Longer Time Controls
17:30 Introduction to John’s new venture- Chessiverse
21:30 Patreon mailbag questions:
How does Chessiverse compare to other online products? What ratings is it best suited for?
23:30 Comparing Chessiverse to Other Platforms
25:45 Chessiverse's Business Model and Future Plans
29:00 John’s Scandinavian course
33:00 The Evolution of Scandinavian Theory
Mentioned:
Ponomariov-Papaioannou 2003
https://lichess.org/q55Y75PQ#15
39:00 Navigating Course Design Challenges
45:00- The Vision for Chessiverse and Bot Experience
48:30 John’s memories of GM Daniel Naroditsky
Mentioned: John’s tribute-
https://youtu.be/kclevjiPK5I?si=7CO6ydPqkyFNKBjy
Fundraiser for Danya-
https://givebutter.com/naroditsky
52:00-
Thanks to John for rejoining! Here are links to keep up with him:
Newsletter:
https://johnbartholomewchess.com/the-chess-mindset-newsletter-im-john-bartholomew/
Course-
https://chessiverse.com/courses/scandi?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=scandi_search_tier1_purchase&utm_term=chess%20courses&utm_content=185814884617_782203235972_c&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=23214933240&utm_term=chess%20courses&utm_content=782203235972&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23214933240&gbraid=0AAAAABc5PsgmfRvqVuvKClF-9oZLSp0mn&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoZDJBhC0ARIsAERP-F_lAVpIoPksVCsZ5LG7GydpV4Wi8KIL4HMSbf_V_ZGei2837lHT57gaAu9fEALw_wcB
Twitter/X:
https://x.com/fins0905?lang=en
55:00- If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here:
https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchess
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