Review
I can certainly recommend John if you are looking for a strong chess coach. He has been coaching me for a couple of months now, and I am very happy about his work.

He is quite proficient at adjusting the homework to your level: always challenging, but never too hard to finish on your own.
John is also very good at reviewing games and filtering out your most common errors. That alone has helped me a bunch. 
Probably his best trait is that he is open-minded about feedback on his way of teaching. That is just golden.
I also feel that he is very sincere in wanting you to improve. He was always enthousiastic at the little successes I had along the way, which always motivated me. 
Last but certainly not least, the classes are simply fun. He's an easy-going guy who points out your mistakes in a constructive fashion; never an awkward moment.

So, again, if you are looking for a strong chess coach, I recommend taking up coaching from John.

Best of luck to you all in improving your chess!

hi i am in the 1100 so ,i dont know if i am in the target range but i know the basic rules about chess but not good strategy i just memorise other people and try to use that

please help (i might not be able to pay) it would really help thanks

I have been working with John for a few months now, and I'm extremely pleased. I have taken up chess recently and so I am starting at square one. John is very gifted with the ability to assess each player's difficulties, and apply the correct amount of pressure to help them succeed. I have been envolved in numerous competitive activities in my life, and I have once again found a coach I know can help me achieve a high level of skill. John gave me the confidence to play in my first open tournament after only playing OTB 3 times prior. If you are looking for someone who will teach you proper principles, and give you direction to become the greatest player you can be then you have chosen the right person. I feel very blessed to have found John!

Hi bentbmhansen! Thanks for your message. I've sent you a reply (please check your Inbox).

Hallo. I like to start with a question, that I was not able to find any where in your blog.How much do it cost ?

Im a clubplayer, in my country my rating is 1450 and on a good day, i can take out player´s around 1650. Som times i win over stronger players ( the stronges i "beat" was at 2100 ( I DIT HAVE A NICE DAY, THAT DAY

 :-) ) even do it was in a blitz game.....

I end this letter with a noter question. Can i play this at a high level tournament....

1.e4 - e5.2.d4 - exd4.3.Nf3 - Nc6.4.Bc4 - Bc5.5.c3 - dxc3.6.Bxf7+ (!) - ...

This was the line i juse, when i "beat" the player at 2100.I like to call this: The Hansen gambit. ( although I might not be the inventor of the variant, sins this is taking out from the Scotch: 2 knigh variant and max lange gambit. AND! I know that black is NOT forced to take on c3. In sted he/she can play: 5.c3 - Nf6.  Wich will take the game in to Italian variants.... I need to work a bit more on this opening :-) )

I hop you reply back

I really enjoy having John as a coach.  He spent some time reviewing my games and then created a lesson plan to help me improve my chess game.  He also recommended some study resources for me to use outside of our class time that have been very helpful and reinforced what we discussed during our lessons.  He's very friendly and easy going during our training sessions and he works very hard to answer any questions I have regarding my games.  I highly recommend him as a chess coach.

My son has only been taking lessons from John for a few weeks, so I cannot credibly comment on performance or rating improvements at this early stage, but I can certainly say that my son loves the lessons and gets feedback that is more detailed and insightful than he has received in outside scholastic groups.

Let me walk you through a typical lesson. Since my son is quite young, and we are fortunate enough to live relatively near, we have in-person lessons at John's home. At the beginning of the lesson, John and my son discuss one or two exercises that John has sent to me earlier in the week. The exercises are primarily visual, which is great for my son's age, with a chess position and a couple of notated next moves. My son is then asked about his opinion of those moves and how he would play from there. John then discusses how the positions were actually played and how the positions could be optimally played. This usually takes about ten minutes.

After that, John goes over some of the notated games that my son has played since the last lesson. This takes the lion's share of the time. John goes through the games, pointing out critical stages during the game when my son or his opponent made a poor move or strategic choice (or a particularly strong move or strategy). This often shows my son how he could have made better moves in games that he lost but also shows how his opponent could have taken advantage of mistakes even in games he won. (As an aside, I have found it interesting just to listen to some of these from my seat on the couch across the room because games that I would have guessed were particularly well- or poorly-played often turn out to be just the opposite.) John notates critical errors or strong sequences on the notation sheet so that my son can go over them later, if he forgets. After going over the notated games, the lesson continues with an analysis of a particular grandmaster position, and then John and my son will play a quick game of blitz if there is time.

John interacts well with my son and does not rush during the lesson. My son tends to be rather quiet (during lessons, anyway) and takes his time when analyzing, and John will sit patiently while he does it. One of the things I like about John's style is that he doesn't often tell my son directly that a move is wrong but rather will say the move is "interesting" and then play the opponent's side for a move or three until it is obvious to my son that something better could have been chosen.

In a few months, hopefully I'll be able to comment on performance as well!

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  Hey guys, I've been trained by John for 6 months and made huge progress during these months. I started to play USCF in November 2010 with an initial rating 1200+ and through working hard on my own I hit 1720 in July 2011. However, I kept dropping points since I hit 1720 in July 2011, and at the end of 2011 I've went back to low 1600+. Therefore, I stopped playing USCF tournaments since January 2012 and thought about what should I do to continue making progress since I really didn't know what stopped me to hit next class.

 

  Finally, in April 2012 I decided to have a master coach to help me and I found the young but experienced coach IM John Bartholomew on chess.com. He first helped me to pointed out the problem of my narrow opening repertoire and picked up new openings for me according to my playing style and preference. I regularly studied the opening books he chose for me and played some unofficial games to practice my new weapons. Meanwhile, in lessons with John I learned many important positional playing methods and theories which were things I used to totally ignored back to 2011(I was then somehow relying on tactical play too much and never realised the power of positional play). Besides, John prepared lessons for his students and therefore I've been taught organized lessons in which I learned appropriate middlegames and endgames that suited my level.

 

  In August 2012, I entered in 2012 US Open rated as 1610 and it was my first OTB tournament in 2012 after I trained with John for 4 months; I ended up with 5.5 out of 9 (performance rating 1970), which put me the co-2nd place in Class B and my rating went from 1610 to 1719. In October 2012, I won clear first place in 2012 Midwest Class Championships Class B section with a perfect score 5/5 (performance rating 2157), and I hit my new USCF peak rating 1828.

 

  Besides teaching his pupils new techniques and ideas, John also encourages his pupils a lot so that gives us much confidence to keep working on chess. Last but not the least that I must mention here is that John is a very polite coach who cares about his students feeling, and he respects and loves to listen to his students opinions about the master games he demonstrates even if those are his own games. That's why in the lessons I never hesitated to voluntarily show my opinions about the master games. Sometimes John would even ask my ideas about some moves he was not quiet sure in the games, even though I am just an amateur player. 

 

  I've met some other masters and had the chance to talk to them as well as tried to contact other master coaches before I contacted John, and I can say with no doubt that as a young IM, John is much more patient and polite than most of them. I strongly recommend any motivated intermediate player to take lessons from John. You own hard work plus a whole lot of professional techniques John can teach you, will continuously bring you rapid progress and make you a stronger player that you've never been before.

The best coach there is!  My son is a scholastic national champion that met John at a chess camp that featured several strong coaches (including well known GMs).  When we asked my son who he would like to train with, he selected John without any hesitation.  It’s hard to compare to what John brings to his chess coaching: entertaining coaching style; clear and effective communication (sorry foreign coaches); positive energy and good constructive feedback; John is active in chess competition and will become a GM soon; relates to kids very well; maintains his student’s attention for longer training sessions; no one can teach scholastic chess better.  Those were some main points but barely scratching the surface: provides excellent support to students outside of their lessons; John preps for his student’s lessons; even provides homework for students that are motivated.  My son has had exposure to some really good coaches but none compare to John!

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Hey all! I sometimes miss comments here on Chess.com. I do, however, always respond to mnchesscoach@gmail.com. I'm constantly reviewing and responding to new student requests, so don't hesitate to ask.

John

I am aspiring to become a grandmaster. I occasionally play spectacular games where I play like one; I once beat the Chessmaster chess engine. I want to play games like that every time though, so I'm looking into coaching. What are your hourly rates?

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I live about 1.5 hours and im a Baylor math major.

I study chess more and more but what is your fee? 

Train me plz :) 

PS I LOVE CHESS SO PLZ TRAIN ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:P :D 

pls train me

i need a lot more expencies for beat Angel Suarez

hi can u help me my uscf rating is 1749 and i need a lot of help so i can become a master

Could you train me? I really like to learn some good chess! My rating is 1689 but I had a break for 3 years without chess, so i dont play as good as my rating says, my goal is minimum 2100!