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Frame from Chess Fundamentals #1: Undefended Pieces Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Chess Fundamentals #1: Undefended Pieces

John Bartholomew
Lectures
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this lecture3 months2017–2021 score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN chess improvers recommend Bartholomew's beginner playlist as a clear, approachable path to getting better.

First video in John Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals series, focused on spotting undefended pieces. He teaches habits for scanning your own and your opponent's position to avoid hanging pieces.

“I'd recommend these youtube videos [1] by John Bartholomew.” (HN, 2019)

3 recommendations · Lectures · intro

3 Hacker News comments

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

@newen Jan 2019 Recommends
on HN thread How I Finally Hit 2000 on Lichess and Improved My Rating
If you are just starting out, and you know the rules and played a few games, I'd recommend these youtube videos [1] by John Bartholomew. Youtube has a bunch of other good videos for beginners, e.g. chessnetwork, st louis chess club, etc. Also, I wouldn't bother learning strategy until you get to like >1500 rating or so. If you get really good at tactics, you can get to 2000 without having much strategic understanding. [1] [this video]
Beginner chess videos by John Bartholomew.

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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