Bristol backgammon news

News items from 2007 (first half)

29/06/07: JUNE LEAGUE NIGHT REVIEW ......

Over thirty players -- including a world backgammon giant -- were present at the June league night at the BCSC.
Five more players signed up for the Conference, and the Premier Two action moved on apace, with one player completing his campaign already!

29/06/07: Ann another step closer to her goal ......

Ann Pocknell has one foot in next season's Premier One after another victory at the BCSC on Thursday.
Her fourteenth success of the campaign has put her in what must surely be an impregnable position in her quest to finish in one of the four Premier Two promotion slots.
With only two of her twenty matches remaining it is difficult to see how as many as four players might surpass her 42 points tally, even if she were to lose her matches against Nick Barham and John Paton.
Miles Farren, beaten by Ann, bounced back to beat Alan Parfitt, and is still on course for promotion in second place.
Contenders Blaine Buchanan and Richard Owsley each suffered a defeat, but Neil Young and Gaz Owen enhanced their prospects with wins -- two in Gaz's case.
Tim Line rounded off his season with a brace of wins, and has finished the season with a 50:50 record.
Other winners on the night were Alan, Nick, John Paton, Steffen Nowak, Dave Pym, John Lewis and Phillip Hill.

29/06/07: Five newcomers spice up the Conference ......

In an unexpected but very welcome turn of events no fewer than five more players signed up for the rest of the Bristol Conference season on Thursday evening.
Steve Miles and Mike Osborne were in fact returning to Conference action after brief outings in 2001 and 2004 respectively.
But for Richard Biddle -- London based, but occasionally working in the Bristol area -- Theresa Rook, and Paul Glasson, it was a new experience.
Four of the five also experienced a taste of league victory.
Meanwhile at the top of the league, Peter Edwards managed two victories from three matches to regain the lead from the absent Marcus Wrinch.
Cecilia Sparke moved into third place in readiness for a run in which looks set to result in a fascinating battle for the two or three additional promotion places which are expected to materialise.
Lewis Young was the evening's other winner.

29/06/07: Stuart suffers league title blow ......

In the only Premier One match to take place on Thursday evening, Stuart Mann's bid to take a fourth championship in five years hit a setback when he was defeated 8-11 by Ian Tarr.
Stuart now needs four wins from his six matches in hand to draw level on points with leader Mark Dixon. Meanwhile Ian and the absent Paul Watts can equal Stuart's current record by winning their respective single matches in hand.

29/06/07: Stuart wins Lesters 63 ......

While Stuart Mann was suffering defeat in a league match, he at least had the satisfaction of an earlier victory to look back on.
This was in the final of last week's Lesters 63 knock-out, where he beat Nick Barham 11-4. Nick had earlier wrapped up the adjourned semi-final by gaining the two points needed to finish off Tim Line.
Nick moves into second place in the OGP, while Stuart moves up to fifth, and grabs a place in the 2008 Bristol Masters.
Tim had the small consolation of having bought Nick in the auction, while Stuart's win pleased his purchaser, Marcus Wrinch.
Stuart is now equal third on the list of Lesters Trophy winners, having won five in all. Only Dave Pym, seven, and Charlie Hetherington, six, have won more.

29/06/07: Trabi visits for a spot of chouette ......

World backgammon giant Lars Trabolt dropped in at the BCSC on Thursday evening, and played some chouette with the Herreras and Tim Line.
Trabi had stopped off in Bristol on the return journey from the Zakynthos Festival to Denmark.

23/06/07: LESTERS 63 NEWS ROUND-UP ......

Just twenty players toed the start line for the 63rd incarnation of the Lesters Trophy at the BCSC on Thursday evening.
Mike Osborne made a welcome return to competition after a gap of almost three years.

23/06/07: Stuart awaits a final opponent ......

Bristol's acknowledged number one player Stuart Mann put his recent moderate knock-out form behind him to reach the final of Lesters 63 on Thursday evening.
Richard Owsley, Paul Watts and Neil Young were his victims, although when he needed a last gasp double to pip Neil at DMP he was equal to the task.
In the other half of the draw, the semi-final was adjourned at 5-all between Nick Barham and Tim Line, when Nick had to catch the last bus back to Weston. This match, and the final, will be completed in due course.

23/06/07: Peter wins consolation flight ......

Peter Edwards defeated Mark Dixon in the final of Thursday's consolation flight.
Peter had reached the final the hard way, having come through the most populous part of the draw with victories over Tony Walters, Mike Osborne and Blaine Buchanan, while Mark had fought his way past Cynthia Roberts and Gaz Owen.

23/06/07: Ian regains OGP lead ......

Ian Preston, winner of the OGP title back in 2001, regained the overall lead in this year's competition when his march to the quarter-finals was rewarded with a 50 points haul.
Peter Edwards victory in the consolation flight also saw him score enough points to overhaul absent jet-setting leader Roland Herrera.
But Nick Barham, now in fourth place, can take the lead off Ian by winning his adjourned semi-final against Tim Line and the final.

23/06/07: Peter moves further ahead in IGP ......

Peter Edwards and Marcus Wrinch, apparently the only realistic contenders for the IGP title, both managed to add respectable scores to their tallies.
But it was Peter who scored the heavier, with 92 points to Marcus' 50, to open up a 68 points lead.
Marcus is an incredible 259 points ahead of third placed John Sprague.

23/06/07: No rollover this month ......

Neil Young's semi-final exit was the final nail in the coffin of hopes of a rollover in the Winner Takes All pool, which stood at a modest Ł70.
Stuart Mann and the other eventual finalist will thus have a total prize pool of Ł375 to contend with when they finally sit down to do battle.

23/06/07: Blaine moves into top four ......

Blaine Buchanan's recent excellent Premier Two form continued apace at the BCSC on Thursday evening when he scored another win, this time at Tim Line's expense.
The win moves Blaine into the promotion bracket, at the expense of Paul Gilbertson.

15/06/07: Blaine closes on promotion bracket

In a clash of Premier Two promotion contenders at the Lion, Cliftonwood, last night, Blaine Buchanan scored an 11-1 victory over Richard Owsley.
Richard remains fifth, just outside the promotion places, while Blaine moves up to sixth, but with matches in hand over all those above him bar one.
...... Meanwhile, two players who hadn't checked their emails turned up at the BCSC to contest the 63rd Lesters Trophy event, which has been rescheduled for next Thursday.
And some others headed for the Inn On The Green, Horfield, for an eight player jackpot session arranged by Neil Young.
Marcus Wrinch managed to get in a league match there with John Sprague, and his 11-3 win puts him back on top of the Conference table.

13/06/07: Just in case you hadn't heard

It's possible you may not have heard about the postponement of tomorrow night's tournament.
Please note that the 63rd Lesters Trophy event will now be held at the BCSC next Thursday (the 21st).

13/06/07: Inter-League Challenge details

Here -- a little later than promised -- are the details of the Inter-League Challenge match held at the BCSC last Thursday.
In all Premier One won 10 out of 24 matches (although their two guest players managed just 1 from 8); Premier Two won 14 out of 28; and the Conference won 16 out of 28 (although the two guests culled from the ranks of Premier Two won 7 out of 8).
The pattern was set in the opening series of ten matches when Premier One managed a single victory, as against the five Conference and four Premier Two successes.
Premier Two edged ahead after the second series, with Premier One again scoring least.
It was more even in the last two rounds, with parity between Premier Two and the Conference being reached at the end of the third series.
Premier Two faltered in the final series, leaving the Conference team to celebrate a memorable victory.
Star of the evening -- Gaz Owen, guesting for the Conference -- was the only player to manage to win all four matches.
OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONS:
Premier One: Mike Smith 3; Ed Turner 3; Simonetta Herrera 2; Ian Tarr 1; Roland Herrera (guest) 1; Blaine Buchanan (guest) 0.
Premier Two: Ian Preston 3; Cynthia Roberts 3; Neil Young 3; Drew Caudwell 2; Tim Line 2; Richard Owsley 1; Tony Walters 0.
Conference: Gaz Owen (guest) 4; Peter Edwards 3; Steve Morris (guest) 3; George Palframan 2; Jude Pitt 2; Marcus Wrinch 2; Steve Miles 0.
FULL RESULTS:
First series: Neil Young beat Roland Herrera; Tim Line beat Simonetta Herrera; Mike Smith beat Tony Walters; Jude Pitt beat Ian Tarr; Gaz Owen beat Ed Turner; George Palframan beat Blaine Buchanan; Steve Morris beat Drew Caudwell; Peter Edwards beat Richard Owsley; Cynthia Roberts beat Steve Miles; Ian Preston beat Marcus Wrinch.
Second series: Gaz Owen beat Roland Herrera; George Palframan beat Simonetta Herrera; Mike Smith beat Steve Morris; Richard Owsley beat Ian Tarr; Ed Turner beat Cynthia Roberts; Ian Preston beat Blaine Buchanan; Neil Young beat Marcus Wrinch; Tim Line beat Jude Pitt; Peter Edwards beat Tony Walters; Drew Caudwell beat Steve Miles.
Third series: Roland Herrera beat Drew Caudwell; Simonetta Herrera beat Richard Owsley; Cynthia Roberts beat Mike Smith; Gaz Owen beat Ian Tarr; Ed Turner beat George Palframan; Steve Morris beat Blaine Buchanan; Ian Preston beat Steve Miles; Neil Young beat Jude Pitt; Peter Edwards beat Tim Line; Marcus Wrinch beat Tony Walters.
Fourth series: Jude Pitt beat Roland Herrera; Simonetta Herrera beat Peter Edwards; Mike Smith beat Steve Miles; Ian Tarr beat Tim Line; Ed Turner beat Tony Walters; Drew Caudwell beat Blaine Buchanan; Gaz Owen beat Neil Young; Marcus Wrinch beat Richard Owsley; Cynthia Roberts beat George Palframan; Steve Morris beat Ian Preston.

11/06/07: Date change at short notice!

This Thursday's Lesters Trophy event has been postponed for a week!
A chance for the BCSC to stage a lucrative function on that evening has cropped up, and Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr has decided to cancel backgammon at the club on the 14th, moving the event to the 21st, despite the acute lack of notice.
The jackpot evening previously scheduled for the 21st will not now take place.

07/06/07: Conference team wins three cornered match

The Inter-League Challenge match held at the BCSC tonight saw a triumph for the Conference team.
Of forty matches played the Conference team won 16, Premier Two 14, and Premier One 10!
The Conference team included guest players Gaz Owen and Steve Morris who were promoted to Premier Two last year, plus former (and future?) Conference player Steve Miles.
Premier Two also lent Blaine Buchanan to Premier One for the evening, and Roland Herrera was also guesting for the top flight team, which contained only six players, as opposed to the seven in the other two teams.
Players played four 5-point matches each.
A fuller report will appear here after the weekend, possibly on Tuesday.

04/06/07: Blaine extends Handicap Trophy lead

Blaine Buchanan tonight extended his Handicap trophy lead to 30 points, when he defeated George Palframan in Thursday's held over consolation final at the Bell, Hillgrove Street, Kingsdown.
It is believed to be the first instance of a Bristol Backgammon match being played at that venue.

02/06/07: MAY HANDICAP KNOCK-OUT REVIEW ......

Thirty-one players were present on Handicap Trophy night at the BCSC. Twenty-five of these were in action in the main event, while others used the session to progress their league campaigns or -- in the case of Richard Cartwright -- just to visit for some friendly action.
Theresa Rook and George Palframan made their Bristol Backgammon debuts, although in Theresa's case this was unfortunately curtailed by a family emergency.

02/06/07: Neil takes handicap main flight ......

Having failed to win even a match in the two previous 2007 Handicap Trophy events, Neil Young made his mark by taking the honours in the main flight at the BCSC on Thursday.
Neil defeated Simonetta Herrera, Gaz Owen and Cynthia Roberts before beating Sebastian Akkam in the final.
Sebastian, who was in the "long" part of the draw, beat Nina Evangelou, Todd Young, Pete Wright and Ian Tarr on his way to the final.
One first round match was not quite finished, when Theresa Rook, making her Bristol Backgammon debut, had a call about an impending new arrival and had to dash off.
Her match with Steffen Nowak stood at 5-all, with Steffen an overwhelming favourite at DMP. Steffen, of course, progressed to the next round, but Director Ian Tarr was faced with a tricky decision to make regarding the Handicap Trophy points to be awarded.
Since the match was not entirely a foregone conclusion, Ian decided to award Steffen twelve of the fifteen points he would have accrued for the win.

02/06/07: Blaine and George in consolation final ......

Blaine Buchanan and debutant George Palframan will play the final of Thursday's consolation flight some time during the next week.
George fought his way past Phillip Hill, Nina Evangelou and Tim Line to reach the final, whereas Blaine had the benefit of two byes!
The first bye came about because Blaine was in the short part of the draw, while the second occurred when Tony Walters neglected to stay on for the consolation flight.
Blaine made the most of his free passage to the semis, where he defeated Ann Pocknell.

02/06/07: Blaine can extend his Handicap trophy lead ......

Blaine Buchanan started the evening as joint leader in the Handicap Trophy table, and has only added twenty points to his tally with the consolation final still to play.
But with the other co-leader, Ed Turner, absent and the third, fourth and fifth placed players scoring only ten points each, Blaine currently stands fifteen points ahead of second placed Richard Owsley.
The final could yield a further 15 points for him, but even so there are several pursuers ready to capitalise on any slips, not least tournament winner Neil Young, tied for fourth place, and reigning champion Ian Tarr in sixth.

02/06/07: Paul shows championship credentials ......

Paul Watts's main objective on Thursday was to play two Premier One matches and claw back the penalty point he incurred at the March checkpoint.
While he achieved this, his brace of wins -- scored at the expense of Phil Charlton and Stuart Mann -- have also moved him firmly into a challenging position for the championship itself.
Paul is now in third place, three points behind Stuart, who had earlier defeated Simon Baker.
Mike Smith is the only player in either division of the Premier League to incur a penalty at the midnight Thursday checkpoint.

02/06/07: Blaine makes Premier Two promotion move ......

With Ann Pocknell, Miles Farren and Paul Gilbertson so strongly placed to claim three of the four promotion slots, the way is clear for further significant promotion challenges in Premier Two.
Last night it was the turn of Blaine Buchanan to build on his solid start to the season, as he pushed on towards to promotion bracket with wins over Drew Caudwell and Ann.
The night's other winner was Steve Morris, whose satisfactory introduction to the Premier League sees him comfortably situated in mid-table.

02/06/07: Conference action steps up ......

There was plenty of action in the Conference, with six matches being completed.
The night's winners were Sebastian Akkam, John Sprague, Nina Evangelou, Jude Pitt, Peter Edwards and Todd Young.
Peter's lead over Marcus Wrinch is now six points, although Marcus has seven matches in hand.
The expected third promotion place will no doubt soon materialise, and nobody can yet be ruled out of that race.

29/05/07: Paul wins Gammonitis event

Paul Gilbertson was the winner of the latest Gammonitis event, Jooles' 2nd 50th Birthday tournament, at Woodside, Kenilworth, Warwickshire.
A feature of Paul's winning sequence was that he made extraordinary comebacks in some of his matches, not least in the final where he trailed 6-14 to Julian Minwalla before finally prevailing 15-14.
Miles Farren won the intermediate round robin, pipping Rosey Bensley at the post after an absent player (on the Sunday) had his Saturday results expunged.
Miles and Martin Hemming also did well in the poker, novice Miles winning on the Friday, while Martin was runner-up on both Friday and Saturday, but took the overall prize.
At the time of writing, the winner of the Monday event, sponsored by Julian Fetterlein, is unknown.

25/05/07: MAY LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......

Twenty-eight players were in league action at the BCSC on Thursday evening, including two more welcome additions to the Conference -- Kevin Carter, from Reading, who has been an occasional visitor over the years, and Sebastian Akkam, who learned the game in his native Syria and made an impact in last week's doubles event.

25/05/07: Mark suffers blow to title hopes ......

Mark Dixon's quest to set a formidable target for his Premier One title race pursuers hit a snag last night, when he went down to a 7-11 defeat at the hands of relegation threatened Mike Smith.
Mark has won twelve of his nineteen matches, and will want to win at least two of his remaining three matches to give himself a good chance of clinching his second league championship.
Apart from second placed Stuart Mann, the only other players to have won more than they have lost are Ian Tarr, Phil Charlton and Paul Watts.
Ian and Phil met last night, Phil coming out on top, while Paul beat Michael Corbett, and will be looking to pull away from the bottom four when he plays twice more during the coming week.
Michael also scored a victory, beating Phil to consolidate on his promising start to life in the top flight.
Perhaps surprisingly, six of the twelve contenders have yet to ensure they avoid penalties at next week's checkpoint.

25/05/07: Ann almost there ......

With just four matches left to play, Ann Pocknell may have already done enough to assure herself of one of the four Premier Two promotion berths.
Winning two out of three matches played last night, Ann has registered thirteen successes.
Although he hasn't yet played as many matches as Ann, another who could well be heading for promotion is Paul Gilbertson, who also scored two victories in three matches contested last night.
Second placed Miles Farren, absent last night, makes up the trio of players with outstanding records who could be considered favourites for elevation.
Based on the other results so far, others well in contention are Neil Young, Richard Owsley, Elliot Smart and Gaz Owen, although Elliot's cause was not helped by a brace of defeats yesterday.
Progress in Premier Two continues to be exemplary, with everyone sure of avoiding penalties at next week's checkpoint.

25/05/07: Newcomers give Conference a boost ......

With Kevin Carter and Sebastian Akkam signing up for the Conference, there are now eighteen declared contenders.
And under the formula which dictates how many players gain promotion to next year's Premier League, while there are still only two slots earned thus far, the next player to reach eight results will ensure that a third slot becomes operative.
Last night both Todd Young and Jude Pitt crossed this threshold -- the sixth and seventh players to do so this season.
Todd, who won two matches out of three last night, has moved into fourth place, while debutants Sebastian and Kevin are already in tenth and twelfth places after their initial successes.

18/05/07: Sixteen contest second doubles event

The second of our four Consulting Doubles Grand Prix events attracted sixteen players to the BCSC last night, making a very convenient eight pairs to contest the two flights.
Two new players -- Sebastian Akkam and Stella Lea -- were welcomed. They bravely competed as a pair, and not without some success.
The main flight was won by Paul Watts and Jude Pitt, who defeated CDGP joint leaders Nick Barham and Peter Edwards, and then Neil Young and Tony Walters, before their final victory over Ian Preston and Nina Evangelou.
The four losing pairs from the first round then contested the consolation flight, with Sebastian and Stella taking the honours after defeating Roland Herrera and Tim Line in the semi, and Nick and Peter in the final.
Nick and Peter still lead the CDGP table, but their lead has been reduced to just 20 points. Ian Preston is in third place, with Paul, Jude and Nina in hot pursuit.

16/05/07: Forecourt parking days numbered

The weekly rush to nab one of the forecourt parking spaces outside the BCSC will be a thing of the past when smoking is no longer allowed within the club from July 1st.
The forecourt has been designated a smoking area from that date, and parkers will have to find somewhere else to park.

14/05/07: Mark intent on setting a target

Mark Dixon has now played eighteen of his twenty-two Premier One matches.
He is clearly intent on setting a points target for any pursuers in the championship race, and the ploy looks as though it might pay off, with two thirds of his matches resulting in victories.
Simonetta Herrera was Mark's latest victim when she suffered a 1-11 reverse which included a double backgammon.

12/05/07: MAY GRAND PRIX NEWS ......

Twenty-five players contested the fifth Bristol Grand Prix tournament of the year at the BCSC on Thursday evening, and one other managed to get some much needed league action in.

12/05/07: Steve returns to scoop the main prize ......

Steve Ferrer played his first Bristol Grand Prix tournament of 2007, and the lay-off seems to have done him good.
The victims of his triumphal march to main flight victory were Tony Walters, Stuart Mann, Tim Line, Ian Tarr and Roland Herrera.
Roland had beaten George Jakeway, Ian Preston and Neil Young en route to the final.

12/05/07: Juanita eyes family double ......

While Steve Ferrer was taking the main honours from Thursday evening's tournament, wife Juanita was closing in on a remarkable family double in the consolation final.
Richard Owsley, awaiting Juanita in the adjourned final, is now the only obstacle standing in her way.
Juanita defeated Mark Dixon and Steffen Nowak on her way to the final, while Richard was moving through the more heavily populated half of the draw by beating Blaine Buchanan, Gaz Owen and Tony Walters. The final has not yet been arranged.
Miles Farren opted out of the consolation flight after his early main flight exit, handing Tony a surprise bye to the quarter-finals.

12/05/07: Roland regains OGP lead ......

Roland Herrera's run to the main flight final saw him gathering enough points to regain his OGP lead.
Ian Preston drops to second, while Peter Edwards is not too far away in third place.

12/05/07: Peter still leads IGP table ......

Peter Edwards edged a little further ahead in the race for IGP honours.
Marcus Wrinch is still only 26 points adrift, and leads his closest pursuer -- John Sprague -- by over 200 points.
Peter, Marcus and John all gained bonus points for eliminating Premier League players.

12/05/07: Quadruple rollover was never very likely ......

With a healthy turnout, and a 92% take up rate for the optional Winner Takes All pool, a further rollover never looked particularly likely, although non-investors Ian Preston and Cynthia Roberts each won a main flight match before their respective eliminations.
The presence of all four semi-finalists in the pool precipitated an amicable deal, with all but Ł110 of the combined pool and tournament pots of Ł610 being shared equally among the four -- the remainder to be fought over by the finalists, who eventually agreed a 50:50 split for that as things reached a gripping finale.

12/05/07: Mark is seventh Masters winner ......

Mark Dixon and Ed Turner had some unfinished business from the previous two weeks, and were able to play the final of the 2007 Bristol Masters after their elimination from Thursday's event.
Mark took the title with an 11-9 victory, which was also doubled up as a Premier One encounter.
Although he has only five league matches remaining, he is keen to set a tough task for his pursuers, the nearest of whom is fully twelve points adrift.
Elliot Smart was the player to glean the most satisfaction from league encounters on the night.
A brace of Premier Two wins have set him up nicely for a promotion challenge over the second half of the season.
And Ian Preston kept his slim hopes of promotion alive with a win.

06/05/07: Ed reaches Masters final

The Bristol Backgammon New Players' evening at the BCSC on Thursday evening was also the backdrop for some important matches.
First and foremost was the outstanding Bristol Masters semi-final between Mike Smith and Ed Turner, which the players agreed beforehand to double up as a Premier One encounter.
Mike started well, building up an 8-0 lead, but Ed managed to claw things back to parity, and eventually emerged as an 11-9 winner.
The final, against Mark Dixon, will probably take place some time this week.
The three points will also be welcome for Ed as he plans his escape from the bottom four of Premier One.
In Premier Two there were wins for Neil Young and Richard Owsley to keep alive their promotion challenges.
Neil consolidates his third position, while Richard moves into the fourth and final promotion slot, although he has a lot of work to do to maintain his challenge, as several pursuers have matches in hand.
And in the Conference, leader Peter Edwards continued his chase to update the record books, when he racked up his seventeenth league match of the season, just eleven away from Steve Morris's record of 28, established last season.
Steve's record for Conference wins, however, remains nine away after Peter slipped to a 6-11 reverse at the hands of Todd Young, who moves up to fifth place.
Peter is still three points ahead of Marcus Wrinch, but Marcus has seven matches in hand.
As for the new players, there were two -- each making his second visit.
Matthew Thomas and George Palframan were treated to a game of consulting triples, followed by participation in an eight player Tric Trac Tourno.
The Tric Trac Tourno had an amusing climax, when Simonetta Herrera finished her matches to find that only Ian Preston and Peter Edwards could match her points tally, each needing a final match backgammon to do so.
Ian could "only" manage a gammon, but Peter unbelievably secured his backgammon at Steve's expense, and took the small prize pot by virtue of his earlier victory over Simonetta.
Matthew and George, incidentally, are now both signed up for the Conference, bringing the number of contestants in that league to sixteen.

30/04/07: Mark in Masters final

Mark Dixon played host to Phil Charlton in Clifton this evening, and scored an 11-5 victory to take him into the final of the seventh Bristol Masters.
The other semi, featuring Ed Turner and Mike Smith, is scheduled for this Thursday at the BCSC.

29/04/07: Mark takes consolation at Gammonitis

The latest Gammonitis tournament -- at a plush venue in Barnett Hill, Guildford, Surrey, this weekend -- featured just three Bristol players.
Richard Owsley held his own on his debut in the Intermediates category, while Martin Hemming was eliminated at the first hurdle in the Championship category main flight.
Mark Dixon fared better, reaching the Championship main quarter-finals before bowing out to Peter Bennet, and then met Martin in the Championship consolation flight, coming out on top, and going on to win that final with a victory over Andy Bell.
Mark also defeated Martin in a Premier One encounter on Saturday.

27/04/07: Bristol Masters field reduced to four

The seventh annual Bristol Masters knock-out -- which amounts to a Bristol "Champion of Champions" event, and features 11-point matches throughout -- saw just two rounds completed at the BCSC on Thursday evening.
With the sixteen player field known beforehand, the draw was done just after 7pm, but one part of the draw took five and a quarter hours to reach the semi-final stage.
The semis will take place next week, with Mark Dixon and Phil Charlton's match pencilled in for Tuesday, and Ed Turner's meeting with Mike Smith scheduled for next Thursday.
Two of the sixteen original qualifiers -- John Slattery (abroad) and Nick Barham (indisposed) -- were unable to take their rightful places, paving the way for substitutes Tim Line and Neil Young.
Tim and Neil fell victim to Mike, while Ed was progressing past Steffen Nowak and Steve Morris.
Mark defeated Juanita Ferrer -- making a welcome first appearance of the year after illness -- and then won a marathon encounter with Stuart Mann to thwart Stuart's attempt to win the event for the third successive year.
Phil managed to persuade his first two opponents -- Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr -- to double up their meetings as Premier One matches, so got twice the value for his wins.
In other league action, Richard Owsley moved one step closer to the top four with an emphatic Premier Two victory over fellow promotion chaser Neil Young, while Nigel Hutchings made his season's Conference bow, going down to Marcus Wrinch, who thus extended his opening sequence of victories to eleven matches.

22/04/07: APRIL LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......

On a low key league night, twenty-one players were in action, with Premier Two again featuring the most activity.

22/04/07: Ian pips Jude in April grand prix final ......

Jude Pitt's great adventure in the April Grand Prix tournament ended on Thursday when she was beaten 9-11 in the held over final of last week's tournament by Ian Preston, who thus takes over the lead from Roland Herrera in the OGP.

22/04/07: Mixed fortunes for Mark, Simonetta and Michael ......

Three players in the thick of the Premier League title race -- leader Mark Dixon, Simonetta Herrera and Michael Corbett -- suffered mixed fortunes at the league session on Thursday.
Michael, with victories over Mark and two other Premier League champions (Stuart Mann and John Slattery) already under his belt, completed the double over Mark before suffering a whitewash by Simonetta, who was fresh from a defeat by Phil Charlton.
Mark then recovered to inflict a whitewash on Paul Watts.

22/04/07: Ann makes the most of Miles' setbacks ......

Premier Two leader Miles Farren suffered a double setback on Thursday, when he was defeated by both Neil Young and Cynthia Roberts.
Although still well placed with just four defeats in fifteen matches, Miles has now been overhauled at the top of the league by Ann Pocknell.
Ann -- one of two long distance travellers present for Premier Two action -- scored useful victories over Cynthia and Steffen Nowak to go top.
The other traveller from afar -- Paul Gilbertson -- also made inroads on the leadership, with two wins from his three matches on the night, a defeat by Steffen being sandwiched between wins over Richard Owsley and Cynthia.
Paul is now fourth, but has matches in hand over all those above him. Neil, still third, is still well in contention.
Richard, Steve Morris and Ian Preston were the night's other victors.

22/04/07: Peter pounces to regain the lead ......

Peter Edwards has so far proved the Conference's player most adept at tracking down opponents.
His relentless quest continued with three matches on Thursday, when he defeated Lewis Young, and then shared the spoils with John Sprague.
Peter has opened up a six points lead over previous leader Marcus Wrinch, but the undefeated Marcus now has six matches in hand.
John has moved up to seventh.

13/04/07: APRIL GRAND PRIX TOURNAMENT ROUND-UP ......

Just twenty-two players took part in the April Bristol Grand Prix tournament at the BCSC on Thursday evening.
One other played a league match.

13/04/07: Second time lucky for Jude ......

The main story of this month's fascinating episode in the Bristol Grand Prix series was the emergence of Jude Pitt as a tournament contender.
Entering a grand prix event for only the second time, Jude collected the notable scalps of Miles Farren and Tim Line, before winning an all-Conference semi-final encounter with John Sprague.
In the final, which may possibly take place at the BCSC next Thursday, she will meet Ian Preston, who will be contesting his second final of the year.
Ian fought his way past Peter Edwards, Cynthia Roberts and John Paton.

13/04/07: Ian wins consolation flight ......

Ian Tarr edged home against Steve Morris in Thursday's consolation flight final, having previously eliminated Todd Young and Richard Owsley.
Steve's victims were Stuart Mann and Lewis Young.

13/04/07: Ian can take OGP lead ......

If Ian Preston can defeat Jude Pitt when they play the main flight final, he will assume the lead in the OGP table.
The absent Roland Herrera will hold on to his lead if Jude wins. And if she does, she will be in eleventh place, after entering just one of the four tournaments to date.

13/04/07: Pursuers make inroads into IGP deficit ......

Peter Edwards and Marcus Wrinch have been threatening to make it a two horse race for this year's IGP title.
But Peter scored the bare minimum on Thursday, while Marcus opted not to enter the tournament.
Nina Evangelou and Jude Pitt have taken up the challenge with useful points tallies, but they are both more than 160 points away from second place.
Four of the seven intermediates managed to net bonus points. Apart from Nina and Jude, John Sprague and Lewis Young both managed to account for Premier league opposition.

13/04/07: Ł200 rollover to boost the May event ......

Only half of last night's field were tempted to enter the Winner Takes All pool, despite the attraction of a Ł90 rollover from the March event.
But those who did take the plunge fared so badly that a further rollover was assured before the semi-final stage. So there's Ł200 in the kitty for May.

13/04/07: Blaine ties for Handicap lead ......

Blaine Buchanan last night defeated Richard Owsley in the held over final of last week's Handicap Trophy event.
The extra 35 points Blaine gained for the win put him level with overnight leader Ed Turner, just five points ahead of Richard.

13/04/07: Marcus and Peter maintain pace ......

The two leaders in the Conference, Marcus Wrinch and Peter Edwards, maintained their hot pace on Thursday evening.
Marcus made it ten wins out of ten when he pipped Lewis Young 11-10 in what was his toughest assignment of the season so far.
Peter later gained some compensation for a blank tournament by scoring wins over both Lewis and his younger brother Todd, who also defeated John Sprague.
And Lewis breaching the eight match barrier means that there will now be at least two players promoted from the Conference this year, although more places are expected to be gained as activity levels hopefully rise throughout the year.

12/04/07: Bristol success in the Cotswolds

Last weekend's Cotswold Easter Pro-Am Team Event featured a superb success comprising a team of relatively inexperienced local players!
Nick Barham headed the victorious group, nominated as the "Pro" in the team of three, and was accompanied by Marcus Wrinch and Dave Pelham.
Nick, of course, was Bristol's 2006 Rookie of the Year, Marcus currently heads the Conference, and Dave is on the Bristol mailing list -- hopefully as a prelude to his Bristol debut.
The team format devised by Director Martin Hemming was not unlike tennis' Davis Cup, with a combination of singles and doubles, replaced the originally envisaged Pairs format.
There were only four teams, but Nick was in illustrious company amongst the other "Pros", who were world class players Brian Barber and Julian Fetterlein, as well as experienced veteran Eugene Fisher.
A full report of the event is likely to appear soon on the Cotswold Backgammon website.

09/04/07: Lewis is youngest ever flight winner

The Merchants Arms, Eastville, was the venue for a small piece of Bristol Backgammon history today.
Lewis Young became the youngest ever winner of a Bristol Backgammon tournament flight when he defeated Tony Walters in the final of the consolation flight of last Thursday's Handicap Knock-out.
The victory moves Lewis into fifth place overall in the Handicap Trophy table.

06/04/07: HANDICAP KNOCK-OUT NEWS ......

A healthy twenty-seven players entered the second of the year's six Handicap trophy events.
The line-up included two debut players -- John Corrado, a welcome visitor working in the area for a few weeks, and Matthew Thomas, a colleague of Tim Line. Matthew has also signed up for the Conference.
And two Premier One players turned up for a league double header.

06/04/07: Richard and Blaine take the main flight honours ......

Richard Owsley and Blaine Buchanan will fight out the final of the April Handicap Knock-out.
Richard earned his final place by defeating Cynthia Roberts, Marcus Wrinch, Ian Tarr and John Sprague, while Blaine was overcoming Nina Evangelou, Steve Morris, Tim Line and John Corrado.

06/04/07: Tony and Lewis to fight out consolation final ......

Lewis Young is the youngest ever Bristol Backgammon flight finalist, after his run to the consolation flight final saw him overcoming Ian Preston, Cynthia Roberts and Nina Evangelou.
In the final he will meet Tony Walters, who saw off Matthew Thomas, Todd Young and Marcus Wrinch.

06/04/07: Ed's lead is a tenuous one ......

February Handicap Knock-out winner Ed Turner still leads the Handicap Trophy table after yesterday's not-quite-completed tournament.
But his lead is a tenuous one, with second placed Richard Owsley poised to take over if he can defeat Blaine Buchanan, and Blaine himself ready to draw level, as can Tony Walters if he can win the consolation flight.
These four players have opened up a small gap over the chasing pack.

06/04/07: Stuart makes it six in a row ......

Stuart Mann may have made a slow start to his Premier League title defence, when he lost three of his first four matches, but he has since won six in a row to put himself very firmly into contention.
His latest wins came in a double header against Martin Hemming, whose title chances have now dwindled to the point where he is left with little margin for error.
Stuart is now just three points behind leader Mark Dixon with three matches in hand.
Meanwhile Premier Two promotion contender Neil Young suffered a setback, losing a cliff-hanger to Tim Line, who is working his way back towards parity after a disastrous early season period.
In the Conference, there were two results. Perhaps predictably, these were wins for the top two, Marcus Wrinch and Peter Edwards.
Peter pounced on new signing Matthew Thomas in his inimitable fashion, while Marcus was defeating Lewis Young.

03/04/07: Ian is a slow player

It's official. Ian Tarr (pictured with Manchester's Brian Lever, who beat him in the British Open final: photo courtesy of BIBA) is a slow player.
Michael Crane's report of the BIBA British Open says so, so it must be true.
"They might not both agree, but each of the finalists has a reputation for slow(ish) play and because of this I issued a clock to ensure it didn't overrun the allotted 2.25 hours; and I think this action lost Ian the title. He didn't seem to get into his stride at all and he only managed to win one point throughout the entire match," says the report.

01/04/07: Ian humbled in British Open final

Having fought his way through five gruelling rounds, Ian Tarr was thrashed 11-1 by Manchester's Brian Lever in the final of the BIBA British Open at the Coventry Hilton at the weekend.
Remarkably Ian managed to win as many main flight matches as the remainder of the thirteen player Bristol contingent put together!
Saturday's first round accounted for Tony Lee, Paul Watts, John Slattery, Kevin White, Peter Bennet, Mark Dixon and Miles Farren.
Then the second round saw the exits of Stuart Mann, Tim Line, Ed Turner, Rosey Bensley and Paul Gilbertson, leaving Ian as the winner of the unofficial Bristol side pool, even before the start of Saturday's final round!
His Saturday victims, all from Yorkshire, were Paul Barwick, Arthur Wright and Tony Fawcett.
His biggest scalp was Lawrence Powell in Sunday's quarter-final round, and this was followed by his widest margin of victory -- 11-4 over Gerry Enslin -- to claim a place in the final.
Here he started as second favourite once again, with Brian acknowledged -- like Lawrence -- as one of the UK's finest.
Another random factor brought into the final mix was the use of a clock, something which Brian has experienced a multitude of times, recognised as he is as one the nation's slowest players.
Ian has only once previously played a clock match -- with a different kind of clock, and only to five points -- so while time might have been on his side, the potential to be unsettled by the mechanics of using an unfamiliar apparatus was undeniable.
"Brian thoroughly deserved his victory, and is the worthiest of British Open champions", said Ian afterwards. "But I can't help feeling that I left my best game somewhere else because of the unexpected introduction of the clock. I would have liked to at least give Brian some kind of a sterner test, although given the nature of the contest it would have taken something miraculous to change the outcome. I need to get in some practice with clocks, because there's no doubt that they will be used more and more in the future, and rightly so. But the problem for me is the inconsistency of the situation, playing five rounds without even a whiff of a clock, then having the final, where the need to remain focussed is paramount, subject to different rules. Being well beaten is part and parcel of the game, and I get plenty of practice at that. But I definitely lost my focus for periods of the final, and since this was my only BIBA final to date, I'm disappointed not only in myself, but also in the haphazard nature of the ruling in a tournament that is supposed to be one of Britain's premier events."
Meanwhile, Slatts (pictured, left, receiving his prize), was defeated 7-6 by Lawrence in the final of the progressive consolation flight, while Ed had won the Friday warm-up tournament, and Mark Dixon and Paul Watts had monopolised the Saturday night poker prize money.

01/04/07: Fifth British Open runner-up

Bristol "associate" Nigel Merrigan is one of only two players to have won the BIBA British Open twice, but the title has thus far eluded all of our regulars.
Ian Tarr is the fifth of our regulars to have come second in this event, following Simon Baker in 1996, Phil Charlton in 1998, Stuart Mann in 2001, and Tony Lee last year.
Tony was also a semi-finalist in 2002, as was Jason Champion in 2006.

01/04/07: Paul gets in some league matches

Paul Watts, a little behind with his Premier One campaign, managed to fit three league matches into his busy weekend in Coventry.
But the last of these came too late to reprieve him from a penalty point at the midnight March 31st checkpoint.
Phil Charlton incurs two penalties, but both players will have the opportunity to claw them back by complying with the criteria for the May 31st checkpoint.
The entire Premier Two membership managed to negotiate the March checkpoint without mishap, and all 33 Premier League players avoided the potential single point penalty for failing to pay their league fees on time.
Two of Paul's matches were victories, and he is well in the mix for the title race, especially as one of his victims was leader Mark Dixon.
His defeat, though, came at the hands of Martin Hemming, who moves into second place.

29/03/07: Sixteen at chouette evening

The latest Bristol Backgammon session dedicated to chouettes attracted a total of sixteen assorted players on a pleasant, low key Thursday evening at the BCSC.
There were two chouette groups, while some others used the session for league action.
Richard Biddle, encountered by many at national events, was a welcome visitor at the end of a three day working stint in Bristol, while newcomer Theresa Rook also sampled a Bristol Backgammon evening for the first, and hopefully not the last, time.
The league action featured three Premier Two matches for Ann Pocknell on one of her regular visits from Devon. And her trip proved more than worthwhile when she completed victories over Gaz Owen, Tony Walters and Richard Owsley to move into second place just six points behind leader Miles Farren.
Gaz, who moves into fourth place, and Ian Preston were the division's other winners on the night.
In the Conference, top two Marcus Wrinch and Peter Edwards played their return match, with Marcus again coming out on top, this time by 11-10, to cement his place in pole position.
There was no play in Premier One, where Mark Dixon had consolidated his place at the top at the Foresters, Downend, on Wednesday evening with a victory over Phil Charlton.

26/03/07: Masters line-up complete

The line-up for the 2007 Bristol Masters is now complete.
Every year sixteen players qualify for this prestigious annual event through their efforts in Bristol competitions.
Places are much sought after, and as usual there has been an enthusiastic response from the qualifiers, with only one -- John Slattery, who will not be in the UK when the event takes place on April 26th -- declining his place.
The substitute player is taken, as per the competition rules, from last years final OGP table, with Tim Line the lucky recipient of an entry.
If there are any late withdrawals, others from the OGP table will be invited, but those in the queue would be well advised not to hold their respective breaths for the call to arms.

24/03/07: More league action at Leamington Spa

How's the Gammonitis tournament going at the Falstaff Hotel, Leamington Spa?
Who knows? But there's been some more league action there, with Mark Dixon in the thick of it.
After yesterday evening's victory over John Slattery, he completed a Premier One double over Slatts today, but not before losing to Martin Hemming.

23/03/07: Slatts' lead lasts less than a day

John Slattery's latest tenure of pole position in Premier One lasted less than a day.
At the Falstaff Hotel, Leamington Spa -- in preparation for the weekend Gammonitis event in honour of Paul Gilbertson's birthday -- Slatts went down 6-11 to Mark Dixon who moves back to the top.

23/03/07: MARCH LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......

Thirty-two league players were present at the third league night of the year, although one of them only played snooker!
And a grand total of twenty-seven matches were completed.

23/03/07: Slatts back on top, but at a cost ......

John Slattery paid one of his visits to the BCSC last night to get some Premier One matches completed before he jets off to Thailand for a couple of months.
And he has returned to the top of the league, but at a cost after losing two of the four matches he played.
He started with a double header against Michael Corbett, winning the first but losing the second, and then featured in two DMP cliff-hangers.
Simonetta Herrera led him all the way, except where it mattered -- at the death -- and then Slatts adjourned to Ian Tarr's in Redfield, where a 10-4 lead was transformed into a stunning defeat.
Reigning champ Stuart Mann has fought back well from his uncertain start, and is once again handily placed as one of five players -- including Ian, who won twice on the night -- just three points behind Slatts.
Paul Watts was the night's other winner, his match also confirming that nobody in either Premier League division will be expunged when the season's first checkpoint arrives at midnight on the 31st.
Both he and Phil Charlton, though, have work to do to avoid penalty points.

23/03/07: Miles, Neil and Ann keep up the pace ......

Miles Farren shows no sign of faltering in his bid for top flight status.
A single Premier Two victory last night left nobody in any doubt that he is the player to catch, having won eleven of thirteen matches contested, with just seven to play.
Neil Young is also enjoying a fine season in second place, his only result last night being an impressive whitewash of fellow promotion contender Ann Pocknell.
Ann's visit was not a wasted one, however, as she won her other two encounters to move into third place.
Other winners on the night were Tim Line and Ian Preston, twice apiece, Steve Morris, Tony Walters, John Paton, Elliot Smart, Richard Owsley, Cynthia Roberts and John Lewis.
John, with further action arranged for Monday, will ensure that nobody gets penalised at the March 31st checkpoint.

23/03/07: Marcus wins Conference "Clash of the Titans" ......

Two Conference players who are threatening to become local heavyweights finally clashed at the BCSC last night.
Peter Edwards and Marcus Wrinch, separated by a single point at the head of the IGP table, had both made excellent starts to their Conference campaigns, Peter winning his first six before losing to Nina Evangelou last week, and Marcus unbeaten in his six matches.
So something had to give, and it was Marcus who prevailed 11-6 to stay top of the league.
Peter registered a win over Jude Pitt, while Nina continued her winning streak with successes against Lewis Young and Colin Sara, although she trails 1-7 in an adjourned match against Todd Young.

21/03/07: An apology from the webmaster!

Will all avid readers of this website please accept an apology from the webmaster for the lack of updates from Thursday's session.
The updates were all prepared, but I forgot to upload them before going away for a few days -- yes, I do have a life away from backgammon!
Things are now almost up to date, and later in the day I will be adding what news there is from the past few days.

16/03/07: Peter wins 62nd Lesters

The rise of Peter Edwards continued at the BCSC last night, when he scored semi-final and final Lesters Trophy wins over Roland Herrera and Blaine Buchanan.
Earlier in the evening his tremendous run of victories came to a halt at the hands of Nina Evangelou in a previously adjourned Conference match.
The session was designated as a jackpot evening, and two jackpots were contested -- an eight player Ł10 affair where Ed Turner and Paul Watts split the money, and a four player Ł5 version won by Cynthia Roberts.
But there was far more action in Premier Two, the Conference, and Lesters 62.
The Lesters loose ends were tied up with Peter's success in the main flight, and Richard Owsley's defeat of Marcus Wrinch (pictured) in the final of the consolation flight.
Peter is now up to third in the OGP, and has overtaken Marcus by a single point in the IGP.
The fact that Peter and Marcus are more than 200 points ahead of their closest pursuers in the IGP should not necessarily be taken as a sign that this competition will be a two horse race.
The fact that Peter's points tally from this single tournament was 210, including a whopping 70 bonus points, is an illustration of just how volatile it can be.
In the leagues, Miles Farren notched yet another Premier Two win, and is already assured of a 50:50 record at the very least. He will be hopeful that he can push on and get the necessary points to firm up a promotion place.
Second placed Neil Young also scored a win, while wins for Blaine and Nick Barham moved them into closer contention.
Alan Parfitt grabbed a brace of victories, while Tony Walters registered no fewer than five results, including three wins which give his record a much more respectable look.
Richard Owsley was the division's other winner on the night.
Peter's shock early evening defeat left the way clear for Marcus to press home his claim for the top spot in the Conference. And press them he did, with victories over Cecilia Sparke and Pete Wright, which have edged him into pole position.
There was also league action at thwe New Inn, Pwllmeyric, where Simon Baker defeated Michael Corbett in a Premier One encounter.

12/03/07: Peter nets 1000 to 1 award

He didn't know it at the time, but Peter Edwards (pictured left) became the eighth player to qualify for a John Slattery sponsored 1000 to 1 award, when he defeated Simon Baker in the quarter-finals of Lesters 62 on Thursday evening.
And his run of ten successive victories in contributing competitions is not yet over. He has the chance of grabbing the biggest ever award in this series -- the current record belonging to Stuart Mann, whose first award was of the 4000 to 1 variety for twelve successive wins.

10/03/07: Slatts and Simonetta double up at BIBA

The John Slattery sponsored BIBA Scottish Open at the Coventry Hilton today saw the sponsor facing Simonetta Herrera for a place in the last eight of the main flight.
As the match was to 11 points the pair decided to double the match up as a Premier One encounter, and Simonetta emerged the 11-8 victor to leapfrog Slatts into second place, just behind Mark Dixon on average points difference.

10/03/07: SAM MEAD MEMORIAL SHIELD REPORT ......

Another healthy turnout heralded the first Lesters Trophy event of the year -- the third Bristol Grand Prix tournament of 2007.
Twenty-five hopefuls toed the start line of the event which this March -- and every March henceforward -- rewards the winner with tenure of the BCSC sponsored Sam Mead Memorial Shield.

10/03/07: Blaine awaits semi outcome ......

Blaine Buchanan -- twice a Lesters winner in the past -- is in the final of Lesters 62.
He will meet the winner of the outstanding semi-final between Peter Edwards and Roland Herrera to decide the destiny of the latest title.
Blaine, from the short section of the draw, got past Simonetta Herrera, Elias Hamati and Mike Smith to reach the final, while semi-finalists Roland Herrera and Peter Edwards were negotiating their respective paths past further sets of distinguished victims.
The final stages of the main flight are likely to be played next Thursday.

10/03/07: Marcus and Richard to decide consolation flight next week ......

Marcus Wrinch and Richard Owsley have agreed to play the final of the consolation flight from Thursday's event next week at the BCSC.
Richard claimed three prize scalps in Ed Turner, Martin Hemming and Simonetta Herrera, while Marcus was fighting his way past Neil Young, Miles Farren and Paul Watts.

10/03/07: Roland back in OGP lead ......

January OGP leader Roland Herrera is back at the top of the pile.
And if all goes well for him in the semi-final and final of Lesters 62, he can increase his 25 points lead by a further 70.
Nick Barham is in second place, while Marcus Wrinch, Blaine Buchanan and Peter Edwards can all close the gap significantly by winning their outstanding matches from the Thursday evening session.

10/03/07: Peter stakes IGP claim ......

In the IGP Marcus Wrinch had it all his own way in the January and February events, building up an impressive 135 points lead over his closest pursuers.
And although Marcus had another profitable run -- this time to the consolation final -- with 74 more points in the bag, and a further 28 available should he defeat Richard Owsley in that final, it's not impossible that Marcus might find himself in second place after the dust settles.
Should he lose, and should Peter Edwards go on to win the main flight, Peter's tournament tally of 210 points would be enough to edge him past Marcus by a single point!
It just goes to show that with bonus points for successes against Premier Status players, the IGP can be surprisingly volatile.
Marcus picked up 40 bonus points last night, while Peter managed 50, and Elias Hamati -- in his first appearance of the season -- also grabbed 20.

10/03/07: Winner Takes All rollover assured ......

With no rollover to tempt the punters just nine of the twenty-five starters went for the Winner Takes All pool. And the good news for neutrals is that all nine were eliminated from the contest before the semi-final stage.
That means the WTA pool at the April grand prix event will start out with Ł90 already in it.
Meanwhile Blaine Buchanan and Peter Edwards have a double interest in their own progress, having bought themselves in the pre-tournament auction.
Roland Herrera, however, was bought by Marcus Wrinch.

10/03/07: Mark takes Premier One lead ......

Early elimination from the tournament gave Mark Dixon the opportunity to step up his Premier One campaign.
Having defeated Simon Baker before the start of the event, a further victory -- over Ian Tarr -- moved him into pole position.
And in Premier Two it was a similar story for Paul Gilbertson, whose wins over Steve Morris and Drew Caudwell moved him up to third place with matches in hand over those ahead of him.
The Conference campaign featured wins for the undefeated leader Peter Edwards and undefeated third placer Marcus Wrinch.

06/03/07: Hit count reaches 54321 ......

...... "Uh huh, it was the Manfreds". (Readers under the age of 45, please disregard).

02/03/07: Back online!

After a "serious series of hardware failures" at the ISP, the Bristol Backgammon website (along with several thousand others) is back online.
And as a consequence of the inconvenience, readers will no doubt be pleased to learn that the ISP has offered a free two month extension to the current hosting agreement.
Below is the report of last night's session, which I prepared in the early hours, but was unable to upload because of the problems.

01/03/07: Mark's presentation hits the spot

The latest in our series of New Player Evenings at the BCSC tonight featured a PowerPoint presentation by Mark Dixon, based around a single back game played in a Premier League match against him earlier this year by Simonetta Herrera.
This stimulated much discussion and was well received by a rapt audience.
The evening featured welcome first ever visits by Mark Honey and former Bristol Backgammon Club Director Keith Wiltshire's friends, Brenda and Sandeep.
Several players also managed to get in some matches from various competitions.
Peter Edwards perhaps made best use of the session by winning two finals -- the February Consulting Doubles main flight (partnered by Nick Barham against Simonetta and Ian Preston), and the consolation flight of last week's Handicap Trophy event against Cynthia Roberts.
In the leagues, Premier Two continues to make outstanding progress, with a third of the 210 matches already completed just 60 days into a 334 day season, with every player assured of avoiding expungement on March 31st, and all but nine players already avoiding penalty points at that date.
Miles Farren extended his lead with a ninth win in eleven matches, and Gaz Owen broke into the top four with a brace of victories.
Phillip Hill and Steve Morris each registered three results, Phillip winning twice and Steve once, while Nick Barham was another victor.
Stuart Mann and Ian Tarr scored useful Premier One wins, while the only Conference result saw Marcus Wrinch continue his unbeaten start to the campaign.

27/02/07: Phil's run ends

Phil Charlton's outstanding run of successive victories is finally over. After ten successive league wins, Phil was defeated in a nail-biting Premier One match at Clifton College by Mark Dixon.

27/02/07: Conference membership up to fourteen

The addition of Mike Gartside to the ranks of Conference players brings the total of players signed up for this year's competition up to fourteen.
Mike, a grand prix entrant late last year, started his campaign at the Windmill pub, Windmill Hill, yesterday evening with a couple of emphatic victories, and is already up into fourth place in the league!
The evening's other victor was Cecilia Sparke, whose own brace of wins moves her closer to leader Peter Edwards.
Eleven of the fourteen contestants have already played at least two matches each, a healthy sign as we look for more and more entrants to take part in this competition, which is so important to the development of Bristol Backgammon.

27/02/07: Sponsor Ed takes Handicap Trophy lead

Ed Turner, sponsor of the Handicap Trophy, has taken the lead in this year's competition after defeating Tony Walters in the held over final from last Thursday's opening tournament.
The final was played at the Cock of the North pub in Henleaze on Sunday evening, along with three league matches and an impromptu Ł10 jackpot, after Neil Young's initiative in gathering several players together.
Ed and Simonetta Herrera shared the spoils in their Premier One meetings, Miles Farren scored yet another Premier Two victory to extend his lead, and Steffen Nowak and Ian Tarr split the jackpot cash.

23/02/07: HANDICAP KNOCK-OUT ROUND-UP ......

A modest turnout of twenty players kicked off the 2007 Handicap Trophy season at the BCSC on Thursday evening, and there was one other present to get some league action in.

23/02/07: Tony and Ed set the early pace ......

The first of six Handicap Trophy events got off to a low key start with just twenty players turning out, and Director Ian Tarr hastily improvising proceedings after leaving all his tournament paraphernalia at home!
Tony Walters and Ed Turner made it through to the main flight final, which may be played next Thursday.
Tony fought his way through the long part of the draw, defeating Miles Farren, Tarim, Richard Owsley and Colin Sara, while Ed was progressing past Cynthia Roberts, Nick Barham and Steve Morris.
Tony thus leads the Handicap trophy table, although Ed will overtake him if he wins the final. Colin, Richard and Steve share third place.

23/02/07: Cynthia and Peter to contest consolation final ......

Thursday's consolation flight saw Cynthia Roberts and Peter Edwards reach the final, which may take place next Thursday.
Cynthia beat Blaine Buchanan and Miles Farren, while Peter saw off Jude Pitt and Ian Tarr.

23/02/07: Neil narrows the gap ......

Steffen Nowak has shrugged off his slow start to the Premier Two campaign with a brace of victories last night.
Meanwhile second placed Neil Young halved Miles Farren's lead with a narrow victory against Nick Barham, while Blaine Buchanan moved up to fifth with his fourth win in six matches.
In the Conference Lewis Young moved into third place after his third win in five matches.

16/02/07: FEBRUARY LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......

There were twenty-four players in action at the February league night at the BCSC on Thursday.
The trend towards starting league matches at around 6pm gathered pace, and once again it was the players of Premier Two who provided the bulk of the action.
And the four outstanding matches from last week's grand prix event were all safely concluded.

16/02/07: Miles takes over ......

Fourteen more Premier Two results were recorded last night, making it a very healthy 58 of the 210 projected matches completed already!
Overnight leader Neil Young suffered the heartbreak of a brace of 10-11 defeats, and has been toppled from pole position.
Miles Farren (pictured left), meanwhile, managed two victories, and has now opened up a six points lead.
Ann Pocknell and Steve Morris both scored wins to move into the promotion bracket, while John Paton, another double winner, and Paul Gilbertson, who won two out of three on the night, are moving into contention.
Tim Line repaired some of the damage of his disappointing start by also winning two of his three encounters.
Other winners on the night were Richard Owsley, Dave Pym, Ian Preston and Phillip Hill.

16/02/07: Nick thwarts mega-rollover hopes ......

Hopes of a triple Winner Takes All pool rollover at the March Lesters Trophy event were thwarted last night when Nick Barham continued his meteoric rise towards the top of the Bristol Backgammon ranks.
The semi-finals of last week's main flight took place at the BCSC last night, with two pool non-participants carrying the hopes of the majority of Bristol players.
Marcus Wrinch did his bit by eliminating Phillip Hill, but Tim Jefferies was unable to prevent Nick from reaching the final.
And an 11-7 win for Nick scooped him a handsome reward, not only in terms of prize money of over Ł500, but also the leadership of the OGP and qualification for the 2008 Bristol Masters.
This was Nick's second grand prix success in the last three events.
Marcus, too, can be pleased with his efforts, as he now stands equal third in the OGP, and has extended his lead in the IGP to an impressive 135 points.
Behind Marcus in the IGP are Mark Shipton and Peter Edwards, who last night clinched the consolation flight final, pipping Miles Farren.

16/02/07: Wins for Simonetta and Ian ......

There were only two Premier One matches played last night.
Simonetta Herrera scored her first win of the season, beating Mike Smith 11-7, while Stuart Mann's title defence is off to a slow start after a three defeats in his first four matches, the latest being a 6-11 reverse at the hands of Ian Tarr.

16/02/07: Peter strikes out on his own ......

The ante-post favourite for this year's Conference title would undoubtedly have been Peter Edwards, who showed enough at the tail end of last year to inspire some confidence.
And now it would appear that he is hell-bent on emulating the runaway successes of Steve Morris last season and Tony Walters in 2005.
Peter notched three wins last night to make it five out of five.
Cecilia Sparke -- absent last night -- and Marcus Wrinch -- the evening's other Conference winner -- are also unbeaten, albeit after only two matches each, so Peter will hopefully not have everything his own way.

10/02/07: Honours even at Amberley ......

In a Premier One double header at the Black Horse, Amberley, near Stroud, today, the honours were shared between Mike Smith and Martin Hemming.
Mike edged home 11-10 in the opening encounter, but Martin struck back with an 11-5 win.

09/02/07: FEBRUARY GRAND-PRIX ROUND-UP ......

The alarmists had predicted chaos amid the thick snow. But although conditions were undoubtedly worse in other parts of the country, there was little but faintness of heart to deter the local backgammon community from making an appearance at the February Bristol Grand Prix event, as the light covering of morning snow had long since melted away.
The double rollover in the Winner Takes All pool was a major attraction, and the twenty-six starters (plus one who joined the consolation flight direct for a knock-down price) had a total prize pot of Ł693 to fight over, all for an outlay of Ł20 on the night. Six opted for the bare minimum Ł10 entry fee.
Colin Sara made his singles debut after appearing in the consulting doubles the previous week, Tim Jefferies (pictured left) returned to action after a gap of a year and three quarters, and poker specialist Mark Shipton made his first appearance since October 2005 when he was persuaded to hand over Ł3 for his direct entry into the consolation flight.

09/02/07: Half a tournament is better than none ......

It's been a long time since a Bristol Grand Prix main flight reached the end of the evening with both semi-finals still to play.
But that was the situation last night at the BCSC, and the final stages are still to be arranged.
Four matches were initially held up briefly while an outstanding doubles match was being completed, but none of the four protagonists played a part in the delays.
The semis, when they come, will feature Nick Barham versus Tim Jefferies and Phillip Hill versus Marcus Wrinch.
Nick's consistency in Bristol Grand Prix tournaments continues unabated, while Tim surprised himself by shaking off a layer or two of rust to good effect.
Phillip hasn't caused much of a stir in knock-outs in recent years, his last semi-final being 21 months ago.
And Marcus has shown a lot of promise in his two grand prix appearances to date, having won four matches out of five so far against Premier League players.
So the outcome is probably as wide open as it could ever be.

09/02/07: Peter and Miles adjourn on the brink ......

The consolation flight, with fourteen players, also failed to reach a conslusion, although it was very close to one.
Miles Farren despatched Ed Turner, Neil Young and Mark Shipton to win through to a final meeting against Peter Edwards, conqueror of Colin Sara and Cecilia Sparke.
Peter led 4-3 when the adjournment came, and the match will be completed soon, no doubt.

09/02/07: Roland still leads, but there are immediate threats ......

The early OGP table still shows January winner Roland Herrera in pole position, but a tournament win for Nick Barham would see him usurped, while Marcus Wrinch can equal Roland's tally.

09/02/07: Marcus opens up 100 point IGP lead, and there could be more ......

Last season, participation by intermediates in grand prix events was very slow to take off.
And while it's still a disappointment that comparatively few of them seem prepared to take this particular plunge, the signs are there that there could be an upsurge.
The first two events have featured a total of eleven appearances by intermediates, which actually outstrips the attendance figures for the first three events from last year.
Leading the way in the IGP table by a margin of no fewer than 100 points is Herefordshire's Marcus Wrinch, whose appetite for learning appears second to none.
His march to the semis on Thursday evening -- and he was the only intermediate to win a main flight match -- featured bonus point winning victories over Ed Turner and Tim Line, and further wins against Phillip Hill and in the final would give him a massive cushion, albeit with ten months of the season to run.
A surprise move into second place came from Mark Shipton, all the more so because he has contested no main flights and just one consolation.
Mark startled both Mark Dixon and Jason Champion to chalk up 50 useful points, including bonuses.

09/02/07: "Winner Takes All" excitement builds ......

There was Ł120 in December, but Nick Barham declined to show an interest.
A further Ł140 followed in January, when Roland Herrera took his lead from Nick.
So it wasn't altogether surprising that twenty of the 26 starters elected to go for it this time.
"It", of course, is the Winner Takes All pool, which fulfils its role in adding considerable spice to the proceedings at times like these.
And with Ł460 now in the kitty, the intriguing thing is that two of the six non-participants are still going strong at the semi-final stage.
Those two, Tim Jefferies and Marcus Wrinch, therefore carry the best wishes of the whole Bristol backgammon community, with the exception -- of course -- of the newly converted Nick and Phillip Hill!
A success for either of our heroes would certainly bring some more players out of the woodwork for the March Lesters Trophy event, where the pot could get close to Ł700, and that's not counting the official tournament prizes.

09/02/07: Five league matches completed ......

In league action, Mark Dixon and Paul Watts scored their first Premier One wins of the season.
Premier Two again led the way in the activity stakes, with three more matches completed. The winners were Miles Farren, now behind leader Neil Young only on points difference, Steve Morris, and Drew Caudwell, whose results seem to demonstrate that his perceived pushover status is a thing of the past.
There was also half a Conference match played.

09/02/07: Nina and Marcus win doubles consolation ......

Early in the evening, the consolation flight of the opening Consulting Doubles event was concluded.
Marcus Wrinch and Nina Evangelou came out on top of a close encounter with Steve Morris and Colin Sara.

08/02/07: Apologies for the downtime

This website, as many of you will have noticed, disappeared from view yesterday until around lunch-time today.
The webmaster offers his apologies for the inconvenience caused, as he was responsible for an "administrative error".

08/02/07: Phil reaches 1000 to 1 in style

Phil Charlton tackled his opening Premier One encounter last night at the Cornubia, needing just to win to grab a 1000 to 1 award.
Whether or not he was aware of this fact is unknown at the time of writing, but he could hardly have chosen a more tricky opponent.
Stuart Mann, reigning league champion, currently in hot form in national events, and Bristol's undoubted number one player at present, was despatched after a tight encounter 11-7.
There will be a long wait for the award, sponsored by John Slattery, as these are usually handed out at the Annual Awards Night in January!

08/02/07: Game on!

With snowfall nowhere near the predicted severity, temperatures rising, and gentle rain washing away what little there was underfoot, it's business as usual at the BCSC tonight.
The second Bristol Grand Prix tournament of the year, complete with a Ł260 rollover in the Winner Takes All pool, goes ahead as planned.
A report will appear here soon after the event.

02/02/07: Steffen and Miles beaten!

Miles Farren and Steffen Nowak, who managed to get through last year's Consulting Doubles Grand Prix without experiencing a single defeat, were finally beaten in the semi-finals of the first of this year's doubles events.
Their conquerors, Nick Barham and Peter Edwards, will face Simonetta Herrera and Ian Preston in the final, some time soon.
And the final of the consolation flight was also held over, with the all-Conference pairing of Nina Evangelou and Marcus Wrinch set to face Steve Morris and Colin Sara in that final.
It was an encouraging start to the doubles campiagn, with eleven pairs contesting the opening event. Click here for the latest CDGP table.
Premier Two again took pride of place in the league action which took place. Five matches were started and two completed, John Paton and Tony Walters scoring victories.
In the Conference Marcus Wrinch scored his first win of the season, and Colin Sara became the twelfth player to sign up for the season.

30/01/07: The Premier League hits Pwllmeyric

The New Inn, Pwllmeyric, Gwent, is the latest venue to sample the delights of Bristol Backgammon action.
Michael Corbett defeated Mike Smith 11-8 in a Premier One encounter to move back to third in the league table.

29/01/07: Bristol players in four finals

Nearly a quarter of the contestants at the weekend's outstanding Cotswold Fireside Tournament had Bristol connections, and as usual there are success stories to tell.
There were 13 Bristol players and associates among the 47 in the Ł150 entry Championship Category, 7 among the 30 in the Intermediate Category, and one (young Harry Hemming) among the nine in the Beginner Category.
In the Championship Main Flight, all but two of the Bristol contingent had been eliminated before the quarter-finals, and they -- Stuart Mann and Ann Pocknell -- had to meet for a place in the last four.
Stuart won that encounter in straight sets (the main flights of this event feature a best of three 7-point match format), and repeated that straight sets scoreline in getting past Paul Christmas to earn a final place for the second successive year.
Last year Stuart took the title at his first attempt, so when he started the final his career Cotswold Main Flight record read "Played 9, Won 9"!
This one, though, against the highly rated Raj Jansari, went into a final set, and Stuart was defeated at last.
Meanwhile Ann was going well in the Progressive Consolation Flight, where wins over Mardi Ohanessian and Chris Ternel earned her a final berth against former European Champion Barry McAdam. Ann, too, had to settle for second place.
In the Intermediate event, there were strong performances from some of the up-and-coming stars of Bristol Backgammon.
Gaz Owen and Cecilia Sparke both reached the quarter-finals, but -- just like Stuart and Ann -- fate conspired to pair them in the same quarter of the draw, where Gaz progressed to the semis.
Cecilia's weekend also featured final table appearances in all three poker evenings!
Gaz then defeated Gill Bray, before losing the final to Richard Biddle.
Nick Barham had been eliminated by Gaz at the second round stage, so he arrived in the Progressive Consolation needing to win four times to reach the final of that flight.
This he achieved to earn a crack at the experienced Tony Fawcett in the final, where Nick triumphed to become our only flight winner of the weekend.
Sunday's Last Chance was tailored to fit all Categories, in that a handicapping system, no doubt inspired by that of our own Handicap Trophy, compensated those from the lower flights when pitted against Championship players.
With rebuys allowed until the 64-player grid was filled, the optional Ł25 pool closed at Ł950 -- maybe some kind of record for a last chance flight(?) -- and once again Bristol's two quarter-finalists were forced to meet at that stage.
After defeating Tim Line, Paul Gilbertson then lost out to Mike Heard in the semis, before Independent backgammon columnist Chris Bray took that title.
The new venue, the Bear of Rodborough Hotel, was a fitting one for an event, now in its fifth incarnation, which reflected great credit on its supremo, Martin Hemming, its excellent Tournament Director, Mike Main, and its main sponsor, Gammonitis.
With jackpots galore, excellent food, and plenty of late night drinking, the event was a social success as much as a backgammon one, and some players even managed to find time for Bristol league action!
John Slattery was looking for opportunities to get some Premier One matches in before his next business trip to Thailand, but was only able to fit one in at Stroud.
This, though, was his first league reverse of 2007, suffered at the hands of Ian Tarr.
In Premier Two, Miles Farren was hoping to move to the top of the table, but defeats meted out by Tim Line and Gaz Owen meant that ambition will have to be shelved for the moment.
And Dave Pym, whose belated "national" tournament debut had featured the memorable scalp of top Irish player Sean Casey, scored his first league win of the season against Tim.

26/01/07: All aboard the Cotswold Express!

The second big UK tournament of 2007 is this weekend, at the Bear of Rodborough Hotel, Stroud, just a long stone's throw from our Bristol base.
It's not too late to get involved, as registration closes at 10.30am tomorrow (Saturday).
Visit the event website, www.cotswoldbackgammon.com, for details of the three flights, and advice on accommodation.
Or alternatively, speak to the Director, Martin Hemming, who can be reached on 07988 237997.
And don't forget, if you are a league player, there will be plenty of Bristol players present, giving you an opportunity to progress your league campaigns, if your involvement in the main event should allow you the time.

26/01/07: JANUARY LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......

Twenty-five league players turned up for the January league night, but very unusually for January, one of them couldn't get a game!
It was an evening of feverish activity in Premier Two, where only three of the twenty-one participants didn't show, but only four Premier One players were present, and only three from the Conference.
The positive from the Conference turnout was the debut of Phil Ward, who got in three matches and will, we hope, encourage his family and friends to follow in his footsteps, hopefully building on the number of entries so far, which stands at eleven.

26/01/07: Contrasting fortunes for many in Premier Two ......

It was an evening of extremes of fortune in Premier Two.
Eighteen of the twenty-one players were in action, and sixteen matches were completed, almost certainly a record for the league.
Neil Young, who has already completed seven matches, won his only match last night, and stays top.
Just behind him is Miles Farren, who doubled his win tally to stand, with four wins out of four, in second place.
Ann Pocknell is third, having made the most of her trip up from Devon by scoring victories in all of her three matches.
Nick Barham also had two wins, and is in fourth place.
And to complete a fine night for those freshly promoted from the Conference, Steve Morris (with two wins) and Gaz Owen (with one) made it a 100% evening for the four of them (Miles and Nick being the others).
Other winners on the night were Blaine Buchanan, Richard Owsley, Alan Parfitt, Cynthia Roberts and Ian Preston, while John Paton also reported a victory from Monday evening.
Those who suffered disappointment were Elliot Smart, whose brace of defeats put a dent in his fine start to the season, Tim Line, who started the season with a disastrous triple setback, Dave Pym, who will now be realising that life down in Premier Two will not necessarily be a bed of roses after two defeats, and Tony Walters whose ability to win 7-point matches is matched only by his inability to match that performance in 11-point matches.

26/01/07: Stuart's mixed fortunes in title defence ......

Stuart Mann began his Premier League title defence at the BCSC last night, and was just one point away from suffering a double reverse before recovering.
Top flight new boy Michael Corbett scored his best result to date by beating Stuart 11-8, and it looked bad for Stuart when he trailed 4-10 in his second match, against Ed Turner.
He managed to claw that one back, though, to register a 50:50 start to his campaign.
Ian Tarr didn't get a game.

26/01/07: Peter sets out his stall ......

Peter Edwards -- regarded by many as the favourite to take the Conference title this year -- is off to a good start, beating debutant Phil Ward twice, although not without some difficulty.
Phil bounced back, though, to score his first win, at the expense of Nina Evangelou.

24/01/07: Awards night photos now online

Some photos from last week's annual awards night are now online. Click Here to view them, and previous awards night photos.
More photos may be displayed soon.

19/01/07: Awards night celebrates 2006 achievements

The sixth annual Bristol Backgammon Awards Night got by without too many hitches at the BCSC last night.
The vast majority of prizes found their targets, the only absentees being OGP champion Tony Walters, Premier Two champion Phil Charlton, and Premier One third placer Mark Dixon.
One trophy was also missing -- the John Slattery sponsored 2000 to 1 salver to be awarded to Roland Herrera -- with Slatts wisely not risking the round trip of over 200 miles in the prevailing weather conditions.
Ian Tarr's Review of 2006 passed without, apparently, rendering anyone comatose, but was punctuated by a presentation to Ian himself by Neil Young on behalf of the players in appreciation of Ian's work on their behalf. The card and large sum of money -- more than enough to pay Ian's expenses for his forthcoming trip to the Cotswold Fireside Tournament, were very gratefully received.
Ian announced that, as from the start of 2008, he will be taking a small percentage of event entry fees in order to offset the administrative costs he incurs.
The "surprise" awards went to Mike Smith, as Martin Hemming's Most Improved Player of 2006, Nick Barham, as the Gammonitis Bristol Backgammon Rookie of the Year, and Stuart Mann, as the recipient of a new award for the year end Bristol Rankings leader.
There was also further evidence of generous sponsorship, with Ed Turner adding to his Handicap Trophy benevolence by providing a bottle of wine for the top two players in each of our seven annual competitions -- and under the terms of the sponsorship, the absentees forfeited their awards -- while our venue, the BCSC, announced the forthcoming sponsorship of our March Lesters Trophy tournament, by providing a trophy in memory of former club chairman, Sam Mead, whose funeral was on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, there was some action as Martin Hemming took advantage of the occasion to run a couple of satellites to his forthcoming Cotswold event, a four player Intermediate satellite, and a four player Championship one. Steve Morris took the former, and Ian Tarr the latter to solve all his Cotswold financial conundrums in one very fortunate evening.
And there was domestic action, too.
The final of last week's opening Bristol Grand Prix event was settled, with Roland Herrera taking the first honours, just as he did last year.
Martin Hemming has now completed almost a quarter of his Premier One fixtures, this time edging out Simonetta Herrera 11-9.
And no fewer than seven Premier Two matches were completed, with Neil Young and Elliot Smart each snaring a brace of victims, while Alan Parfitt, Nick Barham and Miles Farren were the other victors.
Photos of the presentations were taken both by the evening's "official" photographer -- Cynthia Roberts -- and Roland Herrera, whose own camera dwarfed is counterpart, and the results of their labours should appear on the site very soon.

17/01/07: Slatts keen to set a hot pace

In a battle of the two players who had already registered two victories out of two in Premier One, John Slattery yesterday hosted Martin Hemming at High Wycombe.
And it was the 2003 European champion who prevailed with a further brace of wins.
Slatts is showing exemplary determination to make the most of his spells in the UK, given that he has to fit in 22 league matches during the eleven month league season, and all from a distance of more than 100 miles away from Bristol.
And he is due to visit Bristol tomorrow evening for the Awards Night at the BCSC, so don't bet against him getting some more matches under his belt.

15/01/07: Slatts starts league campaign well

After last season's unseemly brush with the chance of relegation from Premier One, John Slattery has started his 2007 campaign in a little more style.
Taking time out from the BIBA Bright 'n' Breezy event at the weekend, John managed to score victories in two league matches, with first Paul Watts and then Ed Turner succumbing.
Slatts' last championship success was in 2002, so he will be looking to set the record straight in 2007.

15/01/07: Stuart goes close in Brighton

The first national event of the year took place on the south coast at the weekend.
BIBA's Bright 'n' Breezy -- living up to its tradition as one of the best attended events in the UK calendar -- saw 80 players at the Holiday Inn to contest the event, including a Bristol contingent.
And Stuart Mann went all the way to the final, where he succumbed 6-11 to the man who also won the event last year, John Hurst.
Ann Pocknell also made her mark, defeating a former European champion -- John Slattery -- and the current world champion -- Philip Vischjager -- in different flights.

14/01/07: Grand prix final set for Thursday

The main flight final of Thursday's opening Bristol Grand Prix tournament will now take place on Thursday.
Roland Herrera and Ian Preston will sit down to play the 11-points match after the main business of the evening, the review of 2006 and awards ceremony, has been completed.

14/01/07: Michael and Lewis score in weekend league action

More than a third of the 43 players signed up so far for our three leagues this year have already been in league action, well before the first league night, emphasising the healthy current trend towards extra-curricular backgammon.
Two more matches were completed yesterday.
Michael Corbett eight-cubed his way to a virgin Premier One victory, 11-7 over former champion Mark Dixon at Clifton.
And in a match believed to be the the first Bristol Backgammon fixture ever to be completed in Glorious Devon, Lewis Young scored a whitewash over his brother Todd Young, to gain some revenge for the reverse occurrence in last year's league campaign, thus going top of the embryonic Conference league table.
Ten players have already signed up for the Conference this year, and more will surely follow by the time the first league night -- on January 25th -- comes around. The signs are that last year's final entry of twenty-one players will be exceeded this year, as the league becomes recognised as the top breeding ground for up-and-coming talent.

12/01/07: JANUARY GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......

A healthy turnout saw the competitive Bristol year off to a solid start at the BCSC last night.
Twenty-four names went into the draw for the main flight, while one latecomer went straight into the consolation flight.

12/01/07: Ian and Roland make it to the main final ......

Ian Preston and Roland Herrera are the first grand prix finalists of 2007 after last night's opening event.
Ian had to fight his way through the long half of the draw, and managed to see off the challenges of Richard Owsley, Richard Cartwright, Marcus Wrinch and Steffen Nowak, while Roland was defeating Tony Walters, Ian Tarr and Blaine Buchanan.
The final is likely to take place this weekend.

12/01/07: Nick maintains his grand prix tradition ......

Nick Barham's remarkable rise in 2006 saw him score consistently well in the grand prix events he entered.
Having set such a difficult standard to emulate, the writing appeared to be on the wall when he succumbed to John Paton in the first round of the main flight.
No matter, Nick set about taking the consolation flight by storm instead, defeating Chris Roberts and Steve Morris, before beating Mark Dixon -- conqueror of Martin Hemming, Nina Evangelou and Gaz Owen -- in the final.

12/01/07: Ian and Roland to vie for OGP top spot ......

The first OGP table sees Ian Preston in pole position, with Roland Herrera second and Steffen Nowak third. But Roland can leapfrog Ian by winning the outstanding main flight final.

12/01/07: Marcus sets the early IGP pace ......

One of the fascinating aspects of any new Bristol Backgammon year is attempting to figure out which intermediates are embarking on their breakthrough year.
With last year's stars having confirmed their Premier Status, the way is now clear for others to follow in their footsteps, both in the Bristol Conference League and the Intermediate Grand Prix.
If Mark Dixon were running a book, a lot of the smart money would be going on Peter Edwards, who arrived on the scene just too late to make his ascent in 2006.
But in his absence, five other intermediates ventured into last night's tournament, and it was Marcus Wrinch, making his grand prix debut, who stole the limelight.
Eliminating the players who finished third and fourth in Premier One -- Mark Dixon and Ed Turner -- Marcus only succumbed to former OGP champion, Ian Preston, but the bonus points he scored for collecting those two excellent scalps have already propelled him into a 55 points IGP lead.
Nina Evangelou was the only other player to collect bonus points, defeating Richard Owsley in the opening consolation round.

12/01/07: Nick's 1000 to 1 hopes thwarted ......

Nick Barham hadn't realised it, but his exploits at the tail end of 2006 had left him just one victory away from claiming a coveted John Slattery sponsored 1000 to 1 award, given for winning ten successive matches in contributing competitions.
So when Nick lost his opening match last night, his chances evaporated, and he will have to start building a winning sequence again from scratch, like most of the rest of us.
Phil Charlton, these days primarily a league, not a tournament, player is also tantalisingly poised for a chance of an award, something which should add a little spice to his next league match.

12/01/07: Double rollover will boost the February tournament ......

Neither of last night's main finalists bothered to enter the Winner Takes All pool, even though there was already a Ł120 rollover from December riding on it.
Indeed it was slightly surprising that only fourteen of last night's field took the plunge.
Five of the brave ones went out in round one, and another four in the second round, but the odds were still against a further rollover with five of the quarter-finalists retaining an interest.
Three went out in the quarters, and then both Blaine Buchanan and Roland Herrera succumbed to the unadventurous ones.
The backgammon players of Bristol therefore salute you, Ian Preston and Steffen Nowak, for having guaranteed a very handy Ł260 rollover to swell the pot for February's tournament.

12/01/07: Neil and Cecilia take early league honours ......

The first league night of 2007 is still nearly a fortnight away but that, of course, doesn't mean there has been no league action.
Thirteen Premier League players have already started their campaigns, and yesterday also saw the first of the new season's Conference matches played.
Martin Hemming had already taken the early Premier One lead last weekend, but yesterday saw Neil Young and Cecilia Sparke take pole position in the other two leagues.
Neil, was able to overcome the disappointment of losing his opening Premier Two match -- against Drew Caudwell -- the previous evening, scoring emphatic wins over Gaz Owen and John Paton.
And Cecilia, in winning that first Conference match against Nina Evangelou, sits on top of the Conferenmce table.
Elliot Smart also emulated Drew's feat of winning his comeback Premier League match to set his season off to a flying start.

08/01/07: Website revamped

It wouldn't take an eagle eye to realise that the website looks a little different from the way it did.
This was because of a need to reorganise the data into a shape that better fits what goes on in Bristol Backgammon.
Please be patient for a day or two, because it's likely that the odd link won't work. After that, please email Ian Tarr with your suggestions and constructive criticisms.

05/01/07: New players' evening kicks off the year

There was a good turnout for the first session of 2007, the first of the five evenings in our schedule dedicated to new players.
Mark Dixon presented an extremely interesting slide show, with his reflections on "Blitzing Cube Action", which kept the audience -- new players and experienced players alike -- enthralled.
This seminar, in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, will appear on this website shortly.
Three welcome new faces -- Chris Caudwell, Colin Sara and Matt Tudball -- and one nearly new face -- Glenda Hanton -- all joined in a subsequent eight player zero stakes Tric Trac Tourno, which Chris won, while ten others participated in a Ł5 entry TTT, which was won by Neil Young.
Meanwhile three other players started their 2007 Premier Two campaigns.
Newly promoted Miles Farren got off to a great start by defeating Tony Walters, and is also marginally ahead in an adjourned match against Blaine Buchanan.

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