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He almost did it – but Chessable’s own John Bartholomew fell just short of winning a hard-fought second GM norm today.

The Scandi king put in a phenomenal performance on the final day of the Charlotte Chess Center’s GM/IM Norm Invitational tournament to top his group above three GMs and the much talked about Indian super talent Ramesh Praggnanandhaa.

But when his final game ended in a hard-fought draw, he just missed out on the norm.

Unlucky John, it’s only a matter of time!

GM Yasser Seirawan\'s Winning Chess Strategies

Going into rounds 8 and 9, John was out in front on 5/7 needing to hit the 6.5 mark to pick up the norm.

John Bartholomew in front

In round 8 John faced 2430-rated IM Denis Schmeliov, and picked up a vital half-point with this quick 24-move draw in the Slav Defense, covered in his 1.d4 Repertoire for White:

[Event "Winter 2018 CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.01.15"] [Round "8"] [White "IM JOHN BARTHOLOMEW (2459)"] [Black "IM DENIS SHMELIOV (2420)"] [Result "1/2-1/2 (draw)"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. Na3 Ne4 8. Bf4 a6 9. Qc1 Be6 10. Rd1 Nd7 11. Ng5 Nxg5 12. Bxg5 Nf6 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Qc5 h6 15. Bf4 Nd7 16. Qb4 g5 17. Bd2 Qb6 18. e3 Rfc8 19. Rdc1 Qxb4 20. Bxb4 Bf8 21. g4 Nf6 22. h3 Bd7 23. Nc2 e6 24. Bxf8 Kxf8 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

That left John with everything to do in the final round – an all-or-nothing win with black was needed against the teenage IM David Brodsky (2405), a player he hadn’t faced in classical chess before.

Going into it he tweeted:

I'm now on 5.5/8 @CLTchesscenter. A win in the final round earns me a GM norm. I'll be black against IM David Brodsky (2405), and the game starts at 4:00 pm EST (no live game relay). All-in, baby! #finittowinit — John Bartholomew (@fins0905) January 15, 2018

So #finittiwinit it was and John received a host of replies urging him on. Among those wishing him good luck were the Ginger GM Simon Williams:

Good luck John! — Simon Williams (@ginger_gm) January 15, 2018

The English IM Lawrence Trent also pitched in along with the host of the Perpetual Chess podcast, Ben Johnson, and yours truly.

Here’s how the game went:

[Event "Winter 2018 CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.01.15"] [Round "9"] [White "IM DAVID BRODSKY (2405)"] [Black "IM JOHN BARTHOLOMEW (2459)"] [Result "1/2-1/2 (draw)"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 Be7 10. Nf3 b5 11. e5 b4 12. exf6 bxc3 13. Qxc3 gxf6 14. Bh4 d5 15. Kb1 Rc8 16. Qe3 Qa5 17. Nd4 Qa4 18. b3 Qa3 19. Nxc6 Rxc6 20. Bd3 Bc5 21. Qc1 Qxc1+ 22. Rxc1 Ke7 23. Rhe1 Bb4 24. Re2 Bc3 25. Rf1 Rc5 26. Rf3 d4 27. Be1 a5 28. Bc4 Bxe1 29. Rxe1 Rg8 30. g3 Bc6 31. Rd3 Rd8 32. Rd2 e5 33. Bd3 h6 34. Rf2 Bb5 35. Bxb5 Rxb5 36. Rf3 Rc5 37. Re2 Rc3 38. Rf1 Ke6 39. fxe5 fxe5 40. Ref2 Rdc8 41. Rf6+ Kd5 42. R1f2 R8c7 43. Rxh6 Ke4 44. Rhf6 d3 45. cxd3+ Kxd3 46. R6f3+ Kd4 47. Rxc3 Rxc3 48. Rxf7 e4 49. Kb2 Rc5 50. a3 e3 51. Re7 Rf5 52. Rd7+ Ke4 53. Kc2 Rf2+ 54. Kd1 Rxh2 55. Re7+ Kd3 56. Rd7+ Kc3 57. Rc7+ Kd3 58. Rd7+ Ke4 59. Re7+ Kd3 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

Afterwards, John tweeted:

I missed out on the GM-norm by half a point, but on the plus side I won the tournament and finished undefeated on 6/9 (+3, =6, -0). Feeling good about my play and looking forward to my next event: the Southwest Class Championships (Feb. 15-19). Thanks for the sweat, everyone! — John Bartholomew (@fins0905) January 16, 2018

John has been made to wait for his second norm. He picked up his first GM norm in December 2013 at the Saint Louis Classic so when it does happen we expect he’ll be very pleased.

John, of course, is co-founder of this chess training site and an avid user. The Minnesota master has also authored several chess opening books here including his hugely popular 1.d4 Repertoire for White and his IM John Bartholomew’s Scandinavian opening trainer. The title for that may have to change soon, we hope.

All that remains to be said is another well done to John for getting so close – you’re an inspiration to so many chess players here and we’re proud of you.

Now go and get that norm… make it GM John!

Leon is a national newspaper journalist from London, England. He is an avid chess fan, and writes regularly about the game. Apart from chess, he loves cricket, Tottenham Hotspur FC and spending time with his son.