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Climbing the Rating Ladder: Up to 1000

John Bartholomew
Tutorials
YouTube
4 HN users recommended this tutorial4 months2015–2023 score 5.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Strongly recommended as a way to improve at chess, since it explains the basics and common mistakes at each rating level.

Chess player John Bartholomew plays opponents rated below 1000 on Chess.com and comments on optimal strategy and typical mistakes at that level. It is part of his Climbing the Rating Ladder series.

“He explains the basics and mistakes players at each level makes and how to avoid them” (HN, 2023)

3 strong recommendations · 1 recommendations · Tutorials · intro

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@chucksmash May 2019 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Aggressive Chess Openings (2012)
I've not used chessable yet, but one of my favorite youtubers, John Bartholomew, is behind it and I'd recommend his videos wholeheartedly. He did a series of videos that is particularly worth checking out called "Climbing the Ratings Ladder" where he plays opponents at different rating tiers and analyzes their mistakes[1]. [1]: [this video]
Plays opponents at different ratings and analyzes their mistakes
@danem Feb 2020 Strongly recommends
on HN thread To get good, go after the metagame
I found John Bartholowmew's[1] videos extremely helpful when I was playing a lot of chess. Definitely saw a huge improvement. [this video]
Videos that led to huge chess improvement
@boundlessdreamz Jan 2023 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Chess Is Booming and Our Servers Are Struggling
I have improved my chess quite a bit by going through John Bartholomew's youtube content. * Start with climbing the rating ladder. He explains the basics and mistakes players at each level makes and how to avoid them [this video] * Watch his games (ideally with 10minutes or more time control) where he explains his thought process behind each move and what he is anticipating. This is priceless! * Analyze your own games after you play
Explains basics and mistakes at each rating level and how to avoid them
@trhaynes Dec 2015 Recommends
on HN thread Learn to play chess online
I liked John Bartholomew's "Climbing the Rating Ladder" videos, where he plays players of different levels and talks about strategy and common mistakes at each level: [this video]
Strategy and common mistakes at each rating level

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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