Keep It Simple: 1.e4 by IM Christof Sielecki

[@duckface4828]

fringe up - John in battle tournament mode fringe down - John in resting comfy home mode

[@raylarone6722]

Hey John, your Reykjavik open is the first chess tournament I have ever watched (being a new payer). I have to say, it was much more enjoyable and intense than I would have first thought. I found myself cheering you on throughout all nine rounds! Good luck in your GM goals. you really are a great ambassador for the game! you got me into chess at least :)

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Appreciate that a lot, Ray! Thanks for cheering me on in Reykjavik :) Another tournament to go coming up Mar. 27-Apr. 1 (will try to vlog).

[@threethrushes]

John, I admire your business philosophy and I wish that more people were as principled as you. If you ever did a video or instruction on the London System, I would be your first customer.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Thank you, Gerhard - that means a lot to me. Interesting suggestion on the London System, as I've very, very rarely played it! :) I do like many of the themes, though. I'd love to have a London expert like Simon publish on Chessable...we're trying to "pressure" him right now ;)

[@jcsil8652]

Welcome back John! Thanks for the review.

[@jimoesterwind5056]

I purchased this without the video. I might pick it up later. One thing I finally learned about chessable is that I can do an overview of an entire line before learning it step by step. It's made it a bit easier for me.

[@martinconneally8756]

Grew up with e4. Been studying d4 past 6months (successfully) but need to go back to e4. This should help. Thx John

[@10Slayer01]

Any books you would recommend for 1. d4?

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

My free 1.d4 repertoire on Chessable could be a good starting point. For print books, I REALLY like IM Cox's "Starting Out: 1.d4."

[@10Slayer01]

Thanks, John!

[@TremendousSax]

The video syncing is tremendous! Chess books benefit enormously from this type of interactivity. Keep up the great work

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Thanks, buddy! :)

[@glum_hippo]

I am a d4 player, but I simply couldn't pass this up. Christof is terrific at organizing things and explaining the concepts. Maybe someday I will play e4 (haha) (doubt it)

[@stefankalniev7990]

pgbluster why do you prefer d4? E4 is much more tactical/sharp, isn’t it?

[@Veaseify]

I also play either D4 or NF3 precisely to AVOID the sharper tactical systems where you can get blown away in 20 moves if you don't know what you are doing. There are still some very sharp lines in the semi-slav and Grunfeld for example but in general you can avoid most of them with White. I like slow manouvering games so it suits me to start with those moves, I guess thats why pgbluster plays D4 as well....

[@henrymiller1820]

All my friends play e4 so I play d4 to be different without doing something stupid

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

pgbluster learn to play with both hands, the stylistic differences will progress your understanding of chess.

[@djohnmark3625]

Well now keep it simple 1.D4 is a thing

[@endlessetudes2029]

My girlfriend and I have been watching your videos for a while before realizing you were with/founded Chessable. We were using a couple Chess King products but Chessable's UI is much better. Just wanted to let you know that books like this is exactly what we were looking for (even though she always makes me play with the black pieces).

[@glum_hippo]

Please convince my spouse to play chess with me. :-(

[@endlessetudes2029]

Haha. It took some time. Maybe get her to look at some marble chess boards. Everyone can appreciate a beautiful chess set.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Thanks - we're definitely happy to hear that! Pretty cool to hear that both you and your girlfriend are avid players.

[@eashanrijhwani3075]

Hi John!!! Thanks a lot for this upload!

[@browsedeweb8834]

Great video...Christof rocks! This new video-sync format looks really promising! It would be the perfect match for some of the Ginger_GM day-vay-day materials if he ever decided to expand his offerings with Chessable based learning technology.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Appreciate you saying that, man! And yup - we gotta pressure Simon to publish on Chessable, haha.

[@jeroenw9853]

A 4 day streak...Able's tip: Learning chess requires practice every day.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Someday I might break double digits :)

[@rollingnay]

Was looking for something like this. Us guys who take up chess at an old age and don't have much time feel lost ( least speaking for self). This gives me hope though....I'll never be good but least have something can work on that's easy that will give me fighting chance eventually. Great video !

[@hypekillacsplaya]

some competition for chess.com so chessable is a learning tool strictly ? do you play chess on it also ?

[@gilaniali1]

Is there a good book for a repertoire for black? i

[@ClassicPass_]

Nice review and overview!!! hurray 1.e4. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@mrengler1]

any chance we can buy the video on a per-chapter basis? i'm only interested in one chapter, so i'd rather spend 20$ for one instead of 160$ for all of them (post-sale price)

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Probably not in the immediate future unfortunately, but I'll ask David about this!

[@Badbentham]

Sounds for the most part brimming with quality. Christof always comes up with interesting ideas of his own. Also, similar to openings like the London, the repertoire sounds like great annoyance value for the black player, especially against higher rated players than yourself. From this perspective I really like his recommendations of Four Knight`s Scotch, Rossolimo/Moscow, and French Exchange with Qe2+! , all those lines designed to punish black for his ambitions, while applying slight pressure. I am slightly surprised with the choices of Delayed Alapin against the 2...e6 Sicilian, and Two Knights against the Caro, though I do not know his exact suggestions in these lines. I always felt in general black players knew what they were doing against these suggestions, while the black`s position is fairly solid in either case.

[@arhattuladhar4366]

I hope you make Norm next time

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Thanks, Arhat!

[@akhileshchoure9330]

Thanks John!!

[@rollingnay]

Was watching a stream of your former student Andrew T. Kick some butt. Question: Does he best you in 1 minute matches? What time controls can the ol'master best the grasshopper at ? Either way you both rock ! Learned so much from your channel.!

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

scott johnson tang is among the best online bullet players and outclasses john. Blitz and classical though.... Master has his seat.

[@rollingnay]

Isaiah Mc Intosh that was a cool response! Wow, I knew Andrew was good but didn't realize he was/is world class (bullet). (Thank you for feeding my stupidly curious mind on both questions)!

[@michaelflaherty3202]

Hey Scott if you go to lichess you’ll see some good numbers on Tang. His username is penguingim1 or something like that. You’ll find him near the top of the bullet rankings. John is fins there.

[@rollingnay]

Michael Flaherty thank you so much. I am newbie at chess but am addicted to watching games of the top guys and KZbin personalities. Appreciate the info very much !

[@rollingnay]

Isaiah Mc Intosh both of you guys who replied weren’t kidding. He was leading lichess tittled Tournament for 99% of tourney until magnus took it in the end. People saying his new screename is “clevertacticbutfail” . Also supposedly he had recently or currently does have the highest bullet ranking on lichess and chess.com. Whoah. Insane.

[@mustaphad1319]

John Bartholomew I saw you played the great snake variation I can't find a book online or video of it how do I learn the opening thanks.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

I'm not aware of a work on this line. It's a fun variation to play as Black, though!

[@mustaphad1319]

John Bartholomew thanks for the reply how'd you learn to play it?

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

I think I learned it from an FM friend of mine in the early 2000s, but I don't quite remember. You might want to look in to the Closed Sicilian with White (e.g. Boris Spassky's games; he was a big practitioner), because it's essentially the same setup with colors reversed.

[@hansvermeer7164]

Hey John. If two people bought the same book. Doesnt this negate any advantage? Arent unusual openings or ones that get out of book earlier more relevant these days?aka dr drunkenstein :).

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Yes, all opening works have this problem :) Fortunately theory always evolves, so if you're ambitious in improving your lines you can stay a step ahead of the competition, although this does require a lot of work! And absolutely - *if* you're a proficient player, I think there's a lot to be said for adopting a wide repertoire and mixing up your lines.

[@amandasteven1400]

@@JohnBartholomewChess mixing up lines is good? thats encouraging! ...i'am totally mixed up playing my lines

[@cmmmmmmmw]

This looks so cool. I was just thinking the other day that chess books are an inferior version of what's available on KZbin and interactive tools online. I wish I could go through my Silman books this way.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Glad you think so. We're talking with various publishers to try and get some popular and well-respected books on our site. Hope I can tell you more when we nail down some contracts :)

[@cmmmmmmmw]

John Bartholomew That's amazing! Going through books is especially difficult for beginners who can't visualize a game in their head just reading notation.

[@charliew830]

How do I get the downloaded free first chapter video to play in Chessable? Thanks.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Use this link: www.chessable.com/keep-it-simple-promo/ Please contact us if you have any problems!

[@charliew830]

I have the video downloaded and I can watch it with the quick time viewer on my Mac, but I'd like to use it in chessable to try the video-sync feature. But I can't figure out how to get chessable to recognize and play it. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

[@glum_hippo]

The video sync is not part of the demo, but I can attest that it works.

[@charliew830]

Gotcha. Thanks for the info.

[@antonsquaredme]

Came back just to see if people were commenting about John's hair. Good job, internet.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

The "fringe up/fringe down" comment was gold, though.

[@styx85]

Excellent review! Consider me sold.

[@ismailalami3598]

Beard looks good !

[@bairdsearle]

Hey John. I've been a sub for a while and I love your videos. I have a question for you and I'll make it as simple as I can. I've been playing chess for a while now. I'm a little over 1500 strength level. As White, I have always played e4 because I learned those lines first. The way it has been explained to me, e4 provides more of an "open" game if you will, whereas d4 leads tumor closed positions. Now to my question. Could you please just kind of give me your general thoughts on that, and/or why you prefer d4? And maybe suggest a line I could start with that is simple to understand? If you could please give me some general thoughts I'd very much appreciate that. I look forward to more videos from you

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Thanks for following my videos, Baird! IM David Pruess has a very instructive video that outlines the philosophical differences between 1.e4 and 1.d4. Might want to give it a watch: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHnPi5yEoJujY80 In short, I think if you're at ~1500 strength then you're proficient enough that you could start experimenting with 1.d4 and seeing if you enjoy those lines or the type of middlegames they produce. 1.e4 is indeed more useful when your'e starting out in order to nail the dynamics of open positions, but there's a lot to be gained by studying classical 1.d4 lines, too. Take a look at my free 1.d4 repertoire on Chessable and see if any of those lines appeal to you: www.chessable.com/opening-book/im-john-bartholomews-1d4-repertoire-for-white/102/ Oh, and I personally prefer 1.d4 because I feel have a bit more control over the type of game that arises. While 1.e4 is no less strong, I believe you have to be ready for any type of game with king's pawn opening and Black is the one dictating the pace a bit more than after 1.d4.

[@bairdsearle]

Thank you for your suggestion and input. Much appreciated

[@balagopalb9558]

Welcome back john

[@gamingwithgregor2.041]

Hey John! How’s everything going with you lately? I plan to go to a chess club about an hour away from where I live i plan to go in the summer.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Hey Gregor, I'm doing well - just getting ready for my next tournament in North Carolina Mar. 28 - Apr. 1. I'll be streaming and posting a bit this week. And that's cool - you should definitely check out that club!

[@malegupta8404]

jabarajst yar suprb mazaa aa gya yo u are teh best joh and chritopsher seleki sueprg graet great great

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Thanks you, sir! Always appreciate you watching and commenting on my videos. Best wishes for your chess improvement.

[@Game0verFool]

How long does it take for the free lesson to be emailed to me? I wrongly assumed it would be instant.

[@Game0verFool]

I won't buy the course until I try the free lesson. I also won't buy the course if I miss the promotion which means I probably won't be able to buy it at all at this rate.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

You should have it on your Chessable account. Can you check? If you have any problems, please don't hesitate to contact us: www.chessable.com/contact-us/

[@Erwt64]

Great work. I need to wait for some promotion due to my tight budget ;)

[@Sough]

Man I love you and Christoph but 80 bucks for the video version? Have never seen a chess DVD or book that cost that much, and that's the half off sales price.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

We've selected a price point that reflects the quality and level of effort Christof put in to this repertoire. I understand that it's higher than most chess books/DVDs on the market, but there's a ton of material in this comprehensive 1.e4 repertoire: nearly 700 annotated lines, 17 hours of video, support from Christof if you have questions, etc. Other products with a similar amount of content are priced this way or even higher. For example, Simon's 15-hour GingerGM Method 2 course is $149.99: www.ichess.net/shop/revolutionize-chess-gingergm-method-2/

[@andrewswales5424]

John is such a nice guy

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Dawww

[@TheAlex-dl6vz]

Great video

[@drumetul_dacic]

Blessed are those who play 1. d4 and boring are those who play 1. e4.

[@threethrushes]

Amen.

[@KeepChessSimple]

Why?

[@randolphdupree2400]

Hey good to see you again...bring back old hairstyle tho

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Thanks, Randolph :) Either going to grow it out or buzz it short.

[@randolphdupree2400]

John Bartholomew u can probably tell from the time im sending this that im on the other side of the world...😊 Let it grow man... Can i make suggestion for you channel..... 1. Please more chess fundamental video's..we love to see you play but i think peops wanna hear more of your reasoning behind each move...your teaching ability is extraordinary 2. More interactions with viewers by having more meet ups... 3. Vlog type clips..doesnt have to be long..jus u maybe at starbucks or something like that.. Your channel is becoming more and more popular because of your character and not purely because of chess...there are many just chess channels...but u are a likeable character and im 100% sure ur channel will grow in leaps and bounds by connecting more with viewers like this... Im sure ur attention now is geared toward making chessable grow..and it will..money will roll in...but do not neglect these basics ive suggested pls....peops want to see a more of u There are many GM's out there that havent or maybe never will have the success you have had with connecting with people fans and audience...its your gift..and u must never compare youself to others cos you stand out amongst the rest.... Im saying this because im not sure if u can see what others see about u........

[@dilyan-2904]

London system is simple, e4 is complicated stuff, gambit, sacs, tactics, fight with every move..

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

No doubt! That's one thing I like about chess: you can tailor your opening repertoire to your personality and your tolerance for risk.

[@threethrushes]

I would not call London System simple - I have been playing it for six months with pretty good success, thanks to GingerGM and his DVD. I wish Chessable could do something on London.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

We're trying our best to convince Simon to publish on Chessable! Would be really cool to see him create a London repertoire (based on his DVD material, for instance; maybe with some updates).

[@Gogu_Duru]

Did you ran out of hair gel? What's next? Dyeing your hair?

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Nope, just letting it lay flat. Haha.

[@RubeTubebjj]

damn bro. you looking handsome wih dah beard. No homo

[@callmewisdom]

I am sorry, but out of principle I would never even buy a repertoir that recomends the french exchange.

[@JohnBartholomewChess]

Christof makes a great case for it, and unless you're a GM I don't think the fact that its theoretically equal should be a deterrent. But I understand your position.

[@andresperez7966]

Too expensive. I will try to get it for free