News items from 2006 (first half)
29/06/06: Seventeen at low key league night
To say that there were seventeen players present at the June league night is to give a somewhat false impression of what transpired.
The split over two nights resulting from the dates mix-up meant that although over twenty players were present over those two sessions, there was precious little league action.
Part of this is due to stagnation in the Conference, where those who did turn up had already played one another.
And several of the others were only there for part of the session. These included world backgammon giant Lars Trabolt, pictured, who was passing through on his way back from Zakynthos to his Denmark home.
Chouettes dominated the evening, though, both at the BCSC and later at the Cornubia.
What league action there was saw Ian Tarr suffering mixed fortunes in his battle against relegation from Premier One, finishing off the match against Ed Turner which had been adjourned the previous evening at 9-all.
Ian won a see-saw double game to take the spoils, but then went down 8-11 to Paul Watts, whose victory hauled him out of the bottom four at Dave Pym's expense.
Neil Young edged home 11-10 against John Lewis in the only Premier Two match to be completed, while Steffen Nowak and Richard Owsley had to leave their encounter at 8-all at close of play.
29/06/06: Eight in action at "auxiliary" league night
The confusion over the date of the June league night has resulted in a split over the two nights in question, with a small minority sticking with their original arrangements at the BCSC last night.
This meant eight players -- four each from Premier One and Premier Two -- turning out for action.
In the top flight two double headers were adjourned with the return legs tantalisingly poised.
Stuart Mann's title quest stalled a little in defeat by Phillip Hill, but he is 6-5 up in the return, with a fascinating back-game adjourned for another day.
The win aided Phillip in his battle against relegation, a topic also top of the agenda for Ed Turner and Ian Tarr.
Ian won their first encounter, but the return will probably resume some time this evening with the score standing at 9-all.
In Premier Two, Michael Corbett made a welcome return to action, and scored fine wins over Andrew Cobb and Steffen Nowak. Andrew also succumbed to Richard Cartwright.
23/06/06: League night date changes again after mix-up
At short notice -- and Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr offers his sincere apologies for any confusion -- next week's league night will now revert to its original date -- Thursday 29th.
A request from a BCSC committee member had been acceded to a while ago, and the date had been extensively advertised as the coming Wednesday, the 28th.
That committee member, however, failed to communicate this information to the bar manager, who had made staffing arrangements as per the original schedule, which will now be difficult to alter.
Now that the function has failed to come to fruition, the solution to the conundrum is to move the league night back to its original date.
All league players are being contacted about the change, but it is too late to change the Events Diary listing in Venue magazine.
23/06/06: Relaxed chouette session at the BCSC
A modest turnout of around a dozen players for the latest chouette evening saw a few players introduced to the intricacies of chouette, plus one or two other pieces of action.
The chouette, for very low stakes, saw Ian Senior as the biggest beneficiary, while an outstanding match from last month's doubles consolation flight saw the Youngs -- Neil and Lewis -- reach the final at the expense of Ian Preston and Nick Barham.
They now face Simonetta Herrera and Celia Nicopoulou.
Meanwhile Steve Morris racked up the sixteenth win of his Conference record chasing campaign, with an 11-10 nail-biter against Todd Young.
19/06/06: Cecilia wins Lesters consolation flight
The final of Thursday's Lesters 59 consolation flight was played out at the Kings Head, Victoria Street, this evening.
And Cecilia Sparke ended the victor over Nick Barham in a match which could easily have gone in either direction at double match point.
Cecilia thus becomes only the second player to win a Lesters consolation flight, after Stuart Mann won the first one in March.
16/06/06: Second new players evening a qualified success
Hugh Vickers made a welcome first appearance at the second of the year's new players evenings at the BCSC last night, and Celia Nicopoulou returned after making her debut in the recent doubles event.
The evening started with evaluation -- led by Ian Tarr and Roland Herrera -- on a few positions, plus discussions on use of the doubling cube, and the meaning of equity.
Eight players then enjoyed a Tric Trac event, won by Simonetta Herrera, while Nick Barham and Ian played their Handicap knock-out final to a close and rivetting conclusion, with Nick taking his first title.
The action concluded with Ian losing a Premier One clash against major title contender Jason Champion.
13/06/06: Nick makes it an all-Conference final
Nick Barham emphatically defeated Ed Turner at the Old Colonial in Weston-super-Mare today to progress to the final of the consolation flight of last Thursday's tournament.
This makes the final an all-Conference affair, as Cecilia Sparke is his opponent.
The win also added 32 points to Nick's IGP points tally, moving him up to fourth place overall.
13/06/06: Juanita clinches Lesters victory
Juanita Ferrer defeated Mark Dixon at Clifton College on Friday to win Lesters 59.
This was Juanita's first ever monthly grand prix main flight triumph, and clinches a place for her in the 2007 Bristol Masters.
And the good news for the majority of players is that there will now be a triple rollover in the Winner Takes All pool at next month's grand prix event.
13/06/06: LESTERS 59 REVIEW ......
The much heralded 59th Lesters Trophy event at the BCSC on Thursday, with its double rollover, was surprisingly attended by only nineteen players, although the absence of Martin Hemming, Paul Gilbertson and Paul Barwick -- apparently waylaid by other mysterious counter attractions -- didn't help.
13/06/06: Juanita and Mark to contest Lesters final ......
Thursday night's session at the BCSC ended with Juanita Ferrer reaching her first Lesters final, after overcoming the challenges of Nick Barham, Ian Preston and Blaine Buchanan.
In the other half of the draw Jason Champion and Mark Dixon had reached the semi-finals, Jason getting past Ian Tarr, Ed Turner and Tim Line, while Mark was defeating Tony Walters and Steve Ferrer.
The duo then adjourned to the Cornubia, where Mark's victory put him through to the final.
13/06/06: Cecilia sparkles in consolation ......
Cecilia Sparke celebrated her entry into monthly grand prix tournaments by making the final of the consolation flight. Tony Walters and Simonetta Herrera were her victims.
Delays affected the other half of the draw, leaving Nick Barham and Ed Turner to make other arrangements for their semi-final.
Jerry Limb had complicated matters by disappearing without participating in the flight, forcing a revamp of the draw order.
13/06/06: Juanita carries rollover hopes ......
With the excitement of a double rollover inflating the Winner Takes All pool to a very handy £320, neutrals were willing Juanita Ferrer to victory after she emerged into the semis as the only pool non-participant. Could a triple rollover be on the cards?
Meanwhile in the pre-tournament auction of players, Jason Champion and Steve Ferrer were the purchasers of the finalists.
13/06/06: Mark moves into OGP lead ......
The Open Grand Prix seems to be living up to its name, with the lead changing hands on a monthly basis, Roland Herrera, Ed Turner, Roland again, Ian Tarr and Steffen Nowak being succeeded on Thursday by Mark Dixon, whose 34 points lead could stretch to 74 with victory over Juanita Ferrer.
13/06/06: Cecilia makes her IGP mark ......
With the top three in the IGP absent on Thursday, there was an opportunity for other intermediates to make inroads into their lead.
Only three turned up, however, and each failed to progress in the main flight.
But Cecilia Sparke marked her monthly grand prix debut by reaching the consolation final, and gaining 30 IGP bonus points for dispatching Tony Walters and Simonetta Herrera.
And Nick Barham beat co-intermediate George Jakeway to earn a consolation semi-final berth.
13/06/06: Nick a single point from Handicap triumph ......
In between the Lesters action, there was time for some other avenues to be pursued.
Nick Barham and Ian Tarr played most of their Handicap Trophy final from the previous week. Unfortunately, the match had to be adjourned with Nick 6-3 up, and just a point away from a maiden title win.
In Premier One Dave Pym succumbed 7-11 to Steve Ferrer.
08/06/06: Double rollover Lesters eagerly awaited
The most eagerly anticipated Bristol monthly grand prix tournament for quite a while takes place at the BCSC tonight, from 7pm.
The buzz surrounding the 59th Lesters Trophy event comes about through an accumulation of factors.
Prize money in the various categories (two flights, auction and Winner Takes All pool) is likely to be in the region of £1,000, bearing in mind the improved attendance at the March Lesters, the visit of a couple of itinerant visitors -- Paul Gilbertson and Paul Barwick -- meandering back from Cornwall, and the fact that the Winner Takes All pool carries a £170 rollover through the negligence of April and May grand prix winners Steffen Nowak and Ian Preston.
It may not be possible to post a full account here until Monday for logistical reasons, but the best way to find out what happens is to attend and, if desired, participate!
08/06/06: Roland cashes at a wedding tournament again
The trend towards tournaments as an integral part of wedding celebrations gathered pace in a beautiful part of Cornwall this week.
The celebrants were popular London based players Dod Davies and Jo Curl, and the location was Polhawn Fort, a stunning venue in a largely unspoilt corner of Cornwall, just the other side of the Tamar.
Tuesday's wedding was followed by a games day on the Wednesday, the centrepiece of which was -- of course -- backgammon, and an event co-organised by Mike Main, who does great things for backgammon in Camden, and our own Ian Tarr.
The main event was a £100 entry event contested by 14 players, with two buying a quarter-final place via an auction, to make the prize money up to -- almost -- £1,600.
From a very strong field John Hurst emerged to defeat Martin Barkwill, with the groom and Paul Money also cashing as semi-finalists.
Keeping a lower profile in the £15 entry flight were our own Roland and Simonetta Herrera, who were drawn together (another growing trend) in the opening round. Roland won this encounter, and went on to win the flight.
04/06/06: Two in a row for Paul
Paul Gilbertson, having scored a maiden victory in last month's BIBA event, has proved it was no fluke.
At this weekend's BIBA Hilton Trophy knock-out, at the Coventry Hilton, Paul has once again emerged at the top of the tree.
Bristol interest was not confined to the Main flight, boasting finalists in all the other flights.
John Slattery finished runner-up in the Consolation, Roland Herrera won the Last Chance flight, and Rosey Bensley came second in the Suicide flight.
And Martin Hemming would like it known that he won the Saturday night poker tournament.
A Premier One match was also played this afternoon, Simonetta Herrera recovering from 6-10 in arrears to defeat Slatts and keep her title challenge alive.
02/06/06: HANDICAP TROPHY EVENING NEWS ......
Sixteen players were present to enter the main draw of the third of the year's Handicap Knock-outs, and one more arrived in time to compete in the consolation flight.
And Henry Logan was making a welcome comeback after a gap of more than three years.
02/06/06: Nick and Ian make the final ......
Nick Barham and Ian Tarr will fight out the main flight final of the third of this year's Handicap knock-outs at a time and place yet to be decided, after Thursday evening's session at the BCSC.
Nick's first venture into handicap tournaments went extremely well, with wins over Ian Preston, Mark Skelton and Steffen Nowak cementing his place in the final.
Meanwhile Ian was overcoming Mike Smith, Tim Line and Tony Walters.
02/06/06: Ian beats George in consolation final ......
Ian Preston defeated George Jakeway in the final of Thursday's consolation flight.
Ian had to beat Ed Turner and Steve Ferrer on his way to the final, while George's victims were Mike Smith and Juanita Ferrer.
02/06/06: Steffen edges ahead of Ferrers ......
Handicap Trophy joint leaders Steve and Juanita Ferrer remain level on points after Thursday's event, after each scored a solitary win in the consolation flight.
Their respective fifteen points hauls were not enough to preserve their lead, however, as main flight semi-finalist Steffen Nowak edged into a five points lead.
There could be a further change at the top, though, as reigning Handicap Trophy champion Ian Tarr would move a further 20 points ahead of Steffen with a win in the outstanding final.
The other finalist, Nick Barham, is already sixth after just one tournament, and can go one place higher by beating Ian. Should he fail to do so, the top four would start to open up a useful gap.
02/06/06: Simonetta suffers title blow ......
There was a little league action on Thursday.
Of greatest significance was Simonetta Herrera's narrow defeat at the hands of Steve Ferrer, which was a blow to her hopes of maintaining a strong challenge in the League title race.
For Steve the win lifts him out of the bottom four.
In Premier Two, Blaine Buchanan defeated Cynthia Roberts, and must still harbour hopes of playing a part in the promotion race.
01/06/06: Checkpoint claims five victims
The Premier League end of May checkpoint has passed, and five players have incurred penalties, which can be reclaimed by catching up with the schedule by the end of July.
Ed Turner is docked one pount in Premier One, while in Premier Two the "victims" are Ann Pocknell, Michael Corbett, Neil Young and Blaine Buchanan.
26/05/06: June league night date changed
Will all players please note that the June league night has been brought forward a day to Wednesday 28th at the request of the BCSC, who have another event to stage on the Thursday.
Email reminders will be sent very soon, and also closer to the date. For an up-to-date list of UK backgammon dates, visit our Calendar page, and for a more specific look at Bristol Backgammon events in June, click here.
26/05/06: MAY LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......
Twenty-two players were present for the May league night at the BCSC, a low turnout by recent league standards.
But once again the good news was that three more players -- Ian Smith, who played in last week's Inter-League Challenge, Andy Kenny and Jamie Waite -- signed up for the Bristol Conference League, making a total of twenty in that league so far.
26/05/06: Simonetta goes second ......
A brace of victories over Dave Pym have given Simonetta Herrera every chance of being involved in the League title run-in.
She is now second, six points behind leader Mark Dixon, but with one match in hand and a superior points difference.
The two defeats, together with one by John Slattery, inflicted a severe blow to Dave's title chances, while Slatts' own last lingering hope of a triumphant end of season has surely now disappeared after his eighth defeat of the season, at the hands of Phillip Hill, who has risen from the bottom of the table at Ed Turner's expense.
Ed, currently away on holiday, remains the only player threatened by a penalty point at Wednesday's checkpoint.
26/05/06: Roland goes second ......
Tim Line was the only Premier Two player to score two victories during last night's session.
He may have left it too late to claim an automatic promotion place, however, having a 50:50 record with just three matches remaining, as does Juanita Ferrer.
Roland Herrera moved into second place with a narrow win over John Lewis, and looks on course for elevation to the top flight, if not the title.
Others to score wins were Steffen Nowak, Simon Baker, Richard Cartwright, Cynthia Roberts and Andrew Cobb.
Five players have work to do if they are to avoid penalties on Wednesday, and one of those -- Michael Corbett -- risks losing his three March penalties permanently.
26/05/06: Ian earns the second promotion slot ......
There will be at least two players promoted from this season's Conference after Ian Senior became the fifth player to break through the eight match threshold so far this season.
From now on, every third player to play eight matches will earn his or her colleagues a further chance to step up into the Premier League.
And while Ian was achieving this, he was also enjoying the most successful night of his fledgling backgammon career, winning both of his matches.
The second of these saw him come from a long way behind to pip Conference debut player Jamie Waite 11-10.
George Jakeway was the evening's other winner.
24/05/06: Slatts in Velden last four
Former European champion John Slattery came within two victories of regaining his crown at Velden in Austria over the weekend.
His semi-final exit was a creditable effort, though, and also amongst the prize money was Rosey Bensley, who won the ladies tournament, coming out on top of a seventeen player field.
22/05/06: Mark's key win
Mark Dixon has scored an important victory in his quest to retain the championship of the Bristol Premier League.
In an encounter with title rival Stuart Mann at Clifton College this evening, Mark managed an 11-1 win to extend his lead at the top of the table and halt Stuart's run towards the top.
19/05/06: Sixteen enjoy Inter League Challenge
The new format Inter League Challenge, which has effectively condensed three two sided matches into one three sided one, proved to be an enjoyable occasion for those sixteen players who turned out at the BCSC last night.
With the declared aim of including all players who wanted to take part, Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr devised a series of formats designed to cater for three teams of differing sizes.
There were four volunteers from Premier One, and six each from Premier Two and the Conference, who included a welcome guest player -- Ian Smith, making his competitive debut.
To even up the distribution of players a little, one Premier Two member -- John Paton, after a random draw -- was loaned to Premier One for the evening, and the sixteen players were slotted into a format which gave each player four five-point matches, actually providing the Conference players with four more opportunities to score a victory than their "illustrious" counterparts.
However, had it been known at that stage that Jason Champion, who had confirmed his availability less than an hour before "kick-off", was to fail to show, the remaining players could have been arranged into three teams of five.
With matches already started, however, the rigmarole of a re-draw was resisted, and Premier One continued with just four players, although this situation was to be alleviated when a late cameo appearance by Mark Dixon at least plugged two of the four fixture gaps.
The opening series of matches saw the depleted Premier One combination taking a narrow lead with three wins.
Premier Two kept the gap down to a single point in series two by keeping pace with the top flight team, and then went one better by levelling matters after the third series.
And although Premier One -- aided by Mark's late appearence -- were to clinch the match, the fourth series highlight saw the Conference "rookies" coming into their own with four excellent wins.
In all Premier One won 12 out of 18 matches; Premier Two won 9 out of 19; and the Conference won 9 out of 23.
The whole Premier One team at least broke even, with Ed Turner and Simonetta Herrera scoring three apiece, while Mark won both of the matches he had time for.
Premier Two's stars were Mike Smith and Andrew Cobb with three each, while Nigel Hutchings fared brilliantly with three wins for the Conference, ably backed up by two-win performances from Nick Barham and Cecilia Sparke.
FULL RESULTS:
First series: Tim Line (P2) beat Ian Tarr(P1); Ed Turner (P1) beat Nick Barham (C); John Paton (P1) beat Roland Herrera (P2); Simonetta Herrera (P1) beat Steve Morris (C); Mark Dixon (P1, substituting for Jason Champion) beat Miles Farren (C) in a match played later in the evening; Andrew Cobb (P2) beat Ian Smith (C); Cecilia Sparke (C) beat Cynthia Roberts (P2); Nigel Hutchings (C) beat Mike Smith (P2).
Second series: Ian Tarr beat Ian Smith; John Paton beat Cecilia Sparke; Andrew Cobb beat Simonetta Herrera; Jason Champion versus Steve Morris not played; Nick Barham beat Tim Line; Roland Herrera beat Nigel Hutchings; Mike Smith beat Miles Farren; Ed Turner beat Cynthia Roberts.
Third series: Ian Tarr beat Nick Barham; Nigel Hutchings beat Ed Turner; Mike Smith beat John Paton; Simonetta Herrera beat Miles Farren; Jason Champion versus Tim Line not played; Cynthia Roberts beat Ian Smith; Andrew Cobb beat Cecilia Sparke; Steve Morris beat Roland Herrera.
Fourth series: Cecilia Sparke beat Ian Tarr; Ed Turner beat Andrew Cobb; Nick Barham beat John Paton; Mark Dixon beat Ian Smith; Nigel Hutchings beat Tim Line; Miles Farren beat Roland Herrera; Mike Smith beat Steve Morris; Simonetta Herrera beat Cynthia Roberts.
19/05/06: Ian wins May GP final
Ian Preston scored an 11-5 victory last night in the held over final of the main flight of the May Grand Prix event.
The win -- which clinched his first grand prix main flight win since May 2003 -- moved him up to seventh place in the OGP table, while his opponent Chris Roberts has to be satisfied with his IGP lead of 25 points.
19/05/06: Nick beaten!
Nick Barham has tasted defeat for the first time in the Conference. Leader Steve Morris defeated him 11-8 at the BCSC on Thursday.
14/05/06: Stuart emulates Charlie's Masters feat
Stuart Mann has retained the Bristol Masters title he won last year, by winning an extremely closely fought final against Roland Herrera at the Herreras' Kellaway Avenue home this evening.
Roland first of all needed to fight his way past Steffen Nowak in the outstanding semi-final tie, and did this by an 11-7 margin.
At the same time Stuart was warming up for the final by completing a Premier One match against Simonetta Herrera.
The tightness of that match -- Stuart won 11-10 -- was a precursor to the final which also reached DMP with a two-cube at 9-all. Stuart had moved into a 4-0 lead, but Roland pegged it back with a double gammon, and the score moved on to 6-all and 7-all before the gripping climax.
Stuart's feat in successfully defending the Masters title echoed that of Charlie Hetherington, who won the first two editions of the Masters in 2001 and 2002.
And the watching Mark Dixon was also aware that Stuart's exploits might have moved him back to the top of the unofficial Bristol ranking list, a suspicion which can now be confirmed, just three days after Mark had dislodged Stuart from pole position for the first time.
13/05/06: Masters finale tomorrow
The two outstanding matches from the 2006 Bristol Masters are scheduled to take place at Kellaway Avenue early tomorrow evening.
Roland Herrera and Steffen Nowak will play their semi-final, while finalist (and current holder) Stuart Mann will be making good use of the waiting time by playing a Premier One match against Simonetta Herrera before tackling the final.
12/05/06: MAY GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-two players toed the start line at the May Bristol Grand Prix tournament at the BCSC last night, but although most of the usual suspects were present it was two of the less regular visitors who hogged the limelight.
12/05/06: Chris and Ian make up for lost time ......
Two non-leaguers -- Chris Roberts and former OGP title winner Ian Preston -- stole the show at Thursday's tournament, storming to the final past a host of tough opponents.
Chris not only missed out on a first round bye, but was drawn against his wife Cynthia for their first ever meeting in Bristol Backgammon competition. Having won this "local derby", Chris fought his way past Juanita Ferrer and Tony Walters to reach his first main flight semi-final in fifteen attempts, and then went one better by defeating Steve Ferrer to guarantee a slice of the final prize money.
Ian was lucky enough to get one of the byes, but nobody could say that he hadn't earned his place in the final after disposing of a welter of distinguished adversaries in Jason Champion, Stuart Mann and Roland Herrera.
The final is scheduled to take place next Thursday at the BCSC.
12/05/06: Steffen maintains newly acquired habit ......
Winning titles and Steffen Nowak were not words that went together until recently.
But already this year Steffen has won two doubles tournaments, both with Miles Farren, and last month's grand prix tournament main flight, so although early elimination from the main flight was suffered at the hands of Juanita Ferrer, the winning habit was maintained in the consolation flight.
Having to surmount obstacles like Jason Champion, Simonetta Herrera, John Slattery and Mark Dixon was a tough assignment for a consolation flight, but Steffen managed the feat nevertheless.
12/05/06: Steffen and Roland overhaul Ian ......
Ian Tarr's OGP lead lasted just a month. Adding only fifteen points to his tally was never going to be enough to keep the chasing pack at bay, and consolation flight winner Steffen Nowak takes on the mantle of leader, with main flight semi-finalist Roland Herrera moving into second place.
With seven tournaments still to play, the top six players are covered by just 54 points.
12/05/06: Chris rockets into IGP lead ......
The lack of intermediates in grand prix tournaments was once again underlined last night, with just three turning up.
Steve Morris and Miles Farren have been ever presents thus far, and this was reflected in their first and second places in the IGP table. But a total of just nine appearances to date from seven other contestants so far is, it has to be said, a major disappointment.
Steve failed to add more than the statutory 10 points to his tally, so Miles, who picked up bonus points for his victory over Blaine Buchanan, was able to overhaul him.
But that wasn't enough to give him the lead, because Chris Roberts, making only his second appearance of the season, picked up a massive 130 points for four main flight wins over Premier League opponents, to shoot into a 25 point lead.
And a victory over Ian Preston in next Thursday's final would extend that lead to a very healthy 70.
With the prize of Premier Status beckoning for the top two IGP finishers, it does seem amazing that more intermediates are not queuing up to enter these events.
12/05/06: Double rollover for Lesters 59 ......
Twelve out of twenty-two contestants in last night's tournament elected to chase the £50 rollover money in the Winner Takes All pool.
However, the only one of the semi-finalists in that pool -- Roland Herrera -- was unable to progress further, so the mouth watering prospect of a double rollover at next month's Lesters Trophy tournament has come to fruition.
With £170 already in the kitty, a pool of well over £300 is now probable on June 8th.
12/05/06: Stuart stays in the hunt ......
An early evening league clash between the only two players to have won the Premier League title twice saw Stuart Mann score an emphatic 11-2 victory over John Slattery.
The result keeps Stuart's title challenge very much alive, while John now has little or no margin for error, as it is difficult -- but not impossible -- to imagine a championship triumph for anyone losing more than seven matches out of 20.
In Premier Two Richard Owsley squeezed through at DMP against Neil Young to stay in touch with the promotion chasing pack.
12/05/06: Mark tops local rankings list ......
The formula for deciding player handicaps in our popular Handicap Trophy events has had one spin-off which is proving popular among some of the players.
The production of a local rankings list has probably gone unnoticed by many, but some of the more competitive players have been following the updates quite keenly.
Since the system was put in place Stuart Mann has held pole position, but he has now been overhauled by current Premier League leader Mark Dixon.
10/05/06: Wins for Mark, Martin and Phil
Three more league matches played today featured wins for Mark Dixon in Premier One and Martin Hemming and Phil Charlton in Premier Two.
Martin struck first at the Black Horse, Amberley, with a narrow victory over Simon Baker, while the BCSC played host to Phil's win over Michael Corbett and Mark's success against Paul Watts.
Mark now has a six points lead over Jason Champion, having played four more matches.
10/05/06: Mike back on track
Mike Smith is back to winning ways.
He inflicted a first league defeat of the season on Simon Baker at the BCSC last night to open up a nine point lead at the head of the Premier Two table.
07/05/06: Michael's seesaw weekend
Michael Corbett came down to earth with a bump just a day after his fine win over league leader Mike Smith.
The Black Horse Inn, Amberley, Stroud, was the scene of an 11-0 whitewash inflicted by Martin Hemming, freshly back from a weekend at BIBA's County Cups Trophy event, where he had seen two Bristol connected players -- Paul Gilbertson and Nigel Merrigan -- fighting it out for the title, which Paul won.
Martin's victory moves him into the promotion zone in Premier Two.
07/05/06: Mike's run ended
Mike Smith's stunning run of victories in Premier Two was ended yesterday, just two short of a 1000 to 1 award.
Michael Corbett was his conqueror, 11-1 was the margin, and the Fox at Easter Compton was the venue.
05/05/06: DOUBLES NIGHT AT THE B C S C ......
Nine pairs lined up for the year's second doubles tournament, including three welcome new players in Richard May, Celia Nicopoulou and Olena Shvetsova.
05/05/06: Steffen and Miles to take the rest of the year off? ......
Having won the first of this year's Consulting Doubles tournaments back in January, despite having to play one more round than most of the others, nobody would have put money on Steffen Nowak and Miles Farren producing a repeat performance.
But repeat the feat they did, netting another 100 points apiece in the Consulting Doubles Grand Prix table.
Since there have been only 17 main flight matches during those two events, and the deadly duo have won eight of those, it is little surprise that they have such a lead as to probably render the remaining two tournaments meaningless in terms of the top grand prix prizes.
The third and fourth place prizes are still very much up for grabs, though.
One half of last night's unfortunate runner-up pairing, Roland Herrera, is in third place, a mere 115 points behind Steffen and Miles, and the player Roland partnered in January, Tim Line, is fourth.
Roland's partner last night, Olena Shvetsova, will have enjoyed her run to the final, too.
05/05/06: Simonetta and Celia wait for final opponents ......
Simonetta Herrera and Celia Nicopoulou are in the consolation final of the doubles, but will have to wait before they know who they must play.
Two Youngs -- Neil and Lewis -- will play Ian Preston and Nick Barham in the semis at a time and place yet to be decided.
05/05/06: Six league matches completed, too ......
Simon Baker turned up at the BCSC without doubles on his mind. He is a man on a mission, determined to make up for lost time after being allowed in to Premier Two two months after the start of the season.
He played the second, third and fourth matches of his campaign, and is yet to be defeated.
Another who has played and won four league matches this season is Nick Barham in the Conference.
He completed a match which had tantalisingly been adjourned at 10-all against Mark Skelton and managed to come out on top.
Mark did register a win, though, as did Miles Farren, who has reduced Steve Morris's lead to just(!) 18 points.
03/05/06: Slatts is a giant!
News has filtered through to this backgammon outpost that one of our number has achieved near immortality!
Every two years Flint Area BackgammoNews publishes a list of world backgammon giants, voted for by top tournament players and directors.
This year's list, which is headed by Americans Nack Ballard and Neil Kazaross and Frenchman Francois Tardieu features John Slattery at number 52.
Among those higher in the list are Danes Lars Bonding and Lars Trabolt, and Japan's Mochy Masayuki, who all featured in last year's Wedding Tournament here in Bristol -- Mochy of course being the winner.
Slatts is also currently ranked number 6 in Bristol.
02/05/06: Jason's run ends
Jason Champion's run of Premier One wins came to a shuddering halt at the Cornubia this evening.
The seven match winning sequence which installed Jason as the favourite for the title in his top flight debut season, was stopped in its tracks when Paul Watts won both phases of their double header.
Second placed Jason still boasts the best record in the division, but others with title pretensions will have been encouraged by tonight's events.
Paul, meanwhile, has catapulted himself right out of the bottom four and into closer contention, not only scooping six valuable points with the two victories, but also reclaiming the penalty point he incurred at the March 31st checkpoint.
01/05/06: Tim in Gammonitis semi
Tim Line added to his growing list of praiseworthy performances when he reached the semi-finals of the Gammonitis Leavey Trophy at Eynsham Hall, Oxford, over the weekend before losing to eventual winner Julian Fetterlein.
The 32-player event also featured the Herreras -- Roland and Simonetta -- who also managed to make their respective marks.
Roland split the Saturday night jackpot, while Simonetta won the last chance flight, defeating Mardi Ohanessian in the final.
30/04/06: Stuart a step from retaining Masters title
Bristol Masters champion Stuart Mann stands just one step away from becoming the second player to retain this title.
Charlie Hetherington, who has not been seen at a Bristol Backgammon event for some ten months, won the first two Masters events in 2001 and 2002, and now Stuart will emulate that feat if he can win the 2006 final, after overcoming Elliot Smart, Steve Ferrer and Tony Walters en route.
But precisely who his opponent will be remains in doubt, after some gruelling encounters in the other half of the draw saw only two rounds of 11-point matches completed in around four and a half hours.
The semi, when it takes place, will feature Roland Herrera and Steffen Nowak, both of whom have been in good form this year.
Steffen got past Martin Hemming and Richard Cartwright to earn his semi-final berth, while Roland defeated Ed Turner and wife Simonetta's conqueror Mark Dixon.
The pull of this prestigious title dragged two qualifiers out of "semi-retirement" in Elliot Smart, who will return to the game next year after taking this year out, and John Ould, whose withdrawal from Premier Two meant this was his first appearance of the year.
Back door entrants, making the most of the unavailability of Dave Pym, John Slattery and Simon Baker, were Richard Cartwright, Ian Tarr and Blaine Buchanan. Of these three, only Richard managed a victory, and that was against Blaine.
It was also good to see Tony back in harness after a short break.
30/04/06: Jason's pursuers suffer setbacks
Jason Champion's strong start to his first Premier One campaign received a further boost when two of his rivals at the top suffered setbacks after elimination from the Masters.
Both Simonetta Herrera and Mark Dixon were defeated by Ian Tarr to dent their respective title hopes.
For Ian, though, these welcome victories were much needed after a poor start to his campaign, and he hauled himself three places of the bottom of the league.
In Premier Two Richard Owsley got his season back on track with a victory over Martin Hemming, while "The Steve Morris Show" in the Conference continued unabated with victory over Ian Senior. Steve now has a 21 point lead in that competition.
22/04/06: Mark top, Herreras both third
Mark Dixon is not letting his championship title go without a fight.
He moved back to the top of Premier One at Clifton College on Friday evening after sharing the spoils of a double header with Simonetta Herrera.
Jason Champion is now three points off the pace, but will not be losing too much sleep as he has four matches in hand on Mark.
Simonetta's win moves her up to third place.
Also up to third in his division, Premier Two, is Roland Herrera, who despatched Blaine Buchanan at the same venue, and at the same time made sure of clawing back the penalty point incurred at the March 31st checkpoint.
Roland is emerging as leader Mike Smith's biggest threat.
22/04/06: APRIL LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
The tieing up of a couple of knock-out loose ends and a vibrant session encompassing all three leagues saw no fewer than twenty-nine players in action at the BCSC on Thursday evening, plus three welcome visitors sampling the unique Bristol Backgammon atmosphere for the first time.
22/04/06: Mark's run halted by Phillip ......
Reigning champion Mark Dixon probably fancied his chances of clinching a 1000 to 1 award after a run of eight wins in contributing competitions.
So what better way to accomplish the feat than to sit down to a double header against Premier One's bottom player, Phillip Hill. Job done? Well, no.
In one of the longest drawn out matches seen this season, Phillip edged home 11-10 in the first encounter, although Mark managed to gain revenge later on.
Simonetta Herrera scored a couple of wins to move closer to the leaders, while Stuart Mann won his only match of the evening to retain hopes of mounting a challenge.
Phillip's win moves him off the bottom, but the bottom triumvirate of Ed Turner, Phillip and new bottom placer Ian Tarr each need a rapid reversal of recent form to reattach themselves to the main pack.
22/04/06: Mike goes from strength to strength ......
Mike Smith continued his recent impressive sequence with his seventh and eighth Premier Two wins in succession at the BCSC on Thursday evening. Steffen Nowak and Richard Owsley were his victims as Mike opened up a six points gap at the top of the league.
While Cynthia Roberts deservedly broke an unfortunate run of defeats, the night's other winners are all showing excellent recent form.
John Lewis went third with his fifth successive league win, while Roland Herrera celebrated his return from Denmark with three straight wins to move into fifth place.
Martin Hemming's sole win on the night was his fourth in succession, and Richard Cartwright scored a double success as he overcomes what was an uncertain start to the season.
22/04/06: Steve and Miles opening up gaps ......
The inexorable progress of Steve Morris via the Conference towards the promised land of the Premier League showed no sign of slowing on Thursday at the BCSC. Quite the reverse, in fact.
Victories over Cecilia Sparke and John Sprague have given Steve a total of thirty-nine points, and it seems certain that, even if he were to take a sabbatical for the rest of the season, nothing would stop him making the step up.
Miles Farren is also striking out boldly towards promotion. Although he has played eight matches fewer than Steve, his progress is looking just as impressive after wins against Mark Skelton and Ian Senior.
Mark managed a victory himself, and moved into third place, although now nine points behind Miles.
Nick Barham and Marie Harz were the others to secure victories on the night.
22/04/06: Steffen takes a well deserved bow ......
It may have been a long time coming, but it has been threatened.
Before the dawn of the year 2005, Steffen Nowak's monthly knock-out performances had been largely unfruitful -- and to a quite perplexing degree.
While making excellent progress through the leagues to attain a Premier One place at the earliest opportunity, knock-out success eluded Steffen, as his best efforts in thirty-two monthly knock-outs to the end of 2004 were a brace of losing semi-final appearances.
Then, at the start of the following year, it was as though a switch had been flicked. The fourteen tournaments Steffen had contested from then until this month had seen him reach the semis on no fewer than seven occasions, a record of remarkable consistency.
Even then, converting those chances into something better still appeared to be a problem, as five semi-final exits were bettered only by two losing final appearances.
Now at last Steffen has broken free of the invisible shackles that were holding him back. On Thursday, his held over final against Ian Tarr was nip and tuck until seven-all. From there, each game ran away from his hapless opponent, and Steffen had succeeded at the forty-seventh attempt!
The win has also moved Steffen to within five OGP points of leader Ian, as the top five players are covered by just twenty points.
22/04/06: Roland takes time out to win handicap consolation ......
Roland Herrera's productive league session was punctuated by one interruption, although not an unwelcome one.
The outstanding consolation final from the Handicap Knock-out earlier in the month saw Roland taking the larger of two small prizes, Ian Preston taking the smaller.
The 15 extra points also pushed Roland up the Handicap Trophy table into equal eighth place.
14/04/06: Change of venue for Cotswold event
Martin Hemming has released details of the fifth Cotswold Fireside Tournament, and the event seems set to shift up a gear from previous incarnations.
A new venue, the Bear of Rodborough Hotel, Rodborough Common, near Stroud, means that restrictions on the number of entries are no longer necessary.
And good news from a parochial viewpoint is that the venue is only about half the distance from Bristol as the Crown.
A further sign of expansion is the move to three flights, with the Championship flight entry increased to £140, plus a small registration fee.
14/04/06: Mike tops Premier Two
In what might well be seen as a key promotion clash at the Foresters, Downend, yesterday evening Mike Smith has moved to the top of Premier Two.
His 11-0 defeat of Phil Charlton relegates Juanita Ferrer to second place, and has also had the effect of inflicting only a second defeat of the season on Phil.
14/04/06: APRIL GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
A low turnout for the April Bristol GP tournament, attributable largely to counter attractions abroad and the Easter holiday, accounted for a strangely quiet night at the BCSC.
Nevertheless it was business as usual for the sixteen starters in the main flight, plus one latecomer who gained direct access to the consolation flight.
14/04/06: Steffen and Ian to settle final next Thursday ......
Steffen Nowak and Ian Tarr will fight out the final of the main flight of the April Bristol grand prix tournament at next Thursday evening's league night.
Ian defeated Ian Preston, Chris Roberts and Tim Line to reach the final, while Steffen was eliminating Cynthia Roberts, Nick Barham and John Paton.
14/04/06: Second successive consolation for Stuart ......
Stuart Mann, winner of the inaugural Lesters consolation flight last month, made it two in a row when he defeated Cynthia Roberts in Thursday's consolation final.
George Jakeway and Richard Owsley were Stuart's victims en route to the final. Meanwhile Cynthia was beating Steve Morris and Ed Turner.
14/04/06: Ian edges into OGP lead ......
Ian Tarr's run to the main final has moved him into pole position in the OGP, a mere 10 points ahead of March leader Roland Herrera, absent in Denmark. Ian can increase his lead to 45, however, by winning the final.
His final adversary Steffen Nowak is up to fifth, but will go second -- just five points behind Ian -- if he can win the final.
14/04/06: Nick makes IGP headway ......
The status quo was virtually maintained at the top of the IGP leaderboard after Thursday's event.
Top three Steve Morris, Miles Farren and George Jakeway all got their 10 points for turning up, although Steve did at least add five more for his consolation flight win over Nigel Hutchings, thus doubling his overall lead to 10 points.
Star intermediate performer of the evening, though, was grand prix debutant Nick Barham, who was the only player to pick up IGP bonus points, picking up a handy extra 20 when he took the scalp of 2004 OGP champion Ed Turner.
In what has been a slow start to the season in the IGP, just nine players having made at least one grand prix appearance, Nick has already moved into fourth place through last night's efforts.
14/04/06: Steffen carries rollover hopes ......
Neutrals will be rooting for Steffen Nowak when the final of the main flight is played next Thursday.
This is not just because of his innate popularity, nor because of the fact that he has, surprisingly, never won a Bristol grand prix tournament.
The simple fact is that a win for Steffen will mean a £50 rollover to the May tournament in the optional £10 Winner Takes All.
Ian will take the money if he wins the final.
14/04/06: Is there anybody to stop Steve? ......
Steve Morris has tackled his 2006 Conference season with an alacrity reminiscent of Tim Line's whirlwind campaign at the tail end of last year.
The only noticeable difference is that Steve is winning a higher percentage of his matches -- eleven out of fifteen so far.
Latest victims -- on successive nights at the BCSC -- are Mark Skelton and George Jakeway.
Given the flexible format of this particular competition, it is impossible to draw absolutely firm conclusions about the prospects of any player. But the fact remains that nobody winning nine or more matches in a Conference season has ever failed to attain the "holy grail" of Premier Status.
While we can justifiably say that Steve is almost assured of promotion, he does have one or two further targets to aim for.
Last season Tony Walters established Conference records both for matches played (26) and matches won (20).
11/04/06: Awards Night photos online at last!
Photos from January's annual Bristol Backgammon Awards Night are now online.
Apologies to those who have been waiting a while for this to happen. The webmaster has no real excuses for this, and offers his apologies.
There are photos from both Jeremy Axford and Roland Herrera.
09/04/06: Ferrers in charge in Handicap Trophy
Joint leaders in this year's Handicap Trophy are the Ferrers -- Steve and Juanita.
Juanita won the January tournament, and on Thursday evening it was Steve's turn as he defeated Steffen Nowak in the main final.
Steve and Juanita now have 125 points each, with Steffen third twenty points behind.
In the consolation flight, Roland Herrera and Ian Preston will meet at some as yet unspecified time and place to resolve that final.
There was again a low turnout, possibly suggesting that handicap tournaments have lost their novelty appeal. However, thirty different players have appeared in at least one of the two events so far this year, so that may be an unjustified conclusion.
And the debut appearances of Antonio Moreno and Daniel Myers were another plus.
09/04/06: Mark keeps up the pressure
In the only league match to be completed during Thursday's session, Mark Dixon kept up the pressure on Premier One leader Jason Champion with a thoroughly well deserved win over struggling Ian Tarr.
03/04/06: Mike wins battle of promotion contenders
Mike Smith's impressive recent form was underlined tonight at the Hare on the Hill when he defeated another player on a roll, John Paton, to consolidate his second spot in Premier Two.
John started well, leading 5-0 at one stage, but succumbed 8-11 in the end.
03/04/06: Todd "earns" promotion slot for Conference colleagues
Todd Young may have lost his Conference encounter with Ian Senior at the White Hart, Brislington, yesterday, but he can take a small measure of satisfaction in breaking through the eight match threshold, so significant in terms of deciding how many players will be promoted at the end of the season.
Having become the second player to do so, Todd has triggered the first of this season's promotion slots.
Last year fourteen Conference players made this vital contribution to earn a record total of five promotion places, and the signs are good for a repeat, at the very least.
03/04/06: More Bristol success at BIBA
The catalogue of Bristol related successes at national events continued unabated at the BIBA British Open at the weekend.
Nigel Merrigan's impact on the Bristol Backgammon scene has been minimal, which is not too surprising as he is based in Preston, and has only appeared once in a bread and butter Bristol event.
He nevertheless expresses great enthusiasm about our scene, and is even said to harbour thoughts of moving closer to the area to further his backgammon career.
It was Nigel, pictured left with runner-up Tony Lee, who emerged from the field of 72 players at the Coventry Hilton to become the 2006 British Open winner -- in the process becoming only the second player to win the coveted title twice.
Tony, of course, is hardly a stranger to the Bristol scene himself, having spent two of his "formative" years in the Bristol Premier League at the turn of the millenium. The two elected to share the customary Bristol side pool before the final.
After Saturday's play, which whittled the field down to the last sixteen, there were no fewer than six of the eleven Bristol pool players still in contention. And remarkably not one of those six was to lose to an "outsider"!
Tony was the only Bristol representative in the bottom half of the draw, but managed to progress to the final, despite one close brush with elimination at the hands of Yorkshire resident Kevin Stebbing.
There was always a great chance of a Bristol player succeeding in the top half, with five of the eight contenders.
The draw pitted two of our pairs together, though, with Jason Champion overcoming Ann Pocknell and Rosey Bensley falling to Nigel. Tim Line made it four of the last eight by beating Lincoln's Darryl Kirk.
The all-Bristol quarter-final clash saw Nigel eliminate Tim. Jason, meanwhile, was overcoming another Yorkshireman, Mick Butterfield to give Bristol 75% of the semi-final line-up.
Jason then succumbed to Nigel, to set the scene for the closely contested final.
Meanwhile, in the progressive consolation flight, Ann was moving through the rounds to good effect, reaching the final, where she came second to Birmingham's Dave Startin, and Stuart Mann -- who had a forgettable Saturday -- improved on Sunday, reaching the final of the last chance before losing to Londoner Nicky Check.
Ian Tarr also fared badly on Saturday, but improved on Sunday, only to fall short of the lesser honours. He was lucky in the Hatrick Board raffle, though!
Further photos can be seen here.
01/04/06: Four penalised at first checkpoint
Midnight saw the passing of the first of this year's Premier League checkpoints, and four players have incurred penalties for falling behind the schedule.
With the loss of a single point Paul Watts -- the only transgressor in Premier One -- dipped back into the bottom four just a day after escaping.
In Premier Two three players incurred penalties -- Michael Corbett losing three, Richard Cartwright and Roland Herrera one apiece.
All players can, of course, claw back their penalties by catching up with the schedule by the next checkpoint, on May 31st.
Premier Two late entrant Simon Baker, meanwhile, has left himself a lot to do before that checkpoint.
Exempt from the effects of the March checkpoint, just a month after replacing John Ould in the league, Simon has still managed just one result. He will need to register eight more in the next two months if he wants to avoid trouble at the May checkpoint.
31/03/06: MARCH LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-eight players were present for the third of this year's league nights at the BCSC, and between them they managed to complete a stunning 27 matches!
Three of those were new signings for the Conference -- Nick Barham, Nigel "Hutch" Hutchings, and George Jakeway, who had all made debut appearances recently at other Bristol Backgammon events.
31/03/06: Jason consolidates position ......
A solitary victory for Jason Champion has firmed up his pole position in Premier One.
The 11-8 defeat of Ian Tarr sees him with a far superior record to all his nearest pursuers bar perhaps Mark Dixon.
Third placed Dave Pym suffered a double blow in his matches with Paul Watts, who moves out of the relegation zone. Dave did manage to register one victory, however.
Other wins were recorded by Steve Ferrer (twice) and Simonetta Herrera, while Ian and Phillip Hill are adrift at the bottom.
31/03/06: Fresh challengers in Premier Two promotion race ......
A staggering fourteen matches were completed in Premier Two at the BCSC last night.
Making exemplary progress, time wise, are leader Juanita Ferrer and third placed Tim Line, who have only three and five matches respectively to play, with eight months of the season remaining!
After a bad night for both, though, their chances of success are now looking slim, as neither can win more than eleven matches, almost certainly not enough for promotion.
Many others appear to be launching serious challenges, however.
Mike Smith has rocketed into second place after adding to his win earlier in the week, by winning three more times. In addition to this, he also recouped a penalty point by paying his league fee -- becoming the last of the 31 Premier League contenders to do so.
A brace of victories also moved John Paton into the promotion bracket, while Phil Charlton is also well placed, after recording his fifth win in six matches.
Alan Parfitt also managed two narrow wins to move into contention, as has John Lewis, who scored a hat-trick of successes.
Other winners on the night were Tim, Richard Cartwright, and Andrew Cobb.
31/03/06: Steve chasing Conference records ......
Nick Barham, with two wins, and Nigel Hutchings with one, made winning starts to their respective Conference careers last night.
But leader Steve Morris clinched two more victories to open up a gap of twelve points at the top.
Not only does he have one eye on the record number of wins during a Conference season, but he also might have designs on the most matches played in such a season.
The night's other winner was Mark Skelton.
24/03/06: More league action at chouette evening ...... and elsewhere
The latest Bristol Backgammon chouette evening went one better than the inaugural one last month, in that some chouette actually took place, and was enjoyed by several players.
But others preferred to concentrate on their league campaigns, both at the BCSC and in Larkhall, Bath, where four Premier Two players gathered to do battle at the Rose and Crown.
Andrew Cobb initiated this gathering, and then proceeded to suffer three defeats for his pains!
Martin Hemming scored a brace of wins to move into "profit" for the first time this season, while Blaine Buchanan and Mike Smith were that session's other winners.
Meanwhile, back at the BCSC, there was just one Premier Two match, Steffen Nowak scoring a hard fought win over Roland Herrera to move into second place in the table.
The evening's only Premier One action featured a match barely started at Winterbourne at the Gammonitis tournament in February.
The 1-0 lead over Stuart Mann which Ed Turner brought into the session gave little clue to the eventual outcome, which was a resounding 11-2 win for Ed, who thus hauled himself off the bottom of the table.
There was also some play in the Conference, with top two -- Steve Morris and Miles Farren -- registering victories.
22/03/06: Dave to miss out on Masters
Dave Pym will miss the 2006 Bristol Masters on April 27th because he will be on holiday.
First on the list of potential substitutes, through a high OGP finish, is Richard Cartwright, and he has gratefully accepted the invitation to compete.
17/03/06: Nineteen enjoy Tric Trac night
Last month's Handicap Trophy consolation final and a handful of league matches also featured, as nineteen players enjoyed our first Tric Trac night at the BCSC on Thursday evening.
Two Tric Trac's, comprising nine and seven players respectively, produced some enjoyable backgammon, and two new players -- Nick Barham and Nigel "Hutch" Hutchings entered into the spirit of the occasion well.
Simonetta Herrera and Ed Turner won the £5 and £10 pools respectively in Tric Trac number one, while Tim Line took the £5 pool in the second Tric Trac.
Tarim and Marie Harz, meanwhile, were fighting out their epic Handicap Trophy consolation final, and the gripping finale went Marie's way.
Two Premier Two matches were completed -- Neil Young suffering his first league defeat of the year at the hands of Phil Charlton, and John Paton whitewashing Tim. John was also trailing 1-6 in an adjourned match against Roland Herrera.
Conference front runners Steve Morris and Miles Farren traded blows, scoring a victory apiece.
15/03/06: Rosey won Gammonitis consolation
Just filtering through to our "newsdesk" is the fact that the Progressive Consolation flight at the weekend Gammonitis tournament near Oxford was won by Rosey Bensley.
And Martin Hemming won the poker.
15/03/06: Mark takes Lesters title
Mark Dixon last night won the 58th Lesters Trophy tournament.
The closing stages of the event were held at Roland and Simonetta's last night, with Mark edging past Cynthia Roberts in the outstanding semi-final, and then defeating his hostess Simonetta Herrera in the final.
It was Mark's second Lesters success -- he beat Jerry Limb in the final of the corresponding tournament last year -- and it was also his second successive Lesters final.
In December -- at precisely the same venue -- the host Roland Herrera prevailed against Mark.
Last night's successes moved Mark up to second in the OGP, just five points behind Roland, and Mark also qualifies for the 2007 Bristol Masters.
And Winner Takes All pool rollover fans will be dismayed by Mark's victory!
13/03/06: Tuesday evening confirmed for Lesters climax
The two matches outstanding from Thursday's Lesters 58 tournament will be played from 8pm at Roland and Simonetta's home on Tuesday evening.
Cynthia Roberts meets Mark Dixon in the main flight semi-final, while Simonetta Herrera will be waiting in the wings to meet the winner in the final immediately afterwards.
11/03/06: League action, too, on Thursday
Many apologies for omitting Thursday evening's league action from the Lesters round-up below.
In Premier One the only remaining unbeaten record -- that of Dave Pym -- disappeared with a brace of defeats, at the hands of Phillip Hill and Stuart Mann.
Leader Jason Champion consolidated his position with a victory over Steve Ferrer, but Dave and Mark Dixon are still within touching distance.
John Slattery also won, but his second place looks less than secure with an even win:loss record from his twelve completed matches.
Meanwhile, down in Premier Two, it seems that Juanita Ferrer will be top for a while.
Just like last season, she seems determined to fulfil her fixtures by Easter! But the difference this time is that she is winning a far higher percentage of matches -- eight wins from her thirteen matches so far.
What will she do when she has played her remaining six matches? At her current rate, though, she may well do enough to clinch one of the four promotion slots, but that is a situation that will surely be a long time unravelling.
Tim Line scored a double success on Thursday, and has won half of his ten matches in second place.
Simon Baker started his season -- after his late inclusion -- with a win over Juanita.
There were no Conference matches completed on Thursday, but one was played on Wednesday at the BCSC, when Steve Morris increased his lead with a win over Mark Skelton.
10/03/06: LESTERS LVIII REVIEW ......
It may have been the introduction of a second flight to Lesters tournaments, it may not have been. But a turnout of twenty-six at the BCSC last night was the best for a Lesters event since 2003.
One swallow, of course, does not make a summer, but assuming there is no tailing off of interest during this experimental year for Lesters, two flights may very well be here to stay.
And three players were appearing in a Lesters Trophy event for the first time -- Ann Pocknell, George Jakeway and Steve Morris becoming the 155th, 156th and 157th players to do so.
10/03/06: Simonetta reaches first Lesters final ......
Simonetta Herrera fought her way through the long part of the draw -- defeating Blaine Buchanan, Miles Farren, George Jakeway and Steffen Nowak -- to reach her first Lesters final in eighteen attempts.
There she will meet the winner of the outstanding semi-final between Cynthia Roberts -- conqueror of Paul Watts and Roland Herrera -- and Mark Dixon, whose victims were Juanita Ferrer and Jason Champion.
The semi-final is yet to be arranged.
10/03/06: Stuart and Slatts make history ......
A consolation flight final is seldom an occasion to make the onlooker sit up and take notice.
But this one was slightly different, being the final of the very first ever Lesters Trophy consolation flight, after fifty-seven past single flight tournaments.
It was perhaps fitting, then, that the participants were the only two players who have twice taken the Premier League title -- John Slattery and Stuart Mann.
It was Stuart who came through to take the unique honour of making a little piece of history, after pegging back Slatts' early advantage.
Slatts had come through the long part of the draw, eliminating Blaine Buchanan, Martin Lubianka and Martin Hemming, while Stuart had to get past Dave Pym and Richard Cartwright.
10/03/06: Herreras threaten OGP domination ......
Roland Herrera's run to the quarter-finals of the main flight was enough to give him the OGP lead at the quarter way mark, displacing February leader Ed Turner.
Although he cannot be caught when the final two matches are completed, he is likely to have a different player breathing down his neck.
Final victory for either Simonetta Herrera or Mark Dixon would mean second place, while the same result for Cynthia Roberts would put her fourth.
10/03/06: George stakes his IGP claim ......
George Jakeway didn't know a lot about the IGP before last night.
But two main flight victories complete with bonus points have catapulted him into third place overall, just twenty points behind leader Steve Morris.
Meanwhile Miles Farren also secured bonus points, and has closed to within five points of Steve.
The only other intermediate present last night, Martin Lubianka, also managed bonus points to move into a distant fourth place.
10/03/06: Mark is rollover enemy number one ......
Mark Dixon is the only player who can stop a Winner Takes All pool rollover.
Only nine of the twenty-six tournament entrants opted for the pool, but four succumbed in the first round, and two more a round later.
That left just Mark, Jason Champion and Ann Pocknell in the quarter-finals.
Mark disposed of Jason, while Ann was defeated by Steffen Nowak.
Semi-finalist Cynthia Roberts and finalist Simonetta Herrera now stand between Mark and the £90 prize.
10/03/06: Steve, Miles and Blaine in auction wait ......
Dave Pym did his usual sterling work on the auction, bringing in a total of £138.
Those still with an interest after Thursday evening's events are Miles Farren and Blaine Buchanan, who invested respectively in semi-finalists Mark Dixon and Cynthia Roberts, and Steve Ferrer, who is already assured of a return as his hope Simonetta Herrera has already booked her place in the final.
07/03/06: Bristol players threaten BIBA grand prix leaders
The latest BIBA Grand Prix table shows several Bristol players near the top of the 115-player list, after good performances at the weekend's Scottish Open.
London's John Hurst is in pole position on 41.28 points, but John Slattery, second on 36.12, and Martin Hemming, third on 32.98, are handily tucked in behind.
Other players to figure near the top are Ian Tarr sixth on 27.86, Stuart Mann eighth on 24.76, Peter Bennet 10th on 23.70, Tony Walters 16th on 19.59, Tim Line 18th on 18.58, and Simonetta Herrera 20th on 18.56.
Eight players in the top twenty will be a difficult position to maintain!
07/03/06: Scottish Open photos now online
Pictured left to right with their trophies are the weekend's star performers from a Bristol perspective (and most of the star performers from any perspective!). Tim Line, BIBA Scottish Open Champion 2006, Simonetta Herrera, Progressive Consolation runner-up, John Slattery, tournament sponsor and Progressive Consolation winner, and Martin Hemming, "Haggis" winner.
Further photos can be seen here.
05/03/06: Another national tournament; another Bristol success
Tim Line has made another major contribution to the litany of Bristol successes at national tournaments since the turn of the year.
The John Slattery sponsored BIBA Scottish Open, held at the Hilton Hotel, Coventry at the weekend, saw nine Bristol and Bristol-connected players amongst a field of thirty-seven contestants.
By Saturday night, with the quarter-final line-up completed, only Tim and Ian Tarr remained in contention for the title.
On Sunday Ian dipped out at the hands of Mardi Ohanessian, while Tim was edging past John Samuel.
Tim then eliminated Mardi to earn a final meeting with Ron Havenhand.
The final, which was videoed and will also be analysed in a future edition of the Bibafax, was another close encounter, but Ron was getting the upper hand until a double gammon saw Tim move 10-9 ahead, before closing out the final game in dramatic fashion.
After featuring in the final of the recent Gammonitis event at Winterbourne, as well as the February Bristol Grand Prix final, Tim is in a very rich vein of form, and has an impressive record for one who has only been taking the game seriously for little more than six months.
As well as scooping handsome prize money from the Winner Takes All pool, and first place in the £10 pool, Tim also won a Hatrick Board for his efforts.
Tim was not the only Bristol player to take home prizes, though.
The progressive consolation saw both sponsor Slatts and runner-up Simonetta Herrera collecting trophies, while the flight usually dubbed the Suicide, but on this Scottish occasion named the Haggis, was won by Martin Hemming.
And there was also a raffle for another Hatrick Board, the lucky recipient of which was Kevin White.
Sadly, thanks to a small technical difficulty, photos of the happy winners cannot be published for a day or two.
03/03/06: And then there were twenty
Ian Preston yesterday joined John Ould in resigning from Premier Two without playing a match.
Ian cannot be certain of completing his matches within the prescribed timescales, bearing in mind his employment/travelling situation, so has come to this reluctant conclusion.
As was the case with John's resignation, there is minimal damage done to the league by this course of action, given that there are no matches to expunge from the record.
Checkpoint targets have been amended slightly to cater for the reduced schedule, although the March checkpoint remains unaltered.
03/03/06: An evening with a difference at the BCSC
Yesterday's New Players' evening at the BCSC was something of an ad hoc affair, given that it was our first attempt at such an enterprise.
With first appearances from Fiona Beard and George Jakeway, the evening was always assured of achieving its main objective of attracting new players, and Ian Senior and John Scadding were also present for the second succcessive week.
With various "training" options available to us, it was "Professor" Roland Herrera who took centre stage early in the evening, leading a discussion on the first few games of a 1999 match between two world class players, which hopefully proved to be thought provoking for the experienced players present as well as our welcome newcomers.
But with brains reaching saturation point, it was on to a Tric Trac Tourno, to give everyone present a light hearted and quickfire "hands on" session.
The twelve players who elected to take this option were split into two groups of six, and Tim Line -- with a backgammon and two gammons included in his total of 8.5 points -- and Neil Young -- pipping Simonetta Herrera on countback -- taking the honours.
Tim and Neil then embarked upon a "championship play-off", which Neil won.
There was also some league action. Neil beat Tim in the only Premier Two encounter, to preserve his 100% start to the season.
And the Conference saw a variety of winners -- Todd Young, Miles Farren, Steve Morris and Mark Skelton.
Steve still heads the table.
25/02/06: John out, Simon in, is Premier Two surprise
John Ould has resigned from Premier Two, as he had come to the conclusion that it was very unlikely he would be able to complete his fixtures.
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr, though, has acted swiftly to accommodate a player who missed the entry deadline as a result of being out of contact.
Former Premier League champion Simon Baker had expressed an interest in joining on his return to Bristol action in January, but had been told that entries had closed.
John's resignation, however, opened up an opportunity, and Simon has grabbed it with both hands, after league members were consulted on the issue.
No objections having been received, Ian was pleased to announce the substitution.
Checkpoint targets are thus completely unchanged by the substitution, although Simon will need to play "catch up", just as John would have if he had continued.
While all Premier League resignations are regrettable, John is to be applauded for taking action before the league incurred the damage that would have resulted from expunging results of completed matches.
24/02/06: Thanks to Steffen and Michael
The Bristol Backgammon Library has recently become more comprehensive thanks to generous donations of material by players.
The array of books on display at most Thursday sessions was recently augmented by a run of seventeen 1990's German backgammon magazines "Backgammon Magazin", courtesy of Steffen Nowak.
These come complete with English translations, in case any readers were worried.
And now Michael Corbett has donated a DVD, "Movers and Shakers: The Backgammon Boy", a Channel Four documentary featuring the exploits of a young English player, Mark Teltscher.
See Ian at any session if you are interested in borrowing these or any other items.
24/02/06: FEBRUARY LEAGUE NIGHT REVIEW ......
Twenty-eight players were present for the second of this year's league nights at the BCSC.
No fewer than 22 Premier League players (three of whom have already played at least half their matches!) were joined by four Conference players -- including debutant Ian Senior -- while John Scadding also dropped in to sample a typical Bristol Backgammon session.
Tarim also came along to further his Handicap Knock-out agenda.
24/02/06: Jason shadowed by pursuers ......
Premier One leader Jason Champion was one of only two players from that league not present on Thursday at the BCSC. And despite the completion of eleven matches, he retains his lead.
But the six points cushion he had has disappeared, and he now finds three pursuers below him only on average points difference.
Perhaps unusually the one who might currently give him least cause for concern is none other than double Premier League champion John Slattery, who made the most of his 220 mile round trip to fit in five matches.
Sadly for Slatts, though, three of those five resulted in defeat, and John has lost six times this season, a habit he will need to nip in the bud if he is to play any part in the title shake-down.
Pride of place, though, surely goes to the only player remaining undefeated, Dave Pym.
Having recorded his highest ever finish last season, Dave is obviously looking to improve upon that record this year, his two victories last night making it a perfect five match run.
Also taking closer order is reigning champion Mark Dixon, who won three of his four encounters to tuck handily into third place.
Other winners on the night were Steve Ferrer (twice), Paul Watts and Ian Tarr.
24/02/06: Double blow for Juanita ......
Premier Two leader Juanita Ferrer, who was threatening to move into an almost impregnable position at the top, suffered two defeats last night, giving real hope to the chasing pack.
Richard Owsley, Steffen Nowak and Phil Charlton all had positive evenings, though, and are well placed to mount a challenge.
Neil Young also opened his season with a brace of wins, while others to win on the night were Alan Parfitt, Tim Line, Roland Herrera, John Lewis and Andrew Cobb.
24/02/06: Conference lead changes hands twice ......
Miles Farren came off his bike the other day, breaking a scapula in the process, and was not quite up to defending his Conference lead at the BCSC last night.
He'll be back in action very soon, though, but when he does return he will also have to contend with the fact that he has come off the top of the league.
Only two Conference matches took place last night, but each resulted in a change at the top of the table.
First of all, Todd Young defeated Cecilia Sparke to assume pole position, then Steve Morris took over with the narrowest of wins over debut player Ian Senior.
A hitherto unreported result also came to light, Cecilia having defeated Mark Skelton earlier in the month on her league debut.
24/02/06: Juanita clinches Handicap Trophy lead ......
The first instalment of this year's Handicap Trophy came closer to its conclusion last night with two of the outstanding issues being resolved.
Juanita Ferrer beat Richard Owsley in the main flight final, resulting in a 35-points lead for Juanita.
And the consolation flight semi-final was also completed, Tarim defeating Tony Walters.
Tarim will now face Marie Harz in the consolation final.
23/02/06: She's new, and she's Smart
For those who like to keep up to date with the important things in life, here's news of a new arrival.
Congratulations are due to Cary and Elliot Smart, who had a baby daughter at 12.15pm on February 10th.
Anwen Eve Smart weighed in at a healthy 7lbs 8oz, and it is understood that all are safe and well.
17/02/06: Late website update
Apologies to avid readers of the website who expected a prompt updating of the site after Wednesday evening's action.
The webmaster lost his internet connection at 4pm on Thursday thanks to an outage on the blueyonder server serving some of the BS7 area of Bristol.
If you're reading this, you'll know that normal service has now been resumed.
16/02/06: HANDICAP KNOCK-OUT ROUND-UP ......
Twenty players took part in the year's first of six Handicap Knock-outs which form part of the Ed Turner sponsored Handicap Trophy.
Making his Bristol Backgammon debut was local player Paul Scoplin, while Tarim made a welcome reappearance after a gap of some sixteen months.
16/02/06: Juanita and Richard to meet again ......
Premier Two top dogs Juanita Ferrer and Richard Owsley got together for a crunch league encounter before yesterday evening's handicap knock-out event.
And after the dust had settled on the evening's play, the pair will now need to meet again to thrash out the main final.
Richard defeated Tarim, John Sprague and Steffen Nowak, while Juanita was getting past Tony Walters, Adrian Farthing and reigning Handicap Trophy champion Ian Tarr.
16/02/06: Marie awaits consolation final opponent ......
Marie Harz defeated two of the three scratch players present at last night's tournament on her way to the consolation flight final.
Those satisfying victories over Richard Cartwright and Ed Turner left her awaiting a final meeting which will not now take place for a little while.
An outstanding semi-final clash, featuring Tarim and Tony Walters, may well take place at next week's league night.
16/02/06: Winner will gain 35 points advantage ......
Juanita Ferrer and Richard Owsley are joint leaders of the opening Handicap Trophy points table going into the final of last night's tournament, whenever it gets played.
They each have 65 points, and a further 35 are at stake when they meet.
16/02/06: Juanita opens twelve points Premier Two gap ......
A top of the table Premier Two clash between Juanita Ferrer and Richard Owsley preceded last night's tournament, and it was Juanita who came out on top, winning 11-8.
Having already played nine of her twenty matches -- and the season is only 37 days old! -- Juanita has won seven, and is setting a pace almost as fearsome as husband Steve Ferrer set on his way to winning last year's Premier Two title.
For Richard this was a first defeat of the season after three straight wins.
16/02/06: Todd's Conference wins ......
Todd Young has scored the first two victories of what could well become a long and successful career.
First he finished off a match against brother Lewis Young, and then he despatched Miles Farren -- many pundits' favourite for the Conference title this season.
Miles also managed a win over Lewis, while Todd also suffered a setback at John Sprague's hands.
12/02/06: Can we claim a Bristol hat-trick?
Peter Bennet's name is not usually associated with bread and butter Bristol Backgammon, having only graced one of our monthly knock-out events in 2003, but it has been a custom to "adopt" any such player as our own, especially when organising a Bristol side pool at national events.
In this weekend's context, however, we might eagerly highlight this affiliation in order to claim a unique hat-trick of Bristol wins in three successive high profile weekend events.
It was Stuart Mann at the Cotswold Fireside Tournament a fortnight ago, Martin Hemming at BIBA's Jarvis Trophy last weekend, and now Peter.
But while Peter was maintaining his customary high standards, perhaps the real story from a Bristol perspective concerned two players who limbered up for the weekend's events by reaching the final of Thursday's Bristol Grand Prix tournament.
Early on in Saturday's play things were looking bleak as the Bristol invasion of nearby Winterbourne appeared only to be armed with damp squibs, as one after another Bristol's finest toppled from the main flight with alarming rapidity.
Long before Saturday's close of play, the responsibility for turning things round had been shouldered squarely by Tim Line and Ed Turner, and the doughty duo both negotiated the quarter-finals in style.
The semi-finals first thing on Sunday, though, promised to be as tough as anything they had faced yet, with Ed pitted against Peter and Tim facing top American player Brian Barber.
At this stage the fortunes of our local heroes diverged. Tim scored a stunning victory which -- along with his earlier success against Julian Fetterlein -- he will long remember.
Ed, meanwhile, had trailed from the outset, and despite a trio of dropped cube gains which pulled him back to 6-10, it was Peter who progressed to the final, where he beat Tim even more emphatically.
Ed and Tim are pictured (above left) proudly showing off their trophies.
Best performers in the other flights were Juanita Ferrer who also gained a cash prize for her march to the semi-finals of the Progressive Consolation, and Ian Tarr who lost to eventual winner Martin Barkwill, the first player to get a point off him, in the semi-finals of the Last Chance.
An enjoyable tournament, very well run by Gammonitis supremo Andrew Sarjeant, who is set to ensure that at least one of his events will be at the same venue in 2007.
12/02/06: Ed takes the local spoils
Having enjoyed such spectacular runs of success over a four day period, it was only natural that Ed Turner and Tim Line should take advantage of the facilities at the Grange to play out their Bristol Grand Prix final.
Ed held the upper hand most of the way, and scored an 11-7 victory to claim top spot in the OGP points table at Roland Herrera's expense, and to ensure his qualification for the 2007 Bristol Masters.
12/02/06: League action, too, at Gammonitis
With so many Bristol league players assembled in one place -- the Ramada Grange Hotel, Winterbourne -- at the weekend it should surprise nobody that there was some action in both divisions of the Premier League.
Five Premier One players, eight from Premier Two, and a solitary Conference member were present, and between them they produced seven results -- three from the top flight.
John Slattery -- with two heavy wins -- and Stuart Mann -- with a similarly impressive result -- have managed to restore their respective Premier One seasons to parity after shaky starts.
But the star performer, league-wise, was Juanita Ferrer, who not only regained the Premier Two top spot after losing it on Thursday to Richard Owsley, but also pushed on to establish a nine points lead with three stunning successes over the weekend.
10/02/06: FEBRUARY GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-two players contested the second of this year's Bristol Grand Prix tournaments at the BCSC last night, and a couple of others turned up for league action.
10/02/06: Tim reaches first main flight final ......
Tim Line reached his first Bristol main flight final at the BCSC last night, beating Ann Pocknell, Richard Cartwright and John Slattery en route.
His opponent will be the ever consistent Ed Turner, whose run to the final took him past Jason Champion, Steve Morris, Mark Dixon and Tony Walters.
10/02/06: Rollover hopes in the balance ......
With no rollover to tempt the punters, there were still nine players willing to take the Winner Takes All pool plunge.
And when the semi-final line-up was clarified, only Tim Line carried the flag for the uncommitted, as the other three semi-finalists all had a material interest.
His progress to the final will therefore surely see him carrying the hopes of all neutrals.
10/02/06: Ian wins consolation flight ......
Ian Tarr came through to win the consolation flight with victories over Stuart Mann, Steffen Nowak and Neil Young.
Neil had defeated Paul Watts, Ian Preston and Ann Pocknell.
10/02/06: Slatts avoids heavier trophy bill ......
With John Slattery already being assured of having to fork out for a 1,000 to 1 trophy at the next awards night, he had even more than the usual motivation to win when he sat down to face Roland Herrera in their main flight quarter-final last night.
Roland -- with ten victories already under his belt on arrival -- made it eleven (qualifying him for a 2,000 to 1 award) when he eliminated Ian Preston.
A victory over Slatts would have seen him equalling the record of twelve successive victories (4,000 to 1, and an even bigger trophy).
But Slatts emerged victorious to curtail Roland's excellent run.
10/02/06: Ed can go top of OGP ......
Roland Herrera is still top of the OGP points table after last night's action, but Ed Turner will overtake him if he can win the final.
A victory for Tim Line, however, would see him leapfrog Ed into second place.
10/02/06: Intermediates thin on the ground ......
Only two intermediates -- Steve Morris and Miles Farren -- played the tournament last night, and each scored a win over a Premier Status player to gain valuable bonus points.
With two guaranteed Premier League slots available through this competition, it's begininng to look like the easiest route into the elite ranks this season.
Steve leads, Miles is second, and only two others players have thus far registered an interest.
10/02/06: Jason surges to the top ......
In a start slightly reminiscent of that of another new top flight player last season, Jason Champion has surged to the top of Premier One.
A victory over Simonetta Herrera at the BCSC last night, was followed by a brace of wins over John Slattery at the Cornubia.
Jason has now scored identical double wins over our two former double Premier League champions -- 11-2 and 11-4 over both Stuart Mann and Slatts.
10/02/06: Silver lining for Richard ......
Richard Owsley didn't win a match last night, but still came away from the session with a result of sorts.
Juanita Ferrer's brace of defeats -- to Phil Charlton and Richard Cartwright -- saw her slip from pole position in Premier Two as Richard's points difference is now superior.
10/02/06: John starts with a win ......
John Sprague began his Conference campaign with a victory over early leader Steve Morris.
08/02/06: Martin's Coventry triumph commemorated, too
Martin Hemming, BIBA Jarvis Trophy winner at the weekend pictured on the left with tournament runner-up Myke Wignall. Martin's the one with the beard!
The picture is reproduced courtesy of BIBA.
The question is: will there be a third such photo after this weekend's Gammonitis League Tournament on our own doorstep in Winterbourne?
Once again, there is sure to be a high quality national class field assembled, and the Bristol contingent will add to that.
The event has a history of decent turnouts by Gammonitis standards, and it's not too late to take the plunge. Just visit the link above for full details.
07/02/06: Cotswold prizewinners pictured
Three of Bristol's prize winners at the recent Cotswold Fireside Tournament are captured left by this Roland Herrera photo.
Stuart Mann, left, won the main event, Simonetta Herrera was Last Chance runner-up, and Ian Tarr was runner-up to Stuart.
06/02/06: Doubles for Mark and Jason
A couple of double headers have kept the Premier One pot boiling over the past couple of days.
Champion Mark Dixon inflicted a double defeat on Steve Ferrer at Clifton yesterday, and Jason Champion secured his first two victories in the top flight at the expense of former champion Stuart Mann at the Cornubia today.
06/02/06: Barriers breached for Martin and Tony
Good showings at BIBA by tournament winner Martin Hemming and Tony Walters saw both players breaching barriers in the BIBA ranking points list.
Martin, who had risen above the 1600 points mark briefly on two occasions in 2004, has moved back up to exactly 1600, while Tony, who has hovered in the 1400s for the two years of his BIBA membership, finally moved over 1500 with sixteen points to spare.
Click here for a list of Bristol players' BIBA rankings.
Meanwhile, Bristol connected players are looking very prominent in the BIBA Grand Prix standings, after two BIBA events and the Cotswold Fireside.
Martin currently lies second, with Stuart Mann fourth, John Slattery sixth, Tony ninth, Peter Bennet 13th, and Ian Tarr 15th in a list of over 100 players.
05/02/06: Martin is Jarvis champion
For the second week running a Bristol player has won the top prize at a national tournament.
After last week's Cotswold Fireside Tournament triumph by Stuart Mann, the Director of that tournament -- Martin Hemming -- changed roles at this weekend's BIBA Jarvis Trophy Swiss format event.
And he was handsomely rewarded for his services to the game by finishing top of the pile of 28 contestants, winning all six matches, having pouched the notable scalps of Mardi Ohanessian and Lawrence Powell along the way.
The question now has to be asked: "Can another Bristol player make it a hat-trick of wins at the Gammonitis League Tournament just outside Bristol next weekend?"
03/02/06: Cotswold update
Now available on this site is Martin Hemming's comprehensive report of the Cotswold Fireside event.
And the full results are also now online.
02/02/06: Not a lot of chouette
Bristol Backgammon's inaugural chouette evening produced quite a decent turnout for a supposedly low-key event, when no fewer than seventeen players turned up.
The main surprise, though, stemmed from the fact that there was not a chouette game in sight!
New player Fiona Anderson arrived on a fact finding mission, and will hopefully be back at some stage soon.
Several Premier League players took advantage of the opportunity to arrange league matches, with a single Premier One match and four Premier Two encounters taking place.
Ed Turner notched his first Premier One win of the season to haul himself out of the relegation zone, while Richard Owsley emulated Juanita Ferrer's fine Premier Two start with a third successive win, which sees him second only by virtue of an inferior points difference.
Other winners in the second flight were Alan Parfitt, Tim Line and Martin Hemming.
The evening's other principal activity was a meeting of the organising committee of the 2006 Bristol Festival of Backgammon, with firm announcements due to be made very soon.
Just another Thursday in the annals of Bristol Backgammon life......
31/01/06: Stuart beats Ian? So what?
Stuart Mann defeated Ian Tarr at the weekend.
There's nothing too unusual in that, you might think. Stuart, consistently being the most successful player around these parts, has a pretty good recent record against Ian. What made this event just a little bit different, however, were the occasion and the setting.
Martin Hemming's Cotswold Fireside Tournament at Blockley was the fourth of these annual events, which now have their unique niche in the British backgammon calendar.
It's an up-market event, in that the entry fee is higher than most, and the venue and its environs -- apart, perhaps, from the ditches -- are everything you would want from a beautiful Cotswold village.
The inevitable upshot of these factors is that a high quality field is assembled, albeit restricted to 32 entries in the main event.
The significance of the meeting between Stuart and Ian was that it was the final of the main event on Sunday evening, arguably the highest profile match ever played between two Bristol players.
The Cotswold main flight format is best of three seven point matches, and Ian had his chances to win the first leg. But it never quite happened, and Stuart edged home.
The second leg was more emphatic, and Stuart became the fourth Cotswold champion.
To understand the strength of the field, you only need to scan the list of victims of the two finalists. Stuart had overcome our own Simonetta Herrera, Nigel Merrigan, Julian Fetterlein and Dave Fall on his way to the final, while Ian safely negotiated substantial hurdles named Tony Lee, Mardi Ohanessian, Myke Wignall and Dod Davies.
Meanwhile, Simonetta was runner-up in the Last Chance flight, losing to John Gilbertson, while John Slattery reached the final of the Progressive Consolation, only to be pipped by Dod.
There was also a nine player Intermediate event, which was played in a Round Robin format. Alison Lee won this, with Liz Barker as runner-up.
And the Lees, Tony and Alison, scooped the top two poker prizes.
Of the 41 players present, twelve were current Bristol regulars, while six others have past Bristol connections.
Full results, and Martin's "official" and extensive report of the event, will appear here later.
26/01/06: JANUARY LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......
Twenty-five players from Bristol's three leagues turned out at the BCSC tonight for the season's opening league night.
26/01/06: Dave maintains strong start ......
Two victories for Dave Pym maintained his 100% start to the Premier One season, and took him to the top of the league.
There were also victories for former leader Simonetta Herrera and John Slattery in a quiet night for top flight action.
26/01/06: Roland is sixth 1000 to 1 winner ......
Roland Herrera opened his Premier Two campaign with the victory he needed to claim a 1000 to 1 prize from John Slattery.
His return to league action after a year's absence saw him become the sixth player to qualify for such an award -- given for scoring ten successive wins in mainstream Bristol competition.
Meanwhile, nobody managed to threaten the absent Juanita Ferrer's top placing, although Richard Owsley moved into second place with his second victory.
A brace of wins also moved Steffen Nowak well into contention, while other victors on the night were Blaine Buchanan, John Lewis, Tim Line, Michael Corbett and Mike Smith.
26/01/06: Steve in attempt to emulate Tony? ......
Steve Morris, a newcomer to Bristol competition this year, won twice on his Conference debut, and now leads both the Conference and the IGP, although it is probably far too early to predict that Tony Walters' unique feat of winning both competitions can be replicated.
Mark Skelton and Marie Harz also scored debut league wins, while Miles Farren, one of the pre-season favourites for the title, also got off the mark.
20/01/06: Sixth awards night celebrates last year's achievements
The annual Bristol Backgammon Awards Night was held at the BCSC last night, and around twenty winners and other celebrants were there for the occasion.
The prize ceremony was ushered in and also succeeded by colourful traditional Mexican dance routines, courtesy of young Carla Ferrer.
The majority of winners were present to accept awards for their achievements in the various Bristol competitions, and Mark Dixon and Tim Line had the bonus of unexpected awards.
Mark's memorable surge to the Premier League title was commemorated by the presentation of Martin Hemming's Most Improved Player Award, while Tim scooped the Gammonitis Bristol Backgammon Rookie of the Year Award, which includes a year's free membership to Gammonitis.
Jeremy Axford was present to ensure we will have a pictorial record of the occasion, and this will appear soon on the site, along with other photos received.
As is perfectly normal on these occasions, there was some backgammon, mostly in Premier Two, where six matches were completed.
Three of those six were won by Juanita Ferrer, who consequently sits proudly on top of the table. Other victors were Alan Parfitt, Richard Owsley and Tony Walters.
In the only Premier One match played, Stuart Mann won the tightest of battles against Steve Ferrer.
18/01/06: Only Tony is new to the Masters
Of the sixteen qualifiers for the sixth Bristol Masters on April 27th, only Tony Walters is completely new to the event.
Both Steffen Nowak and Steve Ferrer have played in the event before, but only took their places through the absence of qualifiers.
And the only players who have qualified for the event in each of the six years of its existence are Stuart Mann and Simon Baker, after the 2005 failure of both Charlie Hetherington and Ian Tarr to book their accustomed places.
17/01/06: Roland one away from a 1000 to 1 award
Roland Herrera this evening defeated Ian Tarr in the final of the January Grand Prix tournament.
It was a long and gruelling encounter, full of complex situations, and the final margin of 11-8 was the only time during the entire match that the two were separated by more than two points.
The win gives Roland a 50 points lead in the OGP table, makes him the first qualifier for the 2007 Bristol Masters, and puts him just one point away from a John Slattery sponsored 1000 to 1 award, after winning his second successive monthly tournament.
17/01/06: Fourth placers to benefit from Premier prize pool
The swelling of Premier League ranks to a record 32 players has enabled a widening of the scope of the prize fund.
Until now the top three players in each division have received cash prizes, but this season the fourth placed players in each division will also benefit.
13/01/06: JANUARY GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
A healthy turnout of 25 players, including a debut appearance by new Devon resident Ann Pocknell, saw the 2006 Bristol Grand Prix season off to a storming start at the BCSC.
13/01/06: Roland aims for back to back wins ......
Tuesday at 8.30pm at Kellaway Avenue will be the time and place of the 11-points final of the opening Bristol Grand Prix event of 2006.
This -- his home -- was also the venue when Roland Herrera won last month's tournament, and after a long wait for success, it appears that he is aiming to make up for lost time.
He will have to add Ian Tarr to his list of conquests to achieve this back to back success. But having already accounted for reigning OGP champion Martin Hemming, triple OGP champion Stuart Mann and former Premier League champion Simon Baker, not to mention new Premier One arrival Jason Champion, he should not lack confidence.
Ian came through the shorter half of the draw, winning tight encounters with Cynthia Roberts, Tim Line and Ed Turner to reach the final.
13/01/06: Richard wins consolation flight ......
Richard Owsley consolidated on recent good form by taking the consolation flight at the BCSC on Thursday.
His victims were Chris Gardner-Medwin, Dave Pym, Simonetta Herrera and runner-up Martin Hemming.
Martin had defeated Graham Alder, Steffen Nowak and John Paton on his way to the final.
13/01/06: Roland and Ian in strong OGP start ......
The OGP leader after the January event will be either Roland Herrera or Ian Tarr, depending on the outcome of Tuesday's final.
Roland holds the advantage at the moment, having needed to battle through an extra round, but Ian will take over at the top if he can win on Tuesday.
13/01/06: Steve is early IGP leader ......
With only four intermediates contesting Thursday's grand prix event, the top IGP positions are held by those who managed to register wins.
Steve Morris, who made his Bristol Backgammon debut only the previous week at the doubles, is in pole position, having scored the only main flight victory by an intermediate, while Rouslan Bass, who scored his win in the consolation flight, is second.
Both players scored ten bonus points for beating current Premier Two players.
13/01/06: Rollover was never on ......
With twenty out of twenty-five players investing in the Winner Takes All Pool, it was never likely that a further rollover to add to those in November and December would happen.
And with all non-WTA entrants eliminated before the quarter-final stage, the eventual finalists were destined for a big pay-day.
The £390 in the kitty swells the overall purse to be battled for by Roland and Ian.
13/01/06: League wins for Phil, Cynthia, Simonetta and Dave ......
There was a little league action on Thursday, with Phil Charlton putting in an appearance especially for that purpose.
He registered a win in his opening Premier Two match, as did Cynthia Roberts, the leader on points difference at this very early stage.
Premier One wins were scored by Simonetta Herrera and Dave Pym, whose win over Mark Dixon signalled the start of Mark's championship defence.
10/01/06: Handicap date changed
The date of the first of our Handicap Trophy evenings has been changed.
The event, scheduled originally for Thursday February 16th, will now be a day earlier -- on Wednesday February 15th.
This is to enable the BCSC to stage a very lucrative private party on the Thursday.
Since the well being of the BCSC is in our best interest, and since plenty of notice has been given, Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr was only too pleased to comply with the request.
Plenty of reminders about this change will be forthcoming as we get closer to the date.
07/01/06: CONSULTING DOUBLES TOURNAMENT NEWS ......
The new Bristol Backgammon regime of "backgammon every Thursday" kicked off the 2006 programme with a consulting doubles tournament, the first of a series of four which make up the new doubles grand prix season.
Twenty players contested the event, including a couple of debutants -- Chris Gardner-Medwin and Steve Morris -- who performed extremely well in their first foray into live backgammon.
07/01/06: Miles and Steffen take the first of the new year honours ......
Steffen Nowak and Miles Farren resumed the partnership they first forged in November's inaugural doubles event to good effect at the BCSC on Thursday evening.
Shrugging off the disappointment of being drawn in the long part of the draw, they safely negotiated tough hurdles in the pairings of Mark Dixon and Juanita Ferrer, Simonetta Herrera and Cynthia Roberts, and Jason Champion and Tony Walters, before defeating Steve Ferrer and Brian Porter -- semi-final winners against Ed Turner and Todd Young -- in the final.
Brian seems to have taken a liking to doubles, having made the final of November's tournament as well, albeit with a different partner.
But if the winners of that previous tournament -- Marie Harz and Ian Tarr -- thought they had found a magic formula, they were swiftly disabused of that idea, when they were the first pair eliminated. And the whitewash they suffered at Steve and Brian's hands was to be duplicated in the consolation flight.
07/01/06: Roland and Tim take the consolation ......
Roland Herrera and Tim Line won Thursday's consolation flight, beating the Youngs -- Neil and Lewis -- before a whitewash final victory over newcomers Steve Morris and Chris Gardner-Medwin.
Steve and Chris had defeated Ian Tarr and Marie Harz before despatching Mark Dixon and Juanita Ferrer in the semis.
07/01/06: Fifty point cushion for Steffen and Miles ......
The first ever sighting of a Consulting Doubles Grand Prix table shows Miles Farren and Steffen Nowak taking full advantage of their extra match to stand a full fifty points ahead of their nearest pursuers, Steve Ferrer and Brian Porter.
It will be interesting to see which pairings can stand the test of time. Unavailability is certain to provoke changes in pairings as the season progresses.
07/01/06: Steve aims for a repeat ......
Steve Ferrer's flying start to the 2005 Premier Two season, when he raced into an unassailable lead, was one of the highlights of the last year.
On Thursday, as a new Premier One player, he appeared to be aiming for a repeat when he narrowly defeated Simonetta Herrera in the year's first league result.
Steve may find it a little more difficult this year, but after Mark Dixon's sensational top flight debut last year, who knows?
The tables for both Premier One and Premier Two have a strange look to them at the start of the year, with the majority of players showing a penalty point at this stage.
This is nothing to be alarmed about, as the point can be clawed back as soon as the year's entry fee has been paid. Failure to do so by the end of March will result in the penalty becoming permanent.
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr is trying to avoid a repeat of last year, when he was still collecting the dribs and drabs as late as July and August.
05/01/06: Double the chance in the doubles
An overnight change of heart by Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr means that there will now be two flights in each of the four tournaments making up the Consulting Doubles Grand Prix, starting with the year's opening event this evening.
With the entry set at £20 per pair, it was felt that there is enough stake money to fund a consolation flight, which will also guarantee each pairing at least two matches per tournament.
The expansion will also provide greater opportunity for disparity in the grand prix table, thus going some way towards avoiding multiple ties.
Grand prix points awarded will follow a similar pattern to those awarded in the £10 tournaments in the monthly Bristol Grand Prix events.
04/01/06: Regular Thursday backgammon starts this week
The new regime of backgammon every Thursday in Bristol starts tomorrow at the BCSC at 7pm.
The idea is to provide a different focus every week, while implanting the idea that there is always backgammon on a Thursday at the regular Bristol venue.
The "main events", principally the monthly grand prix tournament night and the league night, carry on just as before (apart from the move from Wednesday for the league session), while the supplementary events will be a little more varied and more frequent, catering for different players in different weeks.
Among the expanded programme are more Handicap Knock-outs, more doubles tournaments, and additions like Tric Trac Tournos, new player nights and seminars.
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