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31/08/10: Blaine goes second
In a Premier Two Red double header at the BCSC tonight Blaine Buchanan twice overcame Malcolm Patterson to move back into second place in the table at Lewis Young's expense.
If Blaine can win the two matches he has in hand over leader Tim Line he is likely to go top on average points difference.
30/08/10: Haydn and Sean share the honours
Haydn Beard and Sean Hopson met up for a couple of Conference matches this afternoon, and both made a little progress on their way to the "Holy Grail" of the 20 points mark, where admission to the Premier League is attained.
First stop was the Shore Cafe Bar, Harbourside, Bristol, where Haydn triumphed 11-5.
The pair then adjourned to somewhere a little quieter, the King William Ale House in King Street, where Sean turned the tables with an 11-8 win.
27/08/10: Bristol Open reflections
A short time after each Bristol Open, co-organisers Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr sit down together for a debrief session.
They will look at what worked, what didn't, what improvements can be made, and even whether or not they will undertake the task again next year. Watch this space on that one.
Overall this year's event has to be considered a success, and there's been some excellent feedback from the participants.
The disappointment, of course, was the fact that the Championship Division was contested by 45 players, compared to last year's 64.
There were factors which contributed to this. The lack of a sponsor to add value was one, and the uncertainty over the date, which was resolved a tad later than we might have been comfortable with, may have deterred one or two, especially those with long distance travel arrangements to make.
The recession would no doubt have been a factor, too, for some.
No matter, there was a great deal of quality on view, the level of sportsmanship was gratifyingly high, and there appeared to be a lot of enjoyment.
One or two changes for future events are likely.
In the Championship, it may be that a Progressive Last Chance replaces the "flat" variety we had this time.
And if we have round robins in the Intermediates Division again, maybe we need better tie breakers.
Credits
Roland and Ian's team also worked well.
Mike Main, with all his experience, proved a tower of strength once again, and Flip and Fran both worked tirelessly and added a light hearted and humorous touch to the proceedings.
Blaine Buchanan took on the role of hosting the Saturday evening poker at relatively short notice, and did a sterling job with the 20 or so players.
Another to perform at short notice was Raj Jansari, whose conduct of Saturday's group auction and Sunday's quarter-final auction were so well done that this will surely not be his last such experience.
And Sgt (not Sjt) Terry Ryder also did a prodigious amount of work in setting up and generally ensuring things kept ticking over, as well as being barman for a very long weekend.
Further highlights for the event were provided by World Giant #25 Paul Weaver, whose Saturday evening seminar on "Early Blitzing Strategy" was extremely well received, and Steffen Nowak, whose silent backgammon book auction prompted a high level of interest, as well as clearing a useful space in his home.
The Logo
More than one player was puzzled by the adoption of the event logo, a very red Concorde.
It has been our policy to adopt representations of iconic local images for this purpose, and this was no exception.
Of course the Clifton Suspension Bridge, as the most famous local landmark, has been used for more than one previous year, as has the SS Great Britain, and the Clifton Club, where the Wedding Tournament was held.
This year it was Concorde's turn, reflecting the great deal of local pride in the aircraft, given that it was jointly developed by British Aerospace at Filton, North Bristol, and Aerospatiale in Toulouse.
Lost property
Perhaps people are learning.
There is usually an extensive collection of possessions left behind by the players after these occasions.
This year it was different.
The owners of two sets of precision dice have been located, which leaves just one paperback book.
Any claimant for "Movers & Shapers 2: Irish Visual Art 1940-2006", please email Ian Tarr, and it will be returned to you.
Links
For further perspectives of our event, Mike Main has done an excellent report on his website, and there are lots of photos on Roland's flickr page.
Results
The full results are here.
27/08/10: AUGUST LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-one players were in league action on Thursday, with thirteen matches completed at the BCSC, and three more at other venues.
Also at the BCSC, Paul Weaver gave us the sixth and final instalment of his fascinating seminar on "Early Blitz Strategy", filmed for wider publication on the internet.
27/08/10: Dave emerges as favourite for the title ......
Dave Pym won all three of his Premier One matches last night, while two of his championship rivals had bad days, and he has emerged as the clear favourite to take the title for the first time.
His wins over Simon Baker (twice) and Phil Charlton mean that the league title is now his to lose, after leader Steffen Nowak and previous favourite Stuart Mann each suffered a brace of defeats.
Stuart's backgammon day started with an afternoon meeting with Ian Tarr at the Cornubia, and the 0-11 reverse suffered ranks as the shock result of the day, given recent form.
Stuart's subsequent match, against Simonetta Herrera -- herself still in contention -- was equally painful, but for different reasons, after a 10-4 lead turned into a 10-11 reverse.
Steffen's evening, featuring matches against two players embroiled in the relegation dog fight, went no better, with Neil Young and Ian each gaining valuable points.
There are some tasty looking fixtures remaining: Dave's meetings with Stuart and Steffen, plus Stuart's return match with Simonetta, and these are likely to have a major bearing on the final title outcome.
The effect of the days play on things at the bottom was that Ian gained fresh hope from two victories after a dismal spell, Neil and Miles Farren improved their situations with a win apiece, while two defeats apiece have left both Simon Baker and Phil deeper in the mire.
Miles has joined Simon Hughes in that tantalising place just above the thick of the race although not immune from being sucked back into it, while the five players below them can now be described as the prime contenders for the drop.
A word of commiseration for Phil here. Suffering a 10-11 defeat is usually a frustrating experience, but to suffer two in the same session is doubly so.
27/08/10: Derek just about does enough ......
There were just three Premier Two Blue matches played yesterday, all involving the two players who have all but sewn up the promotion places.
And while both Ed Turner and Derek Clew suffered a defeat, nothing has dented their apparent impregnability at the top, the reason being that nearest challenger Ian Preston was also beaten.
Ed lost 3-11 to Cecilia Sparke at Colston Yard, but still has plenty in hand at the top, as does Derek whose share of the spoils of his double header with Ian leaves him just a win behind Ed, assuming all penalty points are clawed back on September 30th.
27/08/10: Tim leads, but it's still wide open ......
Of the eight players remaining in Premier Two Red after the March resignation of Paul Watts, only John Lewis can be ruled out of the promotion race, having lost his twelfth match yesterday to Tim Line.
In addition Malcolm Patterson would need a miraculous recovery to figure in the shake down, but for any of the other six players a strong run in might just yield the desired result of a top two finish.
Tim remains the man to beat, winning one and losing one last night, but Lewis Young and Blaine Buchanan would draw level on points with Tim if they won their matches in hand -- three and four respectively.
Lewis maintained his recent mini surge with a win over Richard Holness, whose earlier victory over Steve Morris also kept him in contention.
Richard Owsley's win over Tim also just about kept him in the reckoning.
27/08/10: Sean recovers in Westbury ......
While Shadow Hamilton waited in vain for an opponent -- any opponent -- at the BCSC, Sean Hopson and Richard Biddle were doing Conference battle in Westbury-on-Trym.
Shadow had made the round trip of about 100 miles from Taunton on the off chance of getting a league game, but was the only Conference player present on the night.
Whereas this demonstrates Shadow's tremendous commitment to the game, this does serve as a lesson -- particularly for those in the Conference, where matches are few and far between -- that it's a good idea to make sure you have a firm arrangement with an opponent before travelling.
Meanwhile Richard and Sean fought out what was, by all accounts, a tough encounter at the Prince of Wales in Westbury, and Sean managed to mitigate his double defeat the previous evening by scoring an 11-7 victory.
Jamie Nevill's lead thus increases to eight points, while Sean is hopefully now on the road to amassing the twenty points he will need to clinch a Premier League place for next season, although a top two finish in the IGP could still be his best route into the elite.
25/08/10: Mandy half way to the Premier League
A brace of Conference wins over Sean Hopson at the Windmill this evening have moved Mandy Macdonald up to the 10 points mark -- exactly half way to the total necessary for clinching a Premier League place for life.
The defeats leave Sean with a lot of work to do for his elevation, although the IGP still looks like the most feasible route upwards for Sean.
25/08/10: Fourteen in Tric Trac Tourno action at the BCSC
The final session of this year's Monday Club Summer Grand Prix featured no fewer than fourteen players, split into two groups to contest Tric Trac Tournos.
But these came after the filming of another fascinating segment from Paul Weaver's "Early Blitzing Strategy" seminar -- the fifth in a series of six which will appear on the web very shortly.
Paul was one of a handful of overseas visitors still in Bristol after the weekend's big tournament, so there was a very cosmopolitan feel to the evening.
Paul then followed up by winning one of the TTTs, while Simonetta Herrera took the honours in the other.
The destiny of the SGP title had not been in doubt since Ian Preston had established an unassailable 77 points lead the previous week, but as it happened neither Ian nor his closest pursuers -- joint second placers Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr -- managed to win enough points on the night to improve their overall scores.
And the absent Jamie Nevill -- also with an unassailable lead over second placed intermediate Pearl Foster -- could afford to be similarly relaxed despite Pearl's narrow failure to pip Paul.
Before the event Ian Preston had suffered a surprise 8-11 Premier Two Blue reverse at the hands of Cynthia Roberts -- a surprise only because Cynthia was failing to create a new all time record for successive losses in Premier Two.
24/08/10: Shezan is Intermediate champion
The BRISTOL OPEN INTERMEDIATE DIVISION
Quite a lot of effort has gone into providing a good format for the intermediates at the Bristol Open.
The idea of short matches in a round robin format is a good one, in that it ensures that everybody gets a fair amount of action, as well as being beneficial from a social viewpoint, hopefully making it a comfortable entry into tournament play for those with little or no previous experience.
Splitting the eleven contestants into two groups on the Saturday, with the top three from each going forward to an Intermediates championship round robin on the Sunday, seemed like the best plan, bearing in mind that last year's ten player group was demonstrably too large.
The players all seemed to enjoy the experience, but they turned out to be so closely matched that the tie break arrangements were to be distinctly overworked.
The six player group on Saturday saw Alan Parfitt and Gay Roberts qualify outright, but a four way tie for third place was resolved by a single point knock-out shoot out, which saw Shezan Hirjee through to Sunday's elite group.
In the five player group there was almost a bizarre five way tie, until the last result went the way of Donna Sherred, who qualified outright.
Further shoot-outs saw Carel Lindley and Simon Fahoury make it to the top Sunday group.
Sunday's consolation group was won by Andrew Bennet, and to avoid further shoot-outs, a three way tie for second was decreed final, with Deana Fawcett, Pearl Foster and Mandy Macdonald splitting the prize.
The championship group was won by Shezan, with Alan winning the tie-break for second place.
And the optional side pool was won by Gay, as the only one of four punters to make the top group.
More from the Bristol Open here tomorrow or the day after, or maybe the day after that.
24/08/10: Anna can't stop winning
The BRISTOL OPEN ADVANCED DIVISION
Winning Thursday's Bristol Grand Prix tournament was a great way for Poland's sole visiting representative to warm up for the Bristol Open, but for Anna Mielech it was only the beginning.
Anna led the small overseas presence in the Advanced Division, backed up by Ingrid Sonnabend from Germany, and Liz Perry from Ireland, and she led it well.
She scythed through the field, defeating Shadow Hamilton, Richard Holness, Bristol Backgammon's favourite UK based Aussie Fiona Oldham, and George Miltiadou on her way to the final.
The home challenge was led by Tony Fawcett, who made the most of a first round bye, before despatching Paul Barwick, Duncan Lee and Mick Vacarey.
In the final, though, Tony had to accept defeat as Anna took the title.
The optional £50 side pool drew only three responses, but Ingrid's positivity was rewarded when she took the first prize by reaching the quarter-finals, John Plummer almost recouping his outlay in second place.
In the Progressive Consolation, two Bristol players met in the final.
Phillip Hill had to fight his way past John Plummer, Simon Temme, Richard Owsley and Ingrid to get there, while Duncan Lee's further progression in the main flight earned him a shorter route through, via wins over Neil Young and Irving Czechowicz.
And it was Duncan who won the match and the flight.
Sunday's Last Chance including rebuys fitted a 32-draw pretty well.
Rosey Bensley came through the top half of the draw, thanks to wins over Myke Wignall, Simon Temme, John Plummer and Richard Holness, to reach the final.
Her opponent, via a single rebuy, was to be Steve Morris, whose victims were Paul Barwick, Steffen Nowak, Mike Williams and Liz Perry.
But he met his match in Rosey, who proudly secured her first trophy since 2007.
More from the Bristol Open here soon.
24/08/10: Wayne wins it for the Brits
The BRISTOL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION
British backgammon doesn't have the best reputation internationally, although slowly but surely more and more Brits are making their presence felt on the larger stage.
The latest evidence of this was the victory of Wayne Felton at last weekend's fifth Bristol Open.
London based Wayne defeated Simon Gasquoine, Ray Tannen, Chris Ternel and Andy Darby before his final victory over Julian Fetterlein, after recovering from a 0-7 deficit.
If we count 2008 champion Simonetta Herrera as a Brit -- and her backgammon education has come as a UK resident -- then home grown players have successfully thwarted the challenges of several of the world's best players since Japan's Mochizuki Masayuki won the inaugural event (then dubbed as the Wedding Tournament) in 2005.
And Julian's appearance at the final stage -- after defeating Miles Farren, Ireland's Sean Casey, America's World Giant #10 Bob Wachtel, and Mike Heard -- was his second, emulating the 2005 and 2009 feats of Martin Barkwill.
If there had been a disappointment for the organisers, it was the size of the Championship field.
Forty-five players toed the start line, compared to the full 64 draw last year, but if the field lacked size, there was plenty of quality on show.
World Giants #9, 10 and 25, in the guise of Michihito Kageyama (Japan), Bob Wachtel and his compatriot Paul Weaver, headed the overseas contingent, while our own World Giants, Julian and Raj Jansari, headed the UK challenge.
Others travelling from afar to grace the event were Volker Sonnabend and Frank Simon from Germany, Michael Sørensen who has visited the event every time so far from his native Denmark, a strong Irish presence -- Sean Casey (the reigning UK champion), Brendan Burgess, "Cracker" McNamara and Felix Vink -- Lithuania's Vaidas Novicenko, and Belgium's Walter Meuwis.
The four semi-finalists naturally cashed, but there were other winners.
The optional £100 side pool tempted thirteen players, including Wayne, who obviously took the top prize, while two quarter-finalists -- Bob Wachtel and Chris Ternel -- were surprised to take a 50:50 share of the second prize.
John Plummer and Gay Roberts were in the Advanced and Intermediate Divisions respectively, but their investments in the Saturday Group Auction were repaid handsomely, John being rewarded with an £890 profit!
And Wayne's weekend was made complete, when his confidence in his own ability was repaid by taking the Sunday Quarter-final Auction, Peter Bennet taking the second prize.
The Progressive Consolation again saw home players in the final, and it was Murray Sharp who defeated Peter Bennet in the final.
Sean Williams, Tony Walters, Michael Sørensen and Michi were Murray's victims, while Peter fought his way past Ray Kershaw, Sean Casey, Julian Minwalla and Miles Farren.
In Sunday's Last Chance, the final was not played, and the proceeds were split 50:50 between the finalists. Next year it is likely that there will be adjustments to the format.
When Ray Tannen reached the final from the top half of the draw, via wins over John Broomfield, Steve Rimmer, Simonetta, Volker and Engin Ongel, the very bottom of the draw had yet to be filled, and before Michi and Vaidas sat down to play their third round match, they were asked, along with Ray's other prospective opponents, Rachel Rhodes and Roy Hollands, if they would agree to a 50:50 split with Ray.
Since all agreed, we then effectively had two tournaments in one, each with a "Winner Takes All" reward, and Ray was free to leave.
Vaidas beat Michi, but then lost to Rachel, who went on to defeat Roy to take the proceeds of the bottom half of the draw, demonstrating the value of persistence on her second rebuy.
More from the Bristol Open will be available to read here soon.
21/08/10: Busy day at the Artillery Grounds
After the sedate and friendly atmosphere of the Friday warm-up event, it was down to business with a vengeance on Saturday as the three central categories of play moved into action.
In the Championship the main flight lineup was whittled down to eight, and the following pairings will do battle in Sunday's quarter-finals: Julian Fetterlein versus Bob Wachtel; Michael Sørensen versus Mike Heard; Andy Darby versus Julian Minwalla; and Chris Ternel versus Wayne Felton.
They are down to the last four in the Advanced Division, where Tony Fawcett will play Mick Vacarey and Anna Mielech meets George Miltiadou in the semis.
And the Intermediates played two round robins of three point matches, to progress six of their number into Sunday's top round robin, leaving the other five contestants to fight out the consolation round robin.
Total numbers are down on last year from 100 to 82, with just 45 (compared to 64) in the Championship, while the numbers were slightly up in the Intermediate (11 as opposed to 10), and holding steady in the Advanced (26 again).
Fuller reports will appear here when the dust has settled.
20/08/10: Michi wins warm-up, but is overshadowed!
Thirty players contested the Warm-up Tournament at the 2010 Bristol Open at the Artillery Grounds, Whiteladies Road, on Friday evening.
Players had the option of entering either of two pools -- one pitched at £30, the other at £10 -- and the field was evenly split with fifteen in each category.
Michihito Kageyama won the event -- a single flight five points knock-out -- to take first prize in the £30 pool, but it was his final opponent who stole the limelight.
Shadow Hamilton, who was in the Intermediate Division at last year's event but will enter the Advanced Division this time around, took the £10 option in the Warm-up.
Defeating a string of excellent players -- Steffen Nowak, Andy Darby, Chris Ternel and Martin Barkwill -- Shadow had won the £10 pool merely by reaching the semi-finals, but eventually succumbed to Michi.
The second prize in the £30 pool was split between losing semi-finalists Murray Sharp and Martin Barkwill, while Irving Czechowicz took second place in the £10 pool.
There were also a couple of four player jackpots, Mark Calderbank winning the £20 one, while Simonetta Herrera won the £10 edition.
20/08/10: Anna completes stunning Bristol debut
The final of Thursday's tournament took place at Kellaway Avenue today, and it was Anna Mielech who prevailed over Simonetta Herrera.
All in all a great Bristol debut for Anna, who clinched a place in next year's Bristol Masters as well as taking the biggest cash prize on offer on the night.
It's a long way from Poland to Bristol for a Thursday tournament in April, but who knows, maybe she'll make it!
19/08/10: AUGUST GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
Call it the lull before the storm, maybe, but there were just nineteen contestants at the August Bristol Grand Prix event at the BCSC on Thursday.
Some players were undoubtedly saving themselves for the weekend's feast of backgammon activity at the fifth Bristol Open, while one or two others were perhaps keeping a low profile prior to failing to support their local flagship event.
But since there were four overseas players competing, including Bristol Backgammon debuts for Bob Wachtel from the USA, and Anna Mielech from Poland via Lithuania, nineteen was a slightly disappointing number.
19/08/10: Ladies rule the August GP main flight ......
The draw for Thursday's main flight ensured that one of our visiting big guns wouldn't even make it to the last sixteen, as amongst the three unlucky pairings not to get a bye was the mouth watering encounter of Michihito Kageyama (World Backgammon Giant #9) and Paul Weaver (Giant #25), possibly the highest rated pairing in Bristol Backgammon history.
Michi won that one, but didn't make it any further after losing to Richard Owsley, who had already accounted for OGP leader Roland Herrera in the first round.
Paul's compatriot Bob Wachtel got past Tony Walters only to succumb to Steffen Nowak in the quarter-finals.
So it was left to the least experienced of the visiting quartet -- Anna Mielech -- to keep overseas flags flying.
Having also failed to get a bye, Anna nevertheless eliminated Chas Perry and Ian Preston, before bringing Richard's run to an end, and then Steffen's, reaching the final on her first session in Bristol.
There she will meet Simonetta Herrera, victor over Phillip Hill, Ian Tarr and Cynthia Roberts.
When a visiting player does this well, there is usually the thorny question of how to conclude matters satisfactorily before he or she returns home.
In Anna's case, however, there is less of a problem since her opponent is also her gracious hostess, and they plan to play the final tomorrow morning.
19/08/10: Simon wins consolation flight ......
For the second time this year Simon Hughes has won a grand prix consolation flight.
Sean Hopson, Paul Weaver and Tony Walters were his victims, before he despatched Miles Farren in the final.
19/08/10: Absent Tim will be relieved ......
Tim Line was one of those inconvenienced by the decision to switch the dates of the Grand Prix tournament and the Consulting Doubles event.
But things could have turned out worse in his absence as his sixteen points deficit behind OGP leader Roland Herrera remains exactly that after Roland's blank evening caused him to discard his score.
And the two still have a decent cushion between them and the chasing Chas Perry and Miles Farren.
19/08/10: Sean fails to capitalise ......
Sean Hopson was the only intermediate at the Thursday tournament, so he had a great chance to add to his 20 points IGP lead over Pam Jakeway.
But early defeats in both flights ensured that he only added his 10 points for turning up.
A further minor threat to his leadership was cleared up when Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr made the decision not to classify Polish visitor Anna Mielech as an intermediate for Bristol purposes.
Anna may not have been competing for very long, but Ian based his decision on the fact that she is now a regular on the international tournament circuit.
Had he ruled differently Anna would already be within 40 points of Sean's tally, with the prospect of adding another 55 by winning tomorrow's final.
19/08/10: It's a rollover! ......
It doesn't seem to happen too often these days, but the Winner Takes All pool produced a rollover for the September tournament.
Unfortunately the amount rolling over is just £50.
It seems that some players took one look at a field containing three of the top 25 in the World Giants list, and concluded that the extra investment wasn't worth the bother.
Not surprisingly those three players were amongst the pool investors, with only Tony Walters and Ian Tarr parting with their extra tenners.
But the last chance of a pool win evaporated when Bob Wachtel and Ian were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
19/08/10: Winner will be Masters bound ......
Roland Herrera, winner of last month's grand prix tournament, still cannot be sure whether or not he will qualify for the 2011 Bristol Masters.
Whoever wins tomorrow's final, between Simonetta Herrera and Anna Mielech, will definitely qualify, but as the winner of the least well attended of this year's events Roland awaits either a multiple qualification on the part of someone else or a £10 grand prix tournament contested by fewer than sixteen players.
Or he could win another tournament......
16/08/10: Paul is first visitor to surface
There will be many players, from all sorts of locations, descending on Bristol this week in readiness for the coming weekend's fifth Bristol Open.
First to arrive is World Backgammon Giant #25, Paul Weaver of the USA, who sampled some "grass roots" Bristol Backgammon at the BCSC this evening.
Paul was just one of a dozen players in action at the latest Monday Club session -- amongst ten contesting the penultimate phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, which consisted of a pair of five player 3-point round robins.
Ian Preston won one of these with a clean sweep of victories, while Simonetta Herrera and Jamie Nevill shared the spoils in the other with three wins apiece.
Ian cannot now be caught in the SGP race, with a maximum 65 points available in the final event next week unable to make too big a dent in his 77 points lead, while Jamie's 93 points margin over nearest rival Pearl Foster has similarly clinched the top intermediate spot.
Also present, for a Premier One double header, were Simon Baker and Steffen Nowak, and it was Steffen who came out of it with a brace of wins to enhance his league title chances.
Steffen takes over at the head of the table, but the usurped Stuart Mann is three points behind with three matches in hand.
12/08/10: Tim and Anne win doubles event
Tim Line and Anne Foreman took the honours in the third of the year's four Consulting Doubles Grand Prix tournaments.
Eight pairs took part, and Tim and Anne got past Neil Young and Simon Hughes and then Simonetta Herrera and Steve Morris, before defeating Phillip Hill and Jamie Nevill in the final.
In the consolation final Neil and Simon beat Roland Herrera and Lizzie Pearce.
Having swapped partners a couple of times through the season, Jamie now finds himself the outright leader of the CDGP, with Tony Walters 40 points behind in second place.
And Jamie also got around to reporting a brace of Conference victories, over Haydn Beard at the Ram, Bath, yesterday.
Jamie now finds himself with a seven point cushion over second placed Richard Biddle.
09/08/10: Sean's Cornubia double
A Conference double header at the Cornubia saw Sean Hopson scoring a brace of 11-5 victories over James Lintell-Smith.
Sean's Conference outings have been few and far between, and although he has made his mark in other competitions, these were his maiden league wins.
For players like Sean, Mandy Macdonald, and Haydn Beard, the opportunity is still there to gain enough points to grab a Premier League place for next season, but only if they play a few matches!
09/08/10: Simonetta takes the pot, but Ian closes on SGP title
Ten players contested the last but two session of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, which took the form of a DMP Tourno contested by ten players.
It was Simonetta Herrera who took the cash prize, but Ian Preston, in joint second place, did enough to hold his SGP lead over joint second placed Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr to 47 points, which will be tough to overturn, given the prevalence of discards at this stage of the competition.
The other main interest centred around the battle for the prize of free entry to the Intermediates Category at the forthcoming Bristol Open.
Only two players declared an interest in this, and it was Alan Parfitt whose five wins out of nine proved sufficient to claim the prize.
Before the main event there was a Premier Two Blue encounter between Derek Clew and Cynthia Roberts.
Derek's 11-4 win moved him above Ian Preston into the second promotion slot, and news of a defeat for leader Ed Turner later surfaced.
Ed, beaten 11-9 by Chas Perry at Colston Yard, thus suffered his first defeat in fourteen matches, but despite that sensational run he can still quite feasibly be caught by Derek, since both players have lost just three matches.
08/08/10: More Bristol Open activity tomorrow
The buildup to the fifth Bristol Open, at the Artillery Grounds, Whiteladies Road, on August 20th to 22nd, gathers pace tomorrow, with associated events in Bristol and in London.
After Thursday's subsidised satellites at the BCSC, there's an opportunity for somebody to win free entry and registration to the Intermediates Division at the Open.
Anyone turning up for the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix and paying to compete in the DMP Tourno at the BCSC tomorrow (and declaring an interest in playing in the Intermediates Division at the Bristol Open), qualifies for the prize.
Simply finish higher in the DMP Tourno than any other contender on the night, and the prize is yours.
And also on Monday evening, Mike Main -- who is an important part of the Bristol Open team -- is running Championship and Advanced satellites at Backgammon in Fulham.
This gives anybody in London -- and several are already committeed to coming to our flagship event -- the opportunity to win their entry and registration fees for a mere fraction of the total cost.
Click here for the details.
06/08/10: Julian, Stuart and Phil win Bristol Open satellites
It was the annual Bristol Open satellites evening at the BCSC on Thursday, and several players took advantage of the chance of earning their entry and registration fees for the big event, encouraged by a 20% subsidy.
The evening started with two eight player satellites -- one for the Championship Division, the other for the Advanced Division -- and a couple of others waiting in the wings for further developments as the evening progressed.
The Championship satellite saw the players each paying £20 entry, augmented by a £40 subsidy to bring the prize up the the level of the £165 entry and £35 registration, while the figures for the Advanced equivalent were £7.50 each with a £15 subsidy, making up the £75 total for that Division.
The Advanced satellite saw Cynthia Roberts and Phillip Hill progress to the final, where Phil secured his prize.
Meanwhile things were moving a little less quickly in the Championship satellite -- 9 point matches as opposed to the 7 in the Advanced -- until Julian Fetterlein and Steffen Nowak sat down to contest the final, which Julian won 9-4.
As the two initial satellites were in progress, various efforts were made to put together further satellites, but the only one to come to fruition was a four player Championship satellite, with £40 entry and a similar £40 subsidy.
This was won by Stuart Mann, who defeated Dave Ablett in an enthralling final game.
There was also a four player £10 entry jackpot played, where the Herreras made the final and decided to split the proceeds.
And the night's other action was the conclusion of an adjourned Conference match between Shadow Hamilton and Mandy Macdonald, which Mandy won 11-8.
04/08/10: Normal service now resuming
Ian Tarr's PC has been repaired, so the news blackout of the past week is now officially over!
All the stories which have been stockpiling over that time can now be seen below.
The hope is that normality -- whatever that is -- will now prevail.
04/08/10: August tournament dates switched
It's short notice, but the events scheduled for August 12th and 19th have been switched with one another.
The monthly grand prix tournament will now be on the 19th, while the doubles tournament originally scheduled for that night has been brought forward a week to the 12th.
The reason for the switch is the probable presence of several visiting players just before the weekend of the Bristol Open.
The participation of these players in the doubles would cause major problems if, as sometimes happens, the event is not finished on the night.
Finishing off any singles matches would present much less of a problem, since it's a lot easier to arrange a meeting for two players than it is for four.
02/08/10: Ten in Monday Club blitzes
The latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix featured Clock Blitz Round Robins.
Ten players made up two groups of five, with one player in each group taking the no play no reward option.
Simon Hughes and Ian Preston shared the honours in one group with three wins apiece, while there was a three way split in the other group, with Mandy Macdonald, Jamie Nevill and Tony Walters making minute profits.
Ian has now opened up a lead of over 50 points over second placed Ian Tarr, an advantage which will be tough to overturn with just three events remaining, and discards coming into play.
01/08/10: Seven incur penalties
The July Premier League checkpoint passed at midnight, with seven players incurring penalties which can be clawed back by compliance with the September checkpoint.
While Paul Gilbertson in Premier One and Cecilia Sparke in Premier Two Blue succeeded in clawing back their May penalties, those who need to concentrate on keeping up with the schedule over the next two months are Simon Baker, Neil Young, Phil Charlton and Ian Tarr from the top flight, prime Premier Two Blue promotion contenders Ed Turner and Derek Clew, and Malcolm Patterson of Premier Two Red.
31/07/10: Miles wins in High Wycombe
Miles Farren visited Paul Gilbertson in High Wycombe today and scored an 11-10 Premier One win to move him further away from the relegation zone.
The result also ensured that Paul would claw back the three penalty points incurred at the end of May.
30/07/10: Derek achieves two goals
Colston Yard was the venue this evening as Derek Clew defeated Cecilia Sparke 11-5.
The win was enough to consolidate Derek's already strong challenge for promotion from Premier Two Blue, but more importantly the completion of his fourteenth league match ensures that expungement will not be an issue at tomorrow's checkpoint.
29/07/10: Sean and Tony make Handicap final
The fourth of six instalments of the Handicap Trophy was contested by just eleven players at the BCSC last night.
Tony Walters and Sean Hopson made it through to the main flight final, which will no doubt be played soon, while Duncan Lee won the consolation flight, defeating Simon Hughes in the final.
Duncan thus cut Shadow Hamilton's overall lead to 30 points.
29/07/10: More league action
Today saw Premier League wins for Gaz Owen abd Derek Clew.
Gaz moved into third place in Premier One with an 11-8 win over Neil Young at the Cambridge.
And Derek went some way towards quelling the Premier Two Blue promotion charge of Ian Preston with an 11-9 win at the Kings Head.
29/07/10: Yesterday's league action
With the July 31st penalty checkpoint looming, there were three Premier League matches played yesterday.
A double header at the Cornubia saw the spoils shared between Stuart Mann and Miles Farren, doing no real harm to Stuart's position at the summit of Premier One, while Miles moved out of the bottom four at Neil Young's expense.
Meanwhile at the Hen and Chicken Cecilia Sparke was edging home 11-10 in a Premier Two Blue encounter with Simon Temme.
29/07/10: Bristol Backgammon hit by computing problems
All the news items between this report and August nnth have been added retrospectively after Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr was beset with computing problems, in the form of a dead PC.
27/07/10: Thirteen in a row for Ed
Ed Turner extended his run of victories to thirteen this evening at Colston Yard, when he inflicted an 11-8 Premier Two Blue defeat on Cecilia Sparke.
It seems to be only a matter of time before Ed's return to the top flight will be confirmed.
27/07/10: Ian and Simon share round robin spoils
Six players contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix -- a 3-point Round Robin -- and two players got half way through an attempt to play a league match they had already played, before the error of their ways was pointed out!
That was the sum of the action at the BCSC, with Simon Hughes and Ian Preston each winning four of their five matches to share the pot.
Ian takes over the SGP lead from the absent Roland Herrera, while Ian Tarr also did enough to move into second place overall.
24/07/10: Congratulations to Helen and Derek!
The evening of Wednesday July 21st was a special one for Derek and Helen Clew.
Their new daughter Marnie arrived two weeks late, but is no doubt forgiven!
It is understood that all is well, although Derek's Premier Two Blue participation has been understandably hampered of late.
23/07/10: JULY LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were just fourteen players in league action on the year's sixth league night on Thursday.
And for one of those, who travelled from afar, it was a case of "mission accomplished"!
23/07/10: Richard becomes third promoted Conference player ......
Richard Biddle has been putting in the hard yards -- or more appropriately, the hard miles -- in this year's bid for Premier Status, travelling on a few occasions all the way from Chesham, and making the necessary arrangements to tie down Conference opponents.
After his last visit his situation was nicely set up so that, providing he didn't lose twice in the process, his next two wins would deliver his lifetime membership to Bristol's top flight.
His first opponent yesterday was Mandy Macdonald at the Windmill, and his 11-9 victory moved him tantalisingly close to his goal.
His later match, against Harry Kauntze at the Adam and Eve, Clifton, saw him scoring another win -- this time 11-5 -- and his mission had proved successful.
With Jamie Nevill and James Lintell-Smith having already crashed through the 20 points threshold, that makes three new qualifiers for the 2010-11 Premier League.
And while these three can all relax in the knowledge that they have achieved the number one objective, there remains the matter of trophies and prize money to be decided.
23/07/10: Paul's mixed evening ......
Paul Gilbertson also travelled a long way from his High Wycombe base to get some Premier One matches in, and things started OK at Colston Yard, where he despatched Neil Young 11-8.
Next up for him after a saunter down the road to the BCSC was a double header with Gaz Owen.
The first match could hardly have been closer at 11-10, but Gaz's narrow win paved the way for another, and Paul stays in his unaccustomed place at the foot of the table.
This was just another episode in Gaz's seesaw season, but at least he is now well placed to avoid relegation, where Paul, Neil, Ian Tarr, Phil Charlton, Miles Farren and possibly Simon Hughes look to have the most to fear.
23/07/10: Ian pushing for top two berth ......
Ian Preston's league career history makes interesting reading.
In 2003, having just done pretty well in his one and only Premier One season, Ian opted out of the league for a season, and has never yet got close to a return -- 2008 being his best season since.
And it was looking like more of the same when Ian won just four of his first ten games in this year's Premier Two Blue.
Last night, however, Ian scored his sixth and seventh successive league wins, and suddenly promotion looks like a more realistic possibility.
He's up to second now, and although five matches in hand still make Derek Clew the favourite for second place, things aren't looking quite as clear cut as they did a few weeks ago.
Nobody else who played yesterday in Premier Two Blue made any real headway, with Chas Perry, Cecilia Sparke and Simon Temme each winning one out of two, Tony Walters losing his only match, and Andrew Cobb outscoring his opponents on the night, but still coming out of the session with only one win out of three.
23/07/10: Absent Tim can breathe a little easier ......
The Premier Two Red promotion race was looking like a two horse one, going into Thursday's session, with leader Tim Line and second placed Blaine Buchanan very nicely placed to mop up the promotion honours.
But with Tim absent, Blaine's double header against one of the potential challengers Richard Holness had the potential to provide a pivotal moment. The action did not disappoint.
Two wins for Blaine would make it very hard for anyone, bar possibly Lewis Young, to break the monopoly of the top two, while a win apiece would virtually maintain the status quo.
What happened, however, was the other option, and Richard's spectacular 11-5 and 11-3 double has proved good news for Tim, while throwing the second promotion place wide open.
In fact Blaine's points difference has deteriorated to the point where he has slipped below Lewis into third place, while Richard makes up a trio of players with eight wins and six defeats.
And now even Steve Morris and Richard Owsley cannot be discounted from the final shakedown.
19/07/10: Lewis goes third
Lewis Young edged home 11-10 against Malcolm Patterson in a Premier Two Red match at the BCSC this evening, and is now well placed to launch a late promotion challenge in third place.
Later a ten player Tric Trac Tourno was the featured event in the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, and Simon Fahoury came out on top on one of his rare visits.
Roland Herrera did enough to move back into the MCSGP lead, displacing Ian Preston, with Ian Tarr close behind in third.
Jamie Nevill could have moved to within a point of Pearl Foster as top intermediate, but chose to take the non-paying option after taking a minor chouette beating at the start of the evening.
17/07/10: The Americans are coming!
With the 2010 Bristol Open now just five weeks away, registrations are beginning to fill up the start list.
And in keeping with the event's reputation in attracting a top quality field, it looks as though this year's event will be no different.
Among the latest names on the Championship Division list are top Americans Bob Wachtel and Paul Weaver -- World Backgammon Giants #10 and #25 respectively -- considerably strengthening the US contingent, which had consisted merely of regular visitor, Chicago's Carter Mattig.
That makes four of the top 52 on the Giants list, including two Brits -- Bristol/Cheltenham's very own Julian Fetterlein (#37) and Raj Jansari (#52).
Watch out for more big names in the coming weeks.
15/07/10: Tim wins Nackgammon event
The second of the year's three Nackgammon Grand Prix evenings saw just nine players in the featured event at the BCSC yesterday, while three others were in league action, and two others playing friendlies when bar and kitchen duties permitted.
Tim Line took the honours in the Nackgammon main flight, defeating Neil Young and Steve Morris before his final victory over Simon Hughes.
Neil won the consolation flight, beating Simonetta Herrera in the final.
Simonetta, who won the first event back in March, still leads the NGP table, with Tim 25 points behind in second place, and Neil a further 35 points back in third.
Tim also took another step towards reclaiming his top flight league place when he increased his Premier Two Red lead over second placed Blaine Buchanan to nine points, beating John Lewis 11-8.
And in Premier Two Blue Ian Preston emphasised his recent resurgence with an 11-5 victory over Chas Perry, and is now the best placed of the pursuers of the top two.
15/07/10: Simonetta up to fourth
Gaz Owen visited Kellaway Avenue today for a Premier One double header with Simonetta Herrera, and left with two defeats.
Leading 9-0 in the first match, Gaz failed to get another point, and then lost the return 7-11.
His only consolation was scoring two backgammons during the session.
Meanwhile the six points have moved Simonetta up to fourth place, and into the fringes of the championship race.
Giving up her title without a fight is obviously not an option.
13/07/10: Gaz strikes double blow to Dave's title hopes
In a double header at yet another new venue for Bristol Backgammon competition, the Salamander, John Street, Bath, Gaz Owen has handed Stuart Mann a considerable advantage in the Premier One championship race by beating second placed Dave Pym 11-7 and 11-8.
Stuart and Dave are still level on points, but now Stuart has two matches in hand.
Gaz rises two places after a recent indifferent spell, and is at least in a position to challenge for prizes, even if top spot still seems a long way off.
13/07/10: Ian back on top of SGP
Nine players turned up for the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a 3-point round robin evening.
The spoils in each of the two resultant groups were shared, with Ian Preston and Tony Walters splitting the pot in the five player group, while Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr did likewise in the four player group.
With discards starting to bite, previous leader Roland Herrera failed to add to his overall points tally, while Ian Preston's net gain of 45 points moves him into the lead.
A chouette featuring outrageous swings of fortune completed the evening.
Earlier Cynthia Roberts had suffered Premier Two Blue defeats at the hands of Ian Preston and Tony, who while both still off the promotion pace at least remain the most likely threats to the top two.
09/07/10: ALL THE NEWS FROM THE JULY GRAND PRIX TOURNAMENT ......
Summer activities took their toll on the turnout at the July Bristol Grand Prix tournament, with just sixteen players taking part.
09/07/10: Herreras take both flights ......
Having entered many Bristol tournaments together over the years, Roland and Simonetta Herrera have never before won both flights of an event.
They managed it at last night's monthly grand prix tournament, however.
It was Roland who took the honours in the main flight, defeating Ian Tarr, Simon Hughes and Gaz Owen before his 11-7 final win over the night's start turn, Pam Jakeway.
Pam's route to the final -- her best previous achievement was winning the consolation flight twelve months ago -- took her past Stuart Mann, Ian Preston and Tony Walters.
Meanwhile Simonetta was completing the family double with wins over Mandy Macdonald, Ian Tarr and Stuart.
09/07/10: Roland edges Tim out of top spot ......
The absence of several of the top OGP contenders left the way clear for a few changes at or near the top of the table.
Most notable absentee -- working away -- was leader Tim Line, who might have expected his 73 points advantage to have been a big enough cushion to keep his lead intact, especially since second placed Chas Perry was one of the others not toeing the starting line.
But third placed Roland Herrera obviously had other ideas, his 100 points haul for winning the tournament pushing him 16 points ahead of Tim.
09/07/10: Pam stakes IGP claim ......
Pam Jakeway's exciting run to Thursday's main flight final bagged her 105 IGP points, bringing her to within 20 points of leader Sean Hopson.
Pam was the only one of four intermediates in either flight of last night's tournament to win a match, and the fact that she won three and picked up 40 bonus points in the process (for defeating Premier Status players) only served to emphasise her dramatic rise to contention.
Pam is not alone in being one of those players who, despite the availability of copious amounts of information, tends to remain oblivious of the impact of competitions like the IGP, merely turning up and enjoying the tournaments for what they are.
Maybe last night's result, and the knowledge that one of the two Premier League spots available through the IGP is within touching distance, might give her some added focus over the remainder of the season.
09/07/10: No rollover for the August tournament ......
The £60 Winner Takes All pool rollover from the June event didn't have the greatest impact on investment at last night's tournament, with just seven of the sixteen contestants taking the plunge.
So hopes of a double rollover to the August event were quite realistic -- until Pam Jakeway became the only rollover defender in the semi-finals.
She managed to defeat Tony Walters, but the task of despatching Roland Herrera in the final eventually proved too much.
Meanwhile Roland's tournament win has proved to be good news for both Chas Perry and Lewis Young, who are now confirmed qualifiers for the 2011 Bristol Masters.
Chas and Lewis were sweating on their qualification after winning the January and April tournaments respectively.
Under the rules, only seven of the eight £10 monthly grand prix tournaments are guaranteed their Masters places, the unlucky winner of the tournament with the fewest entries potentially missing out.
There were 21 entries for the events Chas and Lewis won, but last night's low turnout means it is now Roland wondering whether or not he will qualify.
There have not yet been any multiple qualifiers. As soon as there is, Roland's qualification will be confirmed.
05/07/10: 11-10 the league score of the day
Two league matches took place yesterday evening, and each ended 11-10!
In Premier One leader Stuart Mann lost out to Phil Charlton at the Cornubia, and now only heads Dave Pym on points difference with both players having played 13 matches.
The three points were a welcome boost for Phil in his battle to escape the relegation zone.
Meanwhile at the BCSC it was Lewis Young who came out on top against Richard Holness.
While Premier Two Red leaders Tim Line and Blaine Buchanan are looking good in the two promotion slots, Lewis has now replaced Richard as the only other player with more wins than defeats.
The other action at the BCSC was the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a DMP Tourno contested by seven players.
Pearl Foster scooped the prize pool with five wins from her six games to move into third place in the SGP table, leapfrogging Jamie Nevill as the top intermediate, while overall leader Roland Herrera had his lead cut to less than 35 points by Ian Preston.
A four player chouette ensued.
02/07/10: Simonetta wins tournament, goes top
Just ten players contested the latest episode of the Clock Tournament Grand Prix at the BCSC on Thursday.
Simonetta Herrera won the event, defeating Cecilia Sparke and Dave Ablett, before despatching Tony Walters in the final.
Steffen Nowak beat Cecilia in the consolation final.
Simonetta picked up 85 CTGP points to go ten points clear at the top of the table, with previous leader Ian Tarr second.
News items from 2010 (first half)
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