News items from 2008 (second half)
22/12/08: Absent Gaz wins Autumn Grand Prix
Gaz Owen's fragile lead in the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix proved to be enough at the BCSC this evening.
Gaz was absent, and had to hope that none of the four players within striking distance of his points tally scored heavily.
Two factors weighed in his favour from the outset. First of all Roland Herrera and Neil Young were also absent, leaving second placed Ian Preston and third placed Ian Tarr as the only threats.
Secondly the seasonal counter attractions affected the attendance to the extent that the points available from the only four player three points round robin were limited.
Either of the Ians would have taken the title by coming out on top this evening, but as it transpired their late meeting was to decide the destiny of the wooden spoon.
The other two players -- Steffen Nowak and Steve Morris, each bizarrely making their Autumn Grand Prix debuts in the final event of the series -- were meanwhile fighting it out for the prize, Steve emerging victorious.
22/12/08: Premier Two line-ups completed
Steffen Nowak, an impartial observer as he is once again a Premier One player, performed the draw for the newcomers places in Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red at the BCSC this evening.
Derek Clew and Lewis Young complete the line-up in Premier Two Blue, while Richard Holness and Simon Temme will compete in Premier Two Red.
21/12/08: Premier League entries close at 37
For the first time in the history of the Bristol Premier League the new season will start with the total membership reduced from the last one.
This should probably not be seen as a crisis, though, with 37 players set to toe the starting line on January 1st, as opposed to this year's 38.
Absentees next time around are Ann Pocknell and Mark Dixon, who have moved too far away to make participation a practical proposition, plus Nick Barham, Alan Parfitt and Jerry Limb, who are taking sabbaticals.
Four new members have taken up their rightful places, namely Derek Clew, Lewis Young, Simon Temme and Richard Holness.
Three players -- Steffen Nowak, Tim Line and Ed Turner -- have gained or retained top flight places via the back door.
The divisional line-ups will therefore be as follows:
PREMIER ONE (13 players, in alphabetical order):
Simon Baker, Phil Charlton, Michael Corbett, Peter Edwards, Paul Gilbertson, Simonetta Herrera, Tim Line, Stuart Mann, Steffen Nowak, Gaz Owen, Dave Pym, Ian Tarr, and Ed Turner.
PREMIER TWO BLUE (12 players, in qualification order):
Cecilia Sparke, Ian Preston, Miles Farren, Paul Watts, Blaine Buchanan, Phillip Hill, Simon Hughes, Cynthia Roberts, Andrew Cobb, John Paton, and two of the new entrants to be drawn at random at the BCSC tomorrow (Monday) evening.
PREMIER TWO RED (12 players, in qualification order):
Martin Hemming, Marcus Wrinch, Tony Walters, Neil Young, Richard Owsley, John Lewis, Steve Morris, Mike Smith, Todd Young, Drew Caudwell, and two of the new entrants to be drawn at random at the BCSC tomorrow (Monday) evening.
20/12/08: Gaz wins consolation flight
Gaz Owen this afternoon defeated Julian Fetterlein 5-1 to win the consolation final of Lesters LXIX.
This concludes the season's main competitions, with only the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- at the BCSC on Monday evening -- remaining to be completed, with a three point round robin event.
18/12/08: Thursdays get a quiet send off
The last Thursday session of the year at the BCSC passed off exceedingly quietly.
Chris Purchase from St Albans came along for what now seems to be an annual pilgrimage, and there were just three jackpots, all of which saw the finalists split the pot, followed by a brief chouette.
The final session of 2008 is on Monday, when the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix reaches its climax.
The opening session of 2009 will be on Monday January 5th.
15/12/08: Thirty-six Premier League entries so far
With just six days to go before the deadline for Premier League entries, thirty-six players have so far made the commitment to participate in the 2009 season.
Final decisions are awaited from just two of last season's Premier League players, while two of those guaranteed a top flight place -- Ann Pocknell and Mark Dixon -- will be non-starters next year, as their jobs have taken them too far away.
Nick Barham and Alan Parfitt have also taken a year out, and although there are four new players so far -- Derek Clew, Lewis Young, Simon Temme and Richard Holness -- 2009 may well be the first season where the league's overall membership goes down.
It is now thought extremely unlikely that the four further entries required to trigger a new Premier Three will now be forthcoming.
15/12/08: Derek wins first Lesters
Derek Clew this evening capped an extraordinarily fine season with his first Lesters Trophy title win.
He defeated Blaine Buchanan at Colston Yard, and in so doing clinched the OGP runner-up spot, leaving Blaine third.
And his final margin of victory in the IGP was a gargantuan 494 points over second placed Lewis Young.
As Derek had already qualified for the 2009 Bristol Masters, the final place goes to a further Premier One high finisher, Mark Dixon.
Happy auction investors were Stuart Mann who bought Derek, and Neil Young who bought Blaine.
Another loose end tied up was the main flight of the December 4th clock tournament, where Miles Farren defeated Gaz Owen.
And eight players contested a two flight clock tournament, the penultimate event of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
An all Herrera final saw Simonetta defeat Roland, while Ian Tarr defeated Ian Preston in the consolation final.
The top three in this competition all failed to add to their AGP points tallies, so fourth and fifth placed Ian Tarr and Roland each leapfrogged Neil Young to move a little closer to leaders Gaz Owen and Ian Preston.
All the top five are covered by just 42 points.
12/12/08: LESTERS LXIX ROUND-UP ......
It was a case of only the brave turning up for the final big grand prix tournament of the year, the sixty-ninth incarnation of the Lesters Trophy, which also carried the honour of tenure of the John Chidgey Cup.
The slightly disappointing field of nineteen participants comprised mostly tournament regulars, including virtually everybody in with a chance of getting into the OGP prize money bracket.
12/12/08: Race for second place was well scripted ......
With a grand prix system it's always good for the event when several players are in contention for the year's main prizes.
That usually means a race for the coveted top spot, but Roland Herrera had that well and truly wrapped up some time ago.
This time there were six players with a realistic chance of taking the OGP runner-up prize, although the departed Ann Pocknell was not present to push her claim.
Marcus Wrinch was the man in possession of second place after his November victory, but Blaine Buchanan and Derek Clew were well within striking distance, while Tim Line and Ian Tarr also had a chance if they went all the way.
Tim had the benefit of greater points scoring opportunities by not getting a bye, so when he won his first match against Ed Turner he had moved a little closer.
But bizarrely all five contenders won their second round matches, with only Marcus and Derek being drawn together in the quarter-finals.
This was a pivotal match as a win for Marcus would make it likelier that he could hold onto to second spot, while at the same time ruling out his main threat, as Derek had the advantage of not needing to discard another score.
Derek won, though, and all the other contenders won too, meaning that the semi-final line-up featured third (Blaine) against sixth (Ian), and fourth (Derek) against fifth (Tim).
Thus we had a situation where, for example, if Ian and Tim reached the final, they would also be playing for second place with Marcus holding onto third, while a Blaine versus Derek pairing would see the two fighting it out for second and third.
It was this latter pairing which emerged, and the final will have to wait for another day for Blaine and Derek to fight it out.
12/12/08: Julian and Gaz in consolation final ......
Julian Fetterlein and Gaz Owen will contest the last grand prix consolation final of the year.
Gaz got there in double quick time, defeating Simonetta Herrera and Steffen Nowak, while Julian -- recovering well from the shock of being whitewashed by Blaine Buchanan in the main -- beat Miles Farren, Peter Edwards and Steve Morris.
12/12/08: As you were in the IGP ......
With Derek Clew already out of sight in top spot in the IGP points table, and Lewis Young solidly in second place, the remaining intermediates obviously felt it was better to stay at home.
But apart from Derek, who had bigger (OGP) fish to fry, there was one exception to the rule.
In his quest for higher things Simon Temme has shown a lot of tenacity in his first year, and at least turned up in the hope of a long run to dislodge Lewis.
He scored bonus points for his first round win over Simon Hughes, but he had to bow out in the next round to Tim Line, and has finished fourth in the IGP table, just behind the absent John Sprague.
12/12/08: Winner Takes All rollover will give the january event a boost ......
The elimination of Tim Line and Ian Tarr at the semi-final stage means a boost for the January grand prix tournament in the shape of a £100 rollover in the Winner Takes All pool.
Just over half the field had the optional punt, and it remained half the field -- or thereabouts -- up until that point.
Blaine Buchanan and Derek Clew are thus eligible for the thanks of most of the Bristol Backgammon tournament playing community, if not those of Tim and Ian.
Meanwhile a telephone bid from Neil Young was successful in landing one of the finalists in the pre-tournament auction. His purchase of Blaine Buchanan for just £5 gives him an interest in the final, while Stuart Mann's similarly sized purchase of Derek Clew will also yield a return for him.
09/12/08: Bristol successes at UK Finals
BIBA's UK Finals provided Bristol players with more successes at Walton, Northamptonshire, at the weekend.
Pride of place goes to former Bristol Premier League player Tony Lee, who became only the second player to win this title twice when he defeated Denmark's Allen Christensen in the final.
Ann Pocknell and recent Bristol debutant John Reddington were the losing semi-finalists, but had some consolation when -- as pre-qualifiers for Sunday's final stages -- they contested the Saturday "Champion of Champions" event, where Ann defeated John in the final.
Marcus Wrinch won the consolation flight, defeating the highly rated Raj Jansari in the final. Julian Fetterlein reached the semis in this flight.
08/12/08: Ian maintains hot Monday form
Ian Preston is currently on a surge of good form on Mondays.
Tonight he won the latest Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix event -- on this occasion a ten player Tric Trac Tourno -- and has now won each of the last three Monday events.
And whereas Gaz Owen was looking a strong favourite to take the inaugural Monday Club title, Ian has now closed to within fourteen points of Gaz's overall total.
Neil Young is also not far behind in third, with Ian Tarr and Roland Herrera the only other players with a ghost of a chance of finishing top.
With just one of the forty-five matches remaining, there were three possible winners.
Neil finished with a total of 10 points, while the protagonists of the final match were just one point behind.
Ian needed a single game win to pip Neil on the tie-break, while Patrick Duggan could only finish first with a gammon or better. A single point win for Patrick would have left Neil in pole position.
Ultimately Ian won a single game to take the prize money.
07/12/08: Roland to sponsor 1000 to 1 award
Roland Herrera has generously offered to sponsor the 1000 to 1 award, which has been without a sponsor for a year.
The award, modelled on the BIBA prize of the same name, goes to players who have won ten or more matches in succession in selected Bristol competitions.
Roland's sponsorship starts on January 1st, after which point any player reaching the magic ten will qualify for a trophy.
And as an additional incentive there will be a £50 bonus for any player who can exceed Roland's record sequence of thirteen wins -- equivalent to 8000-1.
05/12/08: Miles and Gaz to meet in clock tournament final
A twelve player clock tournament at the BCSC last night saw Miles Farren and Gaz Owen make it to the final.
Unusually, with the time nowhere near 11pm, the pair decided to defer the final until another date and time.
The consolation flight saw Steve Morris victorious when he defeated Roland Herrera in the final.
With eight such event scheduled for 2009, it is likely that a Clock Grand Prix will be inaugurated. Watch this space for details.
04/12/08: Premier Status conferred on two players
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr has taken the unprecedented step of granting Premier Status to two players widely thought to have missed out undeservedly.
The first benefit as a result of this decision for Mike Gartside and Richard Holness is an invitation to participate in the 2009 Premier League, which starts on January 1st.
Ian is in the process of thrashing out a review of the rules for the Conference League which will include a replacement of the formula which has thus far decreed how many players gain promotion from the Conference each year.
Mike was believed by many to have been harshly dealt with when winning twelve of his twenty matches in the 2007 competition, while Richard was thought similarly unlucky in the season just completed.
The revised rules will be in place in time for the start of the 2009 season.
01/12/08: Ian and Neil share clock blitz honours
The latest in the series of Monday Club Clock Blitz round robins saw the honours shared by Ian Preston and Neil Young, who each won four of their five matches.
Ian Tarr lost out by one win, but all three main winners improved their Autumn Grand Prix tallies, marginally closing the gap behind leader Gaz Owen.
01/12/08: Conference ends in silence
The end of the league season passed at midnight with not even a whimper from the Conference.
So the record breaking season -- the fewest matches ever played in any Conference season (just 54) -- ends with just two players benefitting via their new found Premier Status as decreed by the time honoured formula.
Lewis Young is crowned champion with Simon Temme runner-up.
30/11/08: Premier League season completed with three hours to spare
The last two results are in from the Bristol Premier League season.
Paul Gilbertson visited Mark Dixon in Chingford, East London this afternoon and registered an 11-5 win to secure a fourth place finish in Premier One.
And Miles Farren played host to Paul Watts at his Bristol city centre apartment this evening to complete the last of the 444 scheduled Premier League matches.
The Premier League season is now officially over, and already invitations have been sent out to the majority of eligible players to compete in next season's competition.
In just over a day nineteen players have already accepted their places, and many more will do so over the next three weeks.
The Bristol Conference League is also approaching its conclusion, but the flexibility of the format means we will have to wait until midnight before finally declaring it closed.
29/11/08: Return of the Old Guard
In an era when new talents are emerging on a regular basis, the Bristol Premier League season which is coming to an end on Sunday has provided a startling reminder that many of the long established players in Bristol Backgammon still have a lot to offer.
Of the ten players who contested the original Bristol Premier League in 2000, only two were in Premier One this season. But they -- Stuart Mann and Ian Tarr -- finished first and third respectively.
And they will have for company next season three of the other original league members -- Simon Baker, Phil Charlton and Dave Pym, who occupy three of the vital four promotion slots in Premier Two.
Simon was, of course, the inaugural league champion, but his league membership was disrupted by three seasons out of action in 2002, 2003 and 2005. He is back now as Premier Two Red champion.
Phil, whose best top flight season was a third place finish in 2002, has since suffered a couple of relegations, but during his three seasons in Premier Two he boasts a win rate in excess of 70%, so it's not too surprising that he is back.
Dave racked up an astonishing seven Lesters Trophy wins during the first 21 incarnations of that event, and also boasts a best top flight placing of third (achieved in 2005) amongst his previous run of seven successive Premier One seasons -- a sequence of longevity only ever exceeded by Stuart.
Assuming they all enter, it looks like being a fascinating tenth Premier One season in 2009.
28/11/08: Tric Trac Tourno evening sees other issues decided
Thursday's light-hearted main events, a couple of Tric Trac Tournos, were contested by a total of thirteen players, with Gaz Owen taking the prize in one and Marcus Wrinch taking the other.
But the evening was more notable for the resolution of one or two issues in mainstream Bristol Backgammon competition.
Arguably the most crucial match on the night was the one which completed the Premier Two Red season, with Ian Preston pitted against Cecilia Sparke.
Cecilia still had a chance of clinching the second automatic promotion slot at Dave Pym's expense. An 11-0 whitewash would have seen her clinch second place, while 11-1 would have forced an unprecedented promotion play-off between Cecilia and Dave.
So when Ian moved 2-0 ahead after the first game those possibilities had evaporated, and Dave's promotion back to the top flight was confirmed.
Cecilia still had something tangible to play for, however, as a win of any denomination would have put her in pole position for Premier One vacancies, should any occur -- and the likelihood is, of course, that they will.
Ian, though, kept his nose in front for the rest of the match and ran out an 11-7 winner, which was good news for Steffen Nowak, who now becomes the player most likely to benefit from any of those vacancies.
Premier Two Blue was also reaching a conclusion, with Tony Walters defeating Simon Hughes to cap his best ever league season, and Steve Morris -- substituting again for the indisposed Alan Parfitt -- defeating Mike Smith.
But the other league action was the first ever Premier Two championship play-off.
The splitting of Premier Two into two parallel divisions gave us, of course, two champions -- Peter Edwards in the Blue Division and Simon Baker in the Red Division.
But there remained the twin matters of tenure of the championship trophy and a small prize money differential to be played for, in the form of an 11-point match.
Peter prevailed with an 11-5 win to become the sixth Premier Two champion.
Also resolved was the November grand prix final, where Marcus met Derek Clew.
Derek had won his only previous grand prix main flight final back in May, while Marcus had been in three such events and lost them all.
That form looked set to continue when Derek surged into a 9-2 lead, but he never got another point, leaving Marcus to celebrate his first Bristol Grand Prix main flight title.
Marcus also ousts Blaine Buchanan from second place in the OGP, while Derek's massive IGP lead remains unchanged.
26/11/08 (19:45): Gaz clinches second place
Gaz Owen has completed a special day at the end of his excellent debut season in Premier One (see earlier story just below this one).
Needing a win over new champion Stuart Mann at the Reckless Engineer, Gaz duly secured his third victory of the day with an 11-7 win.
The victory means Gaz finishes as runner-up, with Ian Tarr third.
There are just two matches remaining in this league, and one of them -- between Paul Gilbertson and Mark Dixon -- could provide the eventual fourth placer.
Ann Pocknell sits fourth at present, but if Paul were to defeat Mark, or Mark were to defeat Paul by at least eight points, either player can clinch fourth.
The other match, between Miles Farren and Paul Watts, is scheduled for Sunday evening, just hours before the season closes.
26/11/08 (17:15): Premier One runner-up race reaching climax today
The race to finish as runner-up behind newly crowned Bristol Premier League champion Stuart Mann is set to reach its climax later today.
Both Gaz Owen and Paul Gilbertson started the day with realistic chances of ousting Ian Tarr -- who has already finished his programme -- from second place.
Paul made the long round trip from High Wycombe to play three of his four outstanding matches, all of which he needed to win to rise to second.
Gaz, with three matches remaining, either needed to win all three of his remaining matches or needed to win two and lose one while at the same time improving his points difference by fifteen points.
The Blackboy Inn, Whiteladies Road, was the scene of the opening three acts in the drama.
Paul began well enough by defeating Paul Watts 11-9, but then came unstuck in acts two and three as he came out second best in both legs of his double header against Gaz.
Gaz, however, only improved his points difference by 10 points with the 11-4 and 11-8 wins, so still needs victory over Stuart in his final match at the Reckless Engineer at 5.30pm.
More later ......
24/11/08: Dave and Steffen kept waiting
The eagerly awaited climax to the Premier Two Red promotion race will have to take place some other time.
Cecilia Sparke was late returning to Bristol, and unable to make her date with destiny, a k a Ian Preston.
This is now the only match remaining to be completed in that division after John Lewis and Cynthia Roberts shared the spoils of their double header.
So second placed Dave Pym and third placed Steffen Nowak are still none the wiser about their fate.
Meanwhile, at the Kensington Arms, Redland, John Paton was signing off his disappointing Premier Two Blue season with a victory against a substitute opponent.
With Alan Parfitt indisposed and unable to complete his final two fixtures Director Ian Tarr followed the precedent set by the late season absence of John Slattery last year by nominating Steve Morris to play the last two fixtures on Alan's behalf, although of course neither Steve nor Alan benefits directly from any win.
The substitution is merely a device to ensure that John and Mike Smith have the opportunity to play their full quota of matches.
And five players -- including Cynthia after her quickfire league matches -- contested a round robin of 3-point matches in the latest leg of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Ian Preston was the winner, and moves up to fourth place in the table.
23/11/08: Stuart takes fourth title after Gaz suffers defeats
A double header at The Mall, Clifton, today sealed the destiny of the ninth Bristol Premier League title.
Gaz Owen needed wins to stand a chance of ousting Stuart Mann from first place, but suffered twice at the hands of Simonetta Herrera, who won 11-7 and 11-6.
Stuart can no longer be caught, so takes his fourth title in six years.
Gaz, meanwhile, can still finish second ahead of Ian Tarr, but will probably need to win all of his three remaining matches, two of which are against Paul Gilbertson, who can still finish second himself if he wins all four of his remaining fixtures.
For Simonetta the session provided relief from worries of relegation, as two defeats would have consigned her to Premier Two.
But what was good news for her was bad for Martin Hemming, and also for Ed Turner, who has now slipped into the bottom four.
They have finished their programme, and can only be reprieved in the event of others incurring penalty points for non-completion of matches by midnight next Sunday.
22/11/08: Tim gives himself a chance
Mike Smith was Tim Line's guest at Hilperton, Trowbridge, today for a Premier Two Blue double header.
Tim edged the first match 11-10, but was a little more comfortable in the return, which he won 11-6.
The double victory means Tim pushes Nick Barham out of third place on average points difference, giving himself a chance of a back door entry to the top flight should there be a couple of vacancies.
If Mike can win his final match it may be enough to ensure his Premier Two safety in the unlikely event of there being sufficient league entries to trigger a new Premier Three.
21/11/08: NOVEMBER LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......
When twenty-four Premier League players still have matches to complete, you might be forgiven for assuming that the majority would be in action on the last league night of the season.
But just ten took advantage of the opportunity, and while there are still ten playing days before the season ends at midnight on November 30th, the fact that sixteen matches are still to be finished is surprising, to say the least.
And things get no better in the Conference, despite the belated earning of a second promotion slot.
21/11/08: Simonetta uses up a life ......
The only one of nine outstanding Premier One matches to be played last night saw Simonetta Herrera use up one of her three lives.
Going into the evening knowing that just one victory from her final three matches would ensure her top flight safety, Simonetta tackled Ian Tarr, a player she has not had much success against in recent times.
A 5-1 lead came to nothing, however, as Ian consolidated his tenure of second place, eventually winning 11-8.
Simonetta now faces a double header against Gaz Owen, who still has a slim chance of taking the title itself.
Seven of the eight remaining fixtures involve either Gaz, or Paul Gilbertson, or both.
21/11/08: Steffen takes the conservative route to third ......
When faced with the options of either going gung-ho for two whitewash victories to claim a long odds promotion place or taking the patient route of scoring orthodox wins in the hope that third place might be enough to secure a back door escape from Premier Two Red into the top flight, Steffen Nowak took the option those who know him well would have expected him to.
Having defeated Drew Caudwell 11-7 on Tuesday, the tone was set, and Steffen continued his efficient pursuit of third place last night with an 11-9 win over Phillip Hill.
Whether or not he holds on to third place now depends on Cecilia Sparke's final match -- against Ian Preston on Monday.
If Cecilia wins 11-0, she pips Dave Pym for the second automatic promotion slot; if she wins 11-1 she will face a dramatic promotion play-off match with Dave; any other win will give her third place on average points difference over Steffen; while a defeat will confirm Steffen in third place.
And third place guarantees the incumbent of the first default top flight place, should there be any vacancies there, as whoever finishes third will have a superior record to the third place finisher in Premier Two Blue.
It is by no means certain that there will be vacancies, though, despite the intentions of one or two players not to enter next season, as the numerical splits between the divisions are principally dependent on the total number of 2009 Premier League entrants. So the outcome of this particular scenario will not be clear until the closing date for entries on December 21st.
21/11/08: Phil signs off with a defeat ......
Phil Charlton's final match of a resoundingly successful Premier Two Blue campaign ended in defeat at the hands of Steve Morris, but that will not trouble him unduly as he contemplates the prospect of a return to Premier One in 2009.
Steve had earlier been whitewashed by Blaine Buchanan who, like Marcus Wrinch -- a double victor over John Paton -- will no doubt reflect on what might have been, during a season where they have won more than they have lost.
The race for third place now rests between current third placer Nick Barham, who has finished his campaign, and Tim Line, who needs two wins from his double header against Mike Smith next week to pip Nick.
21/11/08: Simon edges into second with consummate timing ......
As the most disappointing of Bristol Conference seasons stutters to its conclusion, there is at least the small consolation that a second promotion slot has been earned, thanks to Malcolm Patterson breaching the eight match barrier last night.
The formula which dictates the number of promotion slots for the season requires three more players to do likewise before the season ends on November 30th to gain a third place in next year's Premier League.
But at the current rate of progress that scenario seems about as likely as Luxembourg winning the World Cup.
Simon Temme, who defeated Malcolm last night, made it to second place at the very moment it became a live promotion slot.
With ten days to go, please spare a thought for Richard Holness, who -- from his Swindon base -- has done more than enough to demonstrate his commitment to the promotion cause, having been second for virtually the entire season.
On a handful of occasions he has made the round trip on the off chance of finding opponents, all to no avail. And Thursday was a case in point.
The formula which has served the league very well in busier times is now shown to be inadequate when there is a scarcity of players. This is likely to be revisited for the 2009 campaign, with a more just system in place.
20/11/08: Michael safe, Ed and Martin in peril
When Michael Corbett and Ed Turner played out their twenty-second and final Premier One match at the BCSC last night, there was a lot riding on the outcome.
While both players were under threat of relegation, each knew that victory would definitely seal top flight survival, while defeat would mean almost certain relegation.
Michael won the match 11-4, so his safety is assured, but the relegation situation is not entirely straightforward.
Paul Watts and Miles Farren have long since been consigned to Premier Two, but who will fill the other two relegation slots?
The current incumbents are Simonetta Herrera and Martin Hemming.
On the face of it Martin, who has finished his matches, is down. But one unlikely and undesirable scenario could help him.
Meanwhile Simonetta needs just one win from her final three matches to survive, because her average points difference would be certain to raise her above both Martin and Ed.
And that unlikely scenario to save Martin? With nine matches still to be completed, the spectre of penalty points (at the end of season rate of four points per match unrecorded) is not a possibility that can be totally discounted.
20/11/08: Richard takes consolation flight
Simon Temme visited Richard Owsley's office (sounds like my kind of office!) on Tuesday to contest the consolation flight final of last week's tournament.
Richard was the victor, consolidating his tenth position in the OGP.
18/11/08: Steffen's win is not enough
Needing whitewash victories from both remaining matches to claim an unlikely promotion from Premier Two Red, Steffen Nowak fell short of the requirement when he defeated Drew Caudwell 11-7 at the Merchants Arms, Hotwells, this evening.
Steffen can still finish level on points with second placed Dave Pym, but cannot rival his average points difference.
Cecilia Sparke, however, can still surpass Dave's average points difference with a whitewash win from her final match, or can force a play-off with Dave by registering an 11-1 win.
18/11/08: Gaz wins clock event
Gaz Owen came out on top last night when five players contested a clock tournament as part of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Gaz defeated Ian Preston in the final, and has extended his MCAGP lead to 110 points.
16/11/08: NOVEMBER GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Just twenty players contested the eleventh Bristol Grand Prix tournament of the year at the BCSC on Thursday. Two others played a league double header.
16/11/08: Simon is Premier Two Red champion ......
Simon Baker played the last two matches of his Premier Two Red campaign on Thursday, knowing that while a single victory would clinch the championship of that league, a pair of heavy defeats might even take him out of the promotion picture.
But two emphatic wins over Phillip Hill settled the issue in style for Simon.
Simon now faces a play-off for the outright Premier Two championship against Premier Two Blue champion Peter Edwards.
Nick Barham's league season ended in anti-climax with a narrow defeat by Marcus Wrinch, a result which clinches promotion for Phil Charlton.
The only outstanding promotion issue in Premier Two revolves around who accompanies Simon into the top flight from Premier Two Red.
The odds are strongly in Dave Pym's favour, but he can be overhauled by either Cecilia Sparke or Steffen Nowak, for whom nothing short of whitewash victories -- one for Cecilia or two for Steffen -- will do the job.
16/11/08: Derek and Marcus reach November GP main final ......
Derek Clew continued his run of remarkable consistency in 2008 grand prix tournaments, once again reaching the final of Thursday's event.
He will meet Marcus Wrinch in the final.
Derek defeated Simon Temme, Stuart Mann and Todd Young en route to the final, while Marcus was getting past Steffen Nowak, Ian Tarr and Peter Edwards.
16/11/08: Richard and Simon to contest consolation final ......
The consolation final of Thursday's event will feature Simon Temme and Richard Owsley.
Nick Hill and Richard Holness were Richard's victims, while Blaine Buchanan and Ian Preston were succumbing to Simon.
16/11/08: Blaine poised to relinquish OGP second place ......
Blaine Buchanan went into Thursday's tournament in a comfortable OGP second place with a 60 points cushion over his nearest rival.
And he still stands second at the time of writing, despite failing to add to his points tally on Thursday.
Blaine will slip to third, however, on completion of the main final of Thursday's tournament, as whoever wins will overtake him.
Marcus Wrinch would go 21 points clear, were he to win, while Derek Clew would be level on points with Blaine but ahead on countback, also knowing that any points he scores in December will be pure profit as he has not played enough tournaments to need to discard any points.
16/11/08: Derek assured of IGP title ......
Derek Clew's latest success has lifted him at least 334 points ahead of his nearest IGP rival, Lewis Young, with the prospect of a further 45 points should he defeat Marcus Wrinch.
Given that the maximum possible IGP tally for winning December's tournament would be 280, it is more than safe to assume that the title is Derek's.
Second place -- which also carries with it Premier Status -- might still provide a twist in December, as a good tournament for John Sprague, Richard Holness or Simon Temme might yet pay unexpected dividends.
16/11/08: Low turnout is good news for Juanita ......
Winning monthly grand prix tournaments has traditionally assured the victor of a place in the following year's Bristol Masters -- until this year, however.
The splitting of Premier Two into two divisions prompted a revision of the qualification criteria for the sixteen player event, with a high finisher from each of the four leagues, the current Masters champion, and eleven out of the twelve monthly winners taking the slots.
The "unlucky" winner to miss out on qualification would be that of the £10 grand prix event with the smallest entry, and until now February's winner Juanita Ferrer looked like the one to miss out, as only twenty-one players contested that event.
Thursday's event changed things, however, with only twenty toeing the start line.
So what is good news for Juanita may prove to be bad for Marcus Wrinch should he defeat Derek Clew. Derek has already qualified for the Masters by virtue of his May success.
The consolation for Marcus is that he is likely to be first name on the reserve list by virtue of his OGP points tally.
16/11/08: Derek carries rollover hopes ......
Only six of the twenty contestants on Thursday plumped for the Winner Takes All pool, so hopes of a rollover were high.
Those hopes now rest with Derek Clew, who will have the support of the neutrals when he takes on Marcus Wrinch in the main final.
16/11/08: Peter is Handicap Trophy runner-up ......
The last match of the Handicap Trophy season took place on Thursday, Peter Edwards pegging back his two points handicap disadvantage to defeat Steve Morris in the consolation final of last Thursday's event.
The result means that Peter finishes as runner-up in this season's table, pipping Steffen Nowak for the honour.
12/11/08: News digest for the last week
Visitor John Reddington scooped the main prize from a disappointingly thin field at the final one of our six Handicap Trophy events on Thursday.
As a recent BIBA regular John might have expected to have a slightly less generous handicap than the complete strangers' default of 4, but that's what he got, and he took full advantage with wins over Simonetta Herrera, Lewis Young, Mike Webb and finally Derek Clew.
There's just one match left in this year's series now -- the consolation final, where Steve Morris will be hoping his two points handicap advantage over Peter Edwards will prove decisive.
If it isn't, Peter takes the runner-up spot behind runaway winner Lewis, but if Steve can win, Steffen Nowak will hold on to second.
There was league action with a match in each of the Premier Two divisions as well as the Conference, where Simon Temme's 11-4 win over Mike Webb moves him ever closer to second place.
Neil Young, Richard Owsley and Todd Young all finished off their league campaigns.
For Neil and Richard there are mid table finishes in Premier Two Red, while Todd's Premier Two Blue defeat by Marcus Wrinch failed to obscure a promising first season at the level.
There were disappointing turnouts on Monday 3rd and Monday 10th, to the extent that the designated Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix events had to be abandoned for other activities more suitable for the numbers.
02/11/08: News blackout for a week!
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr will be away from his PC for around a week, taking advantage of the "cool" weather in Turkey where he is visiting his elder daughter.
Those gasping for all the latest news will unfortunately need to exercise a little patience. Normal service is likely to be resumed from around November 10th.
02/11/08: Miles relegated
Between the main event action at BIBA this weekend, Paul Gilbertson and Miles Farren managed to get in both of their Premier One matches.
Paul's double win means that Miles can no longer escape the bottom four, so a season in Premier Two awaits.
Paul, meanwhile, can still finish as high as second if he wins his four remaining matches.
31/10/08: Low key doubles climax
The last of four Consulting Doubles Grand Prix events passed quietly at the BCSC on Thursday with just seven pairs in contention.
Of the four players with a realistic chance of taking the CDGP first prize, Peter Edwards was absent, thus leaving the way clear for Roland Herrera, Blaine Buchanan and Lizzie Pearce to vie for the title.
The permutations were there for any of the three to take the title, even though Roland and Lizzie were in partnership for the third successive tournament.
Low scoring by all protagonists would have left Roland as champion, while a successful tournament for him and Lizzie would have seen Lizzie take the title on countback, having contested one event fewer than Roland.
But a good tournament for Blaine -- partnered on the night by Todd Young -- would have seen him pip Roland, assuming Roland and Lizzie did nothing spectacular themselves.
The draw seemed like a double edged sword for Blaine, with a bye in the quarter-finals moving him a step closer to winning the event, but at the same time restricting his points scoring opportunities. A quick calculation, though, pointed to a five points win for Blaine if he and Todd were to win the tournament, while Roland and Lizzie were failing to add significantly to their score.
A first round win kept Roland and Lizzie on course, while Blaine and Todd waited for them in the semis.
The semi kept Blaine in with a chance as he and Todd won through. All that was needed now was a final victory against Neil Young and Simon Hughes.
But Neil and Simon did enough to prevent that and took the first prize on the night, leaving the top positions unaltered, bar a switch in second and third.
So Roland takes the title, with Lizzie runner-up, Blaine third and Peter fourth.
Stuart Mann and Lewis Young took the consolation flight, defeating Roland and Lizzie in the final.
Prior to the tournament there was a significant development in Premier Two Blue, where Phil Charlton consolidated his second place, which he will definitely retain if he can win his final match, against Steve Morris.
28/10/08: Busy Monday at the BCSC
The BCSC Monday session featuted a large turnout by Monday standards, with eleven players featuring in the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix event, consisting of two round robins of three point matches, and a further five getting in some league action.
Mark Dixon was making the most of the opportunity of a visit from London to play two of his three outstanding Premier One encounters.
His double victory over Michael Corbett puts him safe from the threat of relegation while pushing Michael closer to the abyss.
Michael will almost certainly need to win his outstanding match against Ed Turner to stay up.
Meanwhile, at the bottom end of Premier Two Blue there was another double header, with Todd Young prevailing twice against John Paton.
After taking some time to find his feet in the division, Todd has now won half of his last twelve league matches, clearly showing the benefit of playing at the higher level.
In Premier Two Red Andrew Cobb halted his losing run by defeating Neil Young.
In the round robins, the six player group was won by Simonetta Herrera, whose family completed a clean sweep when Roland Herrera won the five player group.
26/10/08: Stuart close again in Ireland
Stuart Mann is a frequent visitor to the Irish Open, and this weekend he maintained his record.
Reaching the latter stages of this event is becoming a regular occurrence for him, having been a semi-finalist in 2002 and a finalist in 2004.
And once again he made it to the final, only to lose out to highly ranked Danish player, Allan Christensen.
Meanwhile Paul Gilbertson celebrated his engagement to Tracey by winning the consolation flight, defeating Mike Heard in the final.
23/10/08: OCTOBER LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......
Twenty-one players registered results at the October league night at the BCSC on Thursday, and the Monday Club clock tournament main flight also reached a resolution.
23/10/08: Simonetta and Michael enhance survival chances, but Paul is down ......
Simonetta Herrera and Michael Corbett have given themselves great chances to avoid the drop from Premier One, but a brace of defeats condemned Paul Watts to relegation.
Michael's defeat of Paul lifts him out of the bottom four at Paul Gilbertson's expense, while Simonetta's wins over Paul Watts and Ed Turner have put her within one win of a place above the dotted line.
And the defeat also leaves Ed casting anxious glances over his shoulder.
Assuming everyone finishes the season Miles Farren and Martin Hemming look to be in the most danger of accompanying Paul to Premier Two, while Simonetta, Ed, Michael, Mark Dixon and Paul Gilbertson still have work to do to reach ultimate safety.
23/10/08: Nick's torrid night leaves door ajar for Phil ......
Nick Barham's evening was the stuff of nightmares as he looked to press home his claim for the second promotion position in Premier Two Blue.
Resuming an adjourned match with Tim Line 6-2 ahead, he lost that advantage within a couple of games. But when the match moved to DMP Nick was in an extremely strong position to close out the match until successive double threes turned the game on its head.
Still suffering from that trauma Nick was seldom in the hunt in the return match, and the double defeat has moved him fractionally below Phil on average points difference.
Nick will now be keen for the victory in his final match which may well leave Phil needing to win both of his remaining encounters, against Steve Morris and Todd Young.
In the jockeying for position just below the promotion slots Tim, Tony Walters and Blaine Buchanan all had good evenings, but a pair of losses spelled the end of Marcus Wrinch's challenge.
23/10/08: Cecilia gives herself a chance ......
Last week it seemed that only something quite extraordinary could deprive Simon Baker and Dave Pym of the two promotion slots in Premier Two Red.
But two emphatic victories for Cecilia Sparke have given her a very real chance of upsetting that particular apple cart.
Neil Young succumbed 1-11, then Drew Caudwell went down 4-11, and the boost to Cecilia's average points difference means that an 11-1 victory in her final match against Ian Preston would put her dead level with Dave, for a first ever promotion play-off!
The situation is further complicated by the fact that two 6-11 defeats for leader Simon would push him below Dave, while a pair of whitewash wins for Steffen Nowak would then eclipse the pair of them.
23/10/08: Simon closing the gap ......
Four Conference players were in action, and Rufus Rozelaar was the evening's star performer, scoring emphatic wins over Simon Temme and Patrick Duggan.
Simon later recovered to defeat Nick Hill, whose long awaited league debut evening resulted in anti-climax with two heavy defeats.
The good news for the promotion race is that Rufus, Patrick and Malcolm Patterson are all within touching distance of the eight match threshold. If these and one further player can breach the threshold, three promotion slots will become a reality.
23/10/08: Roland takes Monday Club clock title ......
Roland Herrera defeated Neil Young in the held over final of Monday's quick clock tournament, to close on the Autumn Grand Prix leaders.
21/10/08: Clock final adjourned
The latest Monday Club event at the BCSC, featuring a clock tournament with restricted time allowances, saw the main final postponed until another day -- probably this Thursday.
Ten players contested the event, an embryonic Monday Club record.
Roland Herrera came through the long side of the draw, while Neil Young was succeeding in the other half.
The five player consolation flight saw Simonetta Herrera and Birmingham's welcome visitor Pat Holly reaching the final and, with club time constraints an issue, they decided to split the prize at DMP.
Gaz Owen maintained his Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix lead of 47 points over second placed Ian Tarr, but Neil and Roland are now in hot pursuit in third and fourth places.
Meanwhile Lewis Young's tireless quest for more and more Conference action found him involved in a double header with Rufus Rozelaar. Rufus won the first 11-9 for his first league win, but Lewis returned the compliment in the second to open up an eighteen point gap over second placed Richard Holness.
19/10/08: Rosey escapes serious injury
BIBA stalwart and former Bristol Backgammon favourite Rosey Bensley (Paul Gilbertson's sister, for the uninitiated) narrowly escaped serious injury on Friday when her car caught fire on the M1.
Warning messages in her Volvo advised her to stop safely, which she managed to do, and the car was engulfed in flames within seconds of her exit.
Thankfully Rosey is unscathed, apart from the obvious shock, but lost her phone and bag in the fire, so don't try ringing her!
16/10/08: Twenty-two in action at jackpot evening
There was all manner of activity at the October jackpot evening at the BCSC on Thursday, and 2002 European champion Katja Spillum Svendsen was a welcome guest.
While three jackpots took centre stage, there were also nine league matches completed, plus the consolation final of last week's Bristol Grand Prix event, giving plenty of opportunity for action for the twenty-two players present.
Simonetta Herrera won an eight player £10 jackpot, while two four player £10 events saw Ian Tarr and Roland Herrera emerge victorious.
Peter Edwards defeated John Sprague in the grand prix consolation final, to move to tenth overall in the OGP.
Dave Pym ended his Premier Two Red season with a flourish, and his two victories -- coupled with a brace of defeats for Steffen Nowak -- have almost ensured that he and leader Simon Baker return to the top flight.
Only extreme circumstances would now see either Steffen or Cecilia Sparke claiming one of the two promotion berths.
Meanwhile in Premier Two Blue Phil Charlton finished his adjourned match with Simon Hughes to good effect, and has put a little pressure on second placed Nick Barham who is level on points with Phil but with a match in hand.
And new players Rufus Rozelaar and Mike Webb have given the hitherto stagnating Conference a shot in the arm, having played six matches between them in the past couple of weeks.
In the latest action, Mike scored his first league win over second placed Richard Holness, while Rufus suffered narrow defeats by John Sprague and Richard, who is now six points ahead of third placed Simon Temme, although Simon has a match in hand.
John became the fourth player to break through the eight match threshold, and if just one more player can do so, that will ensure that there is a second promotion slot up for grabs.
14/10/08: So Julian won at BIBA!
When I received details of Bristol successes at the BIBA event earlier this month (see story dated 05/10/08) my correspondent neglected to give me an important part of the picture.
Julian Fetterlein actually won the tournament and, since he has now attended our last two grand prix tournaments, his success should also be recorded here with pleasure.
NOTE TO SELF: Check other news sources before committing myself to print......
13/10/08: Not enough players for Monday Tric Trac Tourno
The Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix event scheduled for this evening did not take place.
Although eleven players were present in the BCSC at various stages of the evening, many had other fish to fry.
Mike Webb and Lewis Young were playing a Conference match, Ian Tarr supervised a "development" session for Koulla Pearce and Penny Nowson, who was making her first appearance at the club, while John Lewis and Malcolm Patterson had BCSC committee business to attend to, and Ed Turner arrived after working late.
So the projected Tric Trac Tourno was under subscribed, and therefore cancelled.
Meanwhile, at the Hillgrove, Blaine Buchanan was defeating John Paton 11-4 in a Premier Two Blue match.
12/10/08: Simonetta wins grand prix final
Simonetta Herrera beat Ian Tarr 11-2 at Kellaway Avenue this afternoon to take the latest of the monthly grand prix titles and ensure that she has a slot booked for the 2009 Bristol Masters.
The result preserved Blaine Buchanan's 60 points cushion in second place of the OGP table.
10/10/08: OCTOBER GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
An excellent turnout of twenty-eight players toed the start line for the tenth Bristol Grand Prix tournament of the year at the BCSC on Thursday.
Mike Webb was making his grand prix debut.
10/10/08: Simonetta and Ian to contest October grand prix final ......
Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr will contest the October Bristol Grand Prix final.
Ian benefitted from a first round bye before getting past the respective challenges of Steve Morris, Neil Young and Blaine Buchanan.
Simonetta defeated George Jakeway, Julian Fetterlein, Roland Herrera and Derek Clew to reach the final, which is likely to be played on Sunday.
10/10/08: Peter and John in consolation final ......
Peter Edwards will meet John Sprague in the consolation final of yesterday evening's tournament.
Peter beat Cynthia Roberts, Steffen Nowak and Richard Owsley to reach the final, while John received a bye in the first round before eliminating Ian Preston and Chris Roberts.
10/10/08: Race is on for OGP second place ......
Roland Herrera has been so consistent during this OGP season, that his points tally of 40 from yesterday's event is the first amount to be discarded.
Failing to add to his overall tally has not, however, diminished his chances of taking this year's title, despite the reduction of his cushion over second placed Blaine Buchanan by 40 points.
His lead of 207 points looks good enough to withstand most challenges with just two events remaining.
More interesting at this stage is the race for second place. Blaine is 60 points ahead of a small clutch of challengers -- Tim Line, Marcus Wrinch and Ian Tarr, but Ian can reduce the gap to just 30 points by winning the outstanding final.
Derek Clew picked up another 55 points, and as he will not need to discard any points at all he is well placed to challenge in seventh place.
10/10/08: Derek close to IGP title ......
Derek Clew's grip on the IGP title tightened yesterday as he increased his points lead over second placed Lewis Young to 239 with just two events remaining.
With two Premier League places up for grabs via this competition Derek's destiny looks assured, while Lewis could yet be challenged by John Sprague.
John is 76 points adrift of second place, but could reduce that gap by 25 points by winning the consolation final.
There was an excellent turnout of intermediates, with no fewer than nine taking the plunge.
Simon Temme scored well, while debutant Mike Webb got his first grand prix victory, defeating Steve Morris in the consolation flight first round.
10/10/08: No rollover this month ......
Rollover hopes were high when only eleven of the twenty-eight starters opted for the Winner Takes All pool at Thursday's event.
And with some early casualties, there were only three contenders remaining in the last eight.
Two of those, however, were pool entrants Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr, whose progression to the final means the kitty will be empty once more as we approach next month's tournament.
10/10/08: Simonetta hoping for Masters qualification ......
Qualification for the 2009 Bristol Masters continues apace.
At this stage only six players -- Roland Herrera, Richard Owsley, Ann Pocknell, Derek Clew, Blaine Buchanan and Julian Fetterlein -- have confirmed their qualification, although others are assured of their place through league positions, even if they are not yet sure of their qualification route.
Those players are Stuart Mann and Ian Tarr from Premier One, and Peter Edwards from Premier Two Blue.
All of which gives Simonetta Herrera an added incentive to beat Ian in the final of Thursday's tournament, although should Ian win that would free up a qualification slot for the fifth or sixth finisher in Premier One.
10/10/08: Lewis youngest to top 40 ......
At the age of fourteen years and 220 days Lewis Young yesterday became the youngest player to break into the top 40 of the Bristol rankings.
With time on his side, it seems only a matter of time before he creates records for entry into the top 30, the top 20, and beyond.
But will Todd Young, Lewis' younger brother (aged 13 years and 32 days at the time of writing), have targets to aim for, or will he overhaul Lewis from his current ranking of 52nd?
08/10/08: No appeals from Paul and John
Neither Paul Gilbertson nor John Paton has appealed against the firming up of penalty points first incurred on July 31st.
The seven days deadline for appeals passed at midnight on Tuesday.
05/10/08: BIBA news
Lewis Young bagged himself a BIBA title at the weekend.
With the Bristol contingent failing to make much of a dent in either the main flight or the consolation of BIBA's Sandy Osborne Memorial knock-out -- contested by 42 players -- the 5-point Last Chance and the 3-point "Sandwich" at least boasted Bristol finalists.
Ed Turner was runner-up in the Sandwich, while Lewis went one better in the Last Chance.
03/10/08: Peter wins clock event
The latest in the series of clock tournaments with orthodox time allowances was won by Peter Edwards at the BCSC last night.
He defeated tournament debut player Mike Webb, Simonetta Herrera and Neil Young before despatching Stuart Mann in the final.
Mike decided at the last minute to take the plunge into competition, a brave decision since he had no experience of clocks. He will be back for more on Monday, when he is likely to make his Conference debut.
Simon Hughes beat Tim Line in the consolation flight final, and three Premier Two matches were started but adjourned.
01/10/08: Thirteen in penalty strife
The growing Premier League trend of accepting penalty points in the "knowledge" that they can be clawed back at the next checkpoint reached a new high when no fewer than thirteen of the thirty-eight contestants in this year's three leagues had issues at the penultimate checkpoint, which passed at midnight.
Two of those thirteen have failed to claw back penalties incurred at the July checkpoint, and may now consider appeals if they believe their case is strong enough to merit that course of action.
Paul Gilbertson's single point Premier One penalty is firmed up, as are John Paton's three in Premier Two Blue. And both players have incurred a further three points which may be clawed back by completing the season on time.
Others to incur initial penalties are: in Premier One: Simonetta Herrera and Gaz Owen (two points apiece); Michael Corbett and Paul Watts (one point apiece); in Premier Two Blue: Blaine Buchanan and Marcus Wrinch (3 points apiece); Tim Line (2 points); and Todd Young (1 point); and in Premier Two Red: Steffen Nowak and Neil Young (2 points apiece); and Phillip Hill (1 point).
Failure to finish the season on time -- by November 30th -- is punished by penalties of four points per match, so the risks being run can have very damaging consequences for those who don't make it, for whatever reason.
30/09/08: Phil still in touch
Phil Charlton is still well in touch with second placed Nick Barham after his Premier Two Blue encounter with Mike Smith at the Hillgrove this evening.
His 11-3 win lifts him to within three points of Nick, and both players have three matches remaining to decide who goes up with Peter Edwards.
Tim Line and Marcus Wrinch still have mathematical chances to make it to second, but their chances are receding with every win by Nick and Phil.
This evening's result also resolved any penalty points issues at tonight's deadline for Mike and Phil.
30/09/08: Busy Monday at the BCSC
There was more activity than usual at the latest Monday Club session at the BCSC.
While Director Ian Tarr entertained another welcome new player, Mike Webb, Gaz Owen took the responsibility for sorting out two three-point round robins for the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
And all this against a backdrop of vital league action, as players attempt to avoid penalty points at midnight's checkpoint.
In Premier One Stuart Mann's odds for his fourth championship shortened when he recovered from a 0-6 deficit to defeat Paul Watts.
Stuart has just one match remaining -- against his only rival, Gaz -- and if he wins that, he is champion. If he doesn't, the odds are still comfortably in his favour, because Gaz will still need double header wins over Simonetta Herrera and Paul Gilbertson to surpass Stuart, unless there are some extraordinary margins of victory to redress the superiority of Stuart's average points difference.
Paul Watts scrambled the narrowest of wins later against Miles Farren, and still has the slimmest of chances ot avoid the drop, a fate which now seriously threatens Miles.
Miles had earlier succumbed against Michael Corbett, whose chances of top flight survival have now significantly improved.
Todd Young scored an excellent 11-3 win over Mike Smith in Premier Two Blue, and has hauled himself back from the foot of the table at the expense of John Paton.
Meanwhile, earlier in the afternoon at the Blackboy Inn, Jerry Limb and John Lewis had shared the spoils of a Premier Two Red double header, which saw both players clawing back their July penalties.
In the Monday Club events, Nick Barham came out on top of a five player round robin, while Neil Young did similarly in a four player version.
27/09/08: Martin can only wait
The Martin Hemming Backgammon Roadshow wound up at the Woolpack, Stonehouse, today with a double header against Miles Farren.
The matches signalled the end of his 2008 Premier One campaign, and after the spoils were shared he can only wait and see whether or not he has done enough to preserve his top flight status.
Martin's season ended with a flurry of six matches in three days -- two at the BCSC on Thursday, two at Chepstow yesterday, and the two today.
Miles was the last player threatened with Premier League expungement, and has now averted that possibility, which enables Director Ian Tarr to heave a sigh of relief.
And Miles has two matches arranged for Monday to ensure that he avoids the permanent imposition of the penalty points he incurred in July.
Three wins from his last five matches should be enough to see Miles to safety, although two could just be enough.
26/09/08: Honours even in Chepstow
Michael Corbett played host to Martin Hemming in Chepstow today for a Premier One double header.
A quadruple gammon clinched the first match 11-3 for Michael, but Martin edged the second match 11-9, and at least ensured that he has no immediate penalty troubles.
26/09/08: SEPTEMBER LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......
Twenty players -- including league debutant Rufus Rozelaar -- were in league action at the BCSC on Thursday, and four others were in doubles action.
The final Thursday session before the September 30th midnight checkpoint arrived with twenty-six out of thirty-eight Premier League players having issues re penalty points and/or expungement, and by the end of the evening just seven players had resolved their issues.
26/09/08: Stuart strides on as Gaz procrastinates ......
Stuart Mann took a couple more steps towards a fourth Premier One title when he won two of three matches at the BCSC yesterday evening.
When he started the evening with a 9-11 defeat by Paul Gilbertson, the door appeared to be open for his pursuers -- Gaz Owen with a realistic chance of success, Ian Tarr and Paul with slim hopes.
Ian's subsequent defeat of Paul kept his hopes momentarily alive, but later events were to change that.
As Ian slipped to defeat by Martin Hemming, Stuart was recovering from his setback with a win over Simonetta Herrera, and followed this with another against Martin.
Gaz remained inactive throughout the evening, and appears happy to collect penalty points, assuming that an opponent who lives over 100 miles away will be compliant when it comes to arranging matches in the final two months. This could be a dangerous game, but the odds are that he will get away with it.
Given that Stuart's average points difference is clearly superior to that of Gaz, and Gaz is nine points adrift of Stuart with three matches in hand, the pair's outstanding meeting may well prove decisive.
The four relegation slots seem likely, as ever, to stimulate some tense action over the run in.
While Paul Watts needs something close to a miracle to stay up, Simonetta, Martin, Michael Corbett and Miles Farren are all under threat, and the possibility of Ed Turner or Mark Dixon being drawn into the battle cannot be discounted.
Michael's double header with Martin in Chepstow today will shed more light on the eventual outcome and will also leave Miles Farren as the only player in the three divisions still threatened by expungement. Miles will be addressing this problem in earnest over the next three days with no fewer than four matches scheduled.
26/09/08: Simon closes in on Premier One return ......
Inaugural Premier League champion Simon Baker is close to returning to the top flight after a one year gap.
His current run of five successive Premier Two Red wins, including his double over Andrew Cobb yesterday, leaves him very much in pole position.
Only Steffen Nowak, an 11-10 winner over Richard Owsley, can now surpass Simon's points tally of 48, while Dave Pym, Cecilia Sparke and Neil Young can equal it. A single win from his two remaining matches -- both against Phillip Hill -- will assure Simon of promotion.
Richard's defeat leaves him with no margin for error, and Cecilia's loss to Phillip at Zero Degrees has hurt her chances of making it to the top flight.
26/09/08: Phil stays in promotion contention ......
With Peter Edwards champion, and Nick Barham staking a strong claim for second place, Phil Charlton needed a good session at the BCSC yesterday to stay in realistic promotion contention. And he did not disappoint, scoring wins at the expense of Tim Line and Steve Morris.
Tim and Marcus Wrinch are the only others with a ghost of a chance of moving up.
26/09/08: Simon edges closer to second place ......
In this year's disappointing Bristol Conference League it is looking less and less likely that there will be more than two promotion places, under the formula that decides this issue.
All of which may be a great shame for one of the only three players whose records thus far are deserving of the step up to the Premier League.
Lewis Young is looking nailed on for the title, and it does appear probable -- even allowing for the disappointing lack of progress in this year's competition -- that a second promotion place will be triggered at some stage between now and the end of the season.
Richard Holness has been a clear second for most of the season, but he has a challenger in Simon Temme, who edged to within three points of Richard with an 11-2 victory over debut player Rufus Rozelaar.
26/09/08: Ed and Anne take doubles consolation flight ......
The consolation flight of the August Consulting Doubles event was finally resolved at the BCSC last night when Ed Turner and Anne Ryder defeated Ian Preston and Nick Hill.
26/09/08: Stuart tops rankings again ......
The Bristol Rankings are once again topped by Stuart Mann who, apart from brief tenures by Mark Dixon and Ann Pocknell, has monopolised the position since the instigation of the system to work out players' handicaps in 2006.
Stuart's results last night were enough to usurp Ann just three days after her final Bristol Backgammon session on Monday.
23/09/08: Julian takes first Bristol title
It didn't take Julian Fetterlein long to score his first success in domestic Bristol Backgammon competition.
The Bear of Rodborough, near Stroud, was the venue this afternoon for the climax of Lesters LXVIII.
First came the semi-final clash between Steve Morris and Marcus Wrinch, with Marcus winning 7-2.
The final was a tough one, Julian eventually coming through 11-9 to clinch the lion's share of the prize fund (including the Winner Takes All pool), as well as booking a place in the 2009 Bristol Masters.
Neither finalist bought himself in the auction, however, so Tim Line and Simon Temme have envelopes awaiting collection.
23/09/08: Peter crowned Premier Two Blue champion
The inevitable has finally happened -- Peter Edwards is the champion of Premier Two Blue.
The only player who still had the chance to oust him, Nick Barham, lost the first of a double header with Mike Smith 4-11 yesterday at the Old Colonial in Weston-super-Mare to confirm that it will be Peter who takes part in the Premier Two championship play-off with the eventual winner of Premier Two Red.
Nick got his revenge later with a whitewash, and remains on course to clinch the division's second automatic promotion place.
Mike later returned to Bristol and scored an 11-5 win over Todd Young at the BCSC to ensure that he at least won't get expunged at the Serptember 30th checkpoint.
23/09/08: Ann committed to the end
Ann Pocknell showed her enthusiasm for Bristol Backgammon competition yesterday evening when she completed the 200 mile round trip from Newton Abbot for the Monday Club session, her last ever visit as a regular Bristol player.
Her career move to Norfolk means that the curtain has come down on this phase of her eminent backgammon career, although we will hopefully see her again if she is passing through.
Ann made it to the final of yesterday evening's Quick Clock Tournament, defeating Simon Hughes and Gaz Owen before losing out on an eight cube coup de grace to Ian Tarr in the final.
Nick Hill took the consolation flight, defeating Todd in the final.
Gaz still leads the Autumn Grand Prix standings, albeit by only two points.
Rufus Rozelaar made a welcome first appearance at the club, and will hopefully feature soon on Thursday evenings.
19/09/08: HANDICAP TROPHY NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were only fourteen contestants for the fifth of our six Handicap Trophy events at the BCSC on Thursday, the lowest turnout for one of these events since August 2006.
In mitigation, there were seven other players in league action, with the September 30th midnight checkpoint concentrating some minds on their priorities.
19/09/08: The "Handicap Kid" takes the title, unless ......
Unless there is a gathering of at least 513 players at the BCSC on November 6th, we can assume that Lewis Young has taken the 2008 Handicap Trophy title.
If we assume that Lewis will not add to his points tally of 340 points -- and although he will need to win at least three main flight matches on November 6th, that can hardly be a safe assumption -- his nearest rival Steffen Nowak will need to score at least 180 points (allowing for discards) to overtake Lewis.
Scoring 180 points is a tricky assignment, though, because that can only be done by winning ten main flight rounds. And ten main flight rounds can only happen where there more than 512 players present!
Lewis -- at the tender age of fourteen years and 199 days -- attained this most comfortable of leads by winning his third handicap knock-out of the year, defeating Richard Owsley, Steffen, Simonetta Herrera and Steve Morris.
His handicap currently stands at 2, although his first (and least successful) outing of the year happened when he still had a 3 handicap.
19/09/08: Simon tops Premier Two Red again ......
In a double header at the Blackboy Inn yesterday afternoon Simon Baker moved back to the top of Premier Two Red when he scored two victories at the expense of Jerry Limb.
19/09/08: Ann signs off in style ......
At the BCSC there was action in Premier One and Premier Two Blue.
Ann Pocknell signed off her Bristol Premier League career with an 11-6 win over Miles Farren.
Ann is off to Norfolk to work, and her quality, commitment and sportsmanship will be very much missed.
In Premier Two Blue Marcus Wrinch moved three points closer to the leading pack by beating Alan Parfitt. Alan later got his revenge, though, and as a result Marcus' promotion odds have lengthened slightly.
Tim Line's defeat of John Paton keeps him in the equation.
19/09/08: Marcus gets the two points he needed ......
Finding themselves in the unusual position of finishing a Bristol Grand Prix quarter-final adjourned at 5-all, Nick Barham and Marcus Wrinch didn't take long to resolve matters.
The inevitable cube was offered as Nick gained an early advantage, but that soon evaporated and it will be Marcus who faces Steve Morris in the semi-final, some time soon, as they play for the honour of meeting Julian Fetterlein in the final.
18/09/08: Handicap Trophy Lewis's to lose?
Just hours before the fifth of the six Handicap Trophy events is due to start, the fourth has finally been resolved.
Lewis Young and Mike Osborne got together in Starbucks, Broadmead, this afternoon to contest their outstanding main flight semi-final, and Lewis edged home 7-6.
Since Lewis had already won a "provisional" final against Berlin-based Leo Waters -- approved as an exceptional measure by Director Ian Tarr -- Lewis wins the flight, and now has a 90 points lead going into the penultimate tournament.
16/09/08: Much needed win for Paul
Paul Watts gained three much needed Premier One points in Redfield this afternoon when he defeated Ian Tarr, simultaneously denting Ian's already slim championship hopes and hanging on to the most tenuous of top flight lifelines himself.
The result also ensured that Paul will not be expunged from the league on September 30th, leaving only eight Premier League players thus threatened.
14/09/08: One thousand up in the top flight
The second match of Ed Turner and Ian Tarr's double header at Brean on Saturday was the thousandth to take place in the top flight of the Bristol Premier League since its inception in 2000.
14/09/08: Nine still under expungement threat
With just sixteen days to go to the penultimate Premier League checkpoint, nine of the thirty-eight participants are still not free from the threat of expungement from the league.
In Premier One Miles Farren, Paul Gilbertson, Michael Corbett and Paul Watts are the players who still need to register results by midnight on September 30th, while Mike Smith, John Paton, Tim Line and Marcus Wrinch have work to do in Premier Two Blue, and Jerry Limb is one match short of the required target in Premier Two Red.
There are also eight players needing to record results in order to claw back penalty points incurred at the July 31st checkpoint. These include some of those threatened with expungement, plus Martin Hemming in Premier One, and Andrew Cobb and John Lewis in Premier Two Red.
13/09/08: Ian keeps hopes alive
The Beachcomber Inn, Brean, was the venue this afternoon for a Premier One double header between Ed Turner and Ian Tarr.
Ed was looking for a brace of wins to reach the apparently safe haven of eleven wins, while Ian needed a similarly rewarding session to keep alive his slim hopes of taking the championship for the first time. And a win apiece would have been better for Ed than for Ian.
An 11-3 success for Ian was followed by an altogether far tighter affair, with the scores arriving at 5-5, 7-7 and 9-9 before Ian edged a doubled game to score a double over his most dominant domestic opponent.
Ed has just two matches remaining, and will need to win at least one of them to have a good chance of avoiding the drop.
Ian, on the other hand, is three points behind second placed Gaz Owen and a further three behind Stuart Mann, all three players having five matches to play.
Apart from Paul Gilbertson, who still has eight matches to play, it is difficult to imagine how any of the other contenders can lift the crown.
12/09/08: ALL THE NEWS FROM LESTERS LXVIII ......
The sixty-eighth Lesters Trophy tournament attracted twenty-five players to the BCSC on Thursday, including a Bristol Backgammon debut for the nation's number one player Julian Fetterlein, and a first appearance of the year for Pete Wright.
12/09/08: Julian lives up to his star billing ......
Had anyone been running a book on the outcome of Lesters LXVIII -- and this used to happen a few years ago, in the days of Messrs. Hetherington and Caudwell -- there would have been a clear favourite in Julian Fetterlein, a Cheltenham resident who is generally regarded as the UK's top player, as well as being a fixture in the World Backgammon Giants list.
Backgammon being backgammon, though, many other illustrious visitors have visited our tournaments over the years and have suffered shock reverses -- Berlin's Leo Waters recently being an honourable exception.
Not so on this occasion, as Julian fought his way past tough challenges from Simon Hughes and Richard Owsley to arrive at a semi-final encounter with our new rising star Derek Clew.
Derek might have given Julian another rigorous examination, but a double backgammon in the second game put paid to that notion.
Julian's first Bristol final will have to wait for another day, however, as one quarter of the draw collectively failed to finish three 7-point rounds in four and a quarter hours before Nick Barham's bus to Weston-super-Mare beckoned.
His quarter-final against Marcus Wrinch was delicately poised at 5-5, so not only Julian, but also semi-finalist Steve Morris, must wait for the resolution of the flight on other days.
12/09/08: Roland wins consolation flight ......
Roland Herrera took the consolation flight honours on Thursday with victories over Blaine Buchanan, Simon Hughes, Todd Young and Peter Edwards, who had reached the final via successes against John Sprague, Cecilia Sparke and Neil Young.
12/09/08: Adversity turned to OGP advantage for Roland ......
Curtailing Roland Herrera's involvement in the main flight seemed like the best way to stop him increasing his OGP lead, so when Ann Pocknell achieved that objective in round one it looked like a case of job done.
Not so, however, as Roland still managed to come away with a better points tally than any of his close pursuers, his consolation flight success gaining him a total of 52 points -- all clear profit as Roland has yet to be hit by discards.
So with Blaine Buchanan and Ian Tarr failing to add to their tallies, and Tim Line, Stuart Mann and Ann only adding modest amounts, Roland's already gargantuan lead has now stretched to 247 with just three events remaining.
12/09/08: Derek opens up huge IGP lead ......
With competition sparse and Lewis Young now in discard territory, Derek Clew took full advantage of the situation to reach the main flight semi-final with three victories over Premier League players, adding 40 bonus points to the 70 regular points earned.
After his Intermediates Trophy success the previous week, Derek had already opened up an IGP lead, but it now stands at 199 points, and like the OGP leader, it looks unlikely that he will be headed come the final reckoning in December.
12/09/08: Julian and Marcus threaten rollover hopes ......
Some of the 25 entrants to Thursday's tournament may have been deterred from venturing into the Winner Takes All pool by the lack of a nice tempting rollover and the presence of our newest player, but twelve did invest.
Julian Fetterlein's run to the final puts him well in the driving seat in terms of taking the extra prize, while Marcus Wrinch can slam the rollover door firmly closed if he can finish off Nick Barham and defeat Steve Morris.
12/09/08: Tim's auction investment looking good ......
Tim Line shelled out £12 to get a piece of the Julian Fetterlein action when he bought the night's twenty-fifth and final lot, so he is assured of a minimum £35 return even if Julian loses the final.
Others eyeing the £100 first prize are Nick Barham and Steve Morris who managed to buy themselves, and the fleetingly present Simon Temme, who invested £5 in Marcus Wrinch.
12/09/08: Neil delivers promotion blow for Dave ......
Dave Pym was ahead for the vast majority of his Premier Two Red match prior to Thursday's tournament, but it was his opponent Neil Young who reached the finishing line first to keep alive his slim chance of promotion.
Dave still leads the division, but is just one of the top four contenders who have all won six more times than they have lost. Simon Baker and Steffen Nowak, with matches in hand, have the best chance to forge ahead before the season's end.
10/09/08: Nick still chasing Peter
Peter Edwards would probably have thought he had the Premier Two Blue championship sewn up when he finished all his matches by June 19th with a magnificent tally of 57 points in the bag. But even now he is still awaiting confirmation.
The reason for that is the outstanding form of his chief -- and only -- pursuer, Nick Barham.
While promotion to the top flight has long since been assured for Peter, the championship isn't, with Nick extending his current run of wins yesterday evening at Colston Yard, where he scored a brace of wins over Blaine Buchanan.
Nick has little margin for error, however, as he still needs victories in each of his five remaining matches to pip Peter on average points difference.
09/09/08: It wasn't a record
The article back on 29/07/08, referring to the large number of players (thirteen) in our Tric Trac Tourno event, has caused the format inventor Mike Main to delve amongst his copious records.
The question was asked "was this a record number?", and the answer is a definite "no".
He tells me that the biggest recorded TTT occurred online, on DailyGammon, involving no fewer than 117 players!
As far as live play goes, other clusters of TTTs staged by Mike have also involved as many as 24 players, but it appears that the record for a single "flight" of TTT was the fifteen who contested one at BG Live in London back in 2001.
So although our thirteen was not a record, we weren't that far away from the live "flight" record.
08/09/08: Bristol Open photo page now online
Now online are some excellent photos of many of the participants of the Bristol Open.
Many thanks are due to David Startin for his efforts. Click on the image on the left to view them.
08/09/08: Gaz and Ian take Monday Club blitz honours
The second Monday Club evening featured two round robins of clock blitzes, where five point matches are played with just two minutes allowance per player, with a mere ten seconds delay.
The nine players were split into a group of five and a group of four, with debut player Duncan Thomson bravely taking the plunge.
Ian Tarr made it a clean sweep in the group of five, and Gaz Owen did likewise in the other group.
Gaz now leads the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix standings.
07/09/08: News from BIBA
The Mike Main sponsored Backgammon in London at BIBA event at Hinckley featured seven current Bristol players among the field of 42, a good BIBA turnout no doubt enhanced by support for Mike.
The main flight was won by Leamington's Chris Ternel, while the best moments Bristol's representatives were a main flight quarter-final appearance for Marcus Wrinch, and a runner-up prize for BIBA debutant Richard Owsley in the progressive consolation (where Marcus also reached the semis).
05/09/08: Derek nets second title in five days
Having won the main flight of the Intermediate category at last weekend's Bristol Open, Derek Clew added the Bristol Intermediates Trophy title to his ever growing CV at the BCSC last night.
The entry of nine players was pretty much in keeping with previous years, an interesting statistic being that only three of the nine were Conference regulars.
Costas Efthymiou and Helen Clew were the unfortunate pair who didn't get byes, Helen winning through. Her involvement ended when losing to Lewis Young, but husband Derek upheld the family honour by beating Lewis in the semis.
Giorgos Kalogridis and John Sprague were the quarter-final winners in the other half of the draw, John then progressing to the final, where Derek prevailed 7-4.
Derek gets to hold the Intermediates Trophy for twelve months, a little prize money, and a bottle of champagne kindly provided (for the third and last year running) by previous winner of the event, Steve Morris.
And because the event contributes to the IGP Derek's lead over Lewis in that competition has increased to 89 points, as discards begin to bite for Lewis.
For non intermediates there was an eight player £10 jackpot in honour of Roland Herrera''s birthday (and there was cake). This resulted in a final clash of the Ians, Ian Tarr winning a joker-fest final against Ian Preston.
Simon Hughes, Neil Young and Costas also managed victories in Premier Two Blue, Premier Two Red, and the Conference respectively,
Simon Baker and Cynthia Roberts had earlier met for a double header at Cynthia's, one win a piece being the outcome.
03/09/08: Monday Club up and running
Monday evening at the BCSC marked the start of our revamped Monday Club, and eight players featured in the inaugural competitions, a pair of four player 3-point round robins.
There is a varied programme of eighteen events between now and the end of the year which make up the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, with the latest positions here.
03/09/08: Positions from the Open
Click on the panel to the left for Roland Herrera's web page containing some interesting positions and commentary on the play during the big event at the weekend.
The page is a work in progress, so keep coming back to it for more positions.
03/09/08: Two backgammon boards, a blue sweater, ......
...... a golf umbrella, a spangly girly-type umbrella, a notebook, three flipchart scorers, a set of non-precision dice, and a paperback (Forensic & Criminal Psychology by Dennis Howitt).
It's amazing what can be left behind after a big backgammon tournament, and the Bristol Open was no different.
Thankfully most items have been either reunited with their owners or at least had their owners identified.
The dice, the notebook, two of the scorers and the paperback remain as mysteries, however.
02/09/08: Bristol Open here to stay on the backgammon calendar
The tournament which will henceforward be known as the third Bristol Open can be viewed as a success on a few levels.
Fifty-eight players in all (including six who only contested the Friday warm-up event) participated, and that was a good number considering the late decision to stage the event, which undoubtedly had an adverse effect on the turnout of overseas visitors.
The two previous incarnations of the event, the 2005 Wedding Tournament, and the 2006 Bristol International Festival were more lavish affairs given the nature of the celebrations, but the event has now settled into being a more orthodox backgammon event, although still, hopefully, a celebration, and one hoping to cater for a wide variety of players.
The venue, which we also used in 2006, is not plush, but it is spacious, with a ridiculously inexpensive bar, willing helpers, and is perfectly situated in the most visually pleasing area of our city.
Despite being in the most vibrant part of Bristol, the Artillery Grounds is also quite secluded. But if you need a break, there are bars, restaurants, hotels, and heaving night-life right outside the gate.
Friday evening's warm-up saw twenty-seven players getting the weekend off to a great start.
2006 Bristol Festival champion John Clark made his way to the final, where he met Dave Moon. This was held over until a suitable gap the following day, when John prevailed.
Meanwhile, a quarter entry Championship satellite resulted in top Dane Mikael Jensen securing a nice cheap entry.
In all a pleasing thirty-six signed up for the Championship category, with a handy sixteen contesting the Intermediate competition.
With such a strong Championship field, it was inevitable that there would be some eminent casualties early in the piece.
Dane Michael Soerensen went out to Birmingham's David Startin, Raj Jansari succumbed to Kazuhiro Shino, Stuart Mann lost to Pia Jeppesen, Mikael Jensen yielded to Peter Bennet, Bristol's Ed Turner saw off Denmark's Poul Lindberg, while Mike Heard and Chris Ternel were also victims at the hands of Martin Barkwill and Simonetta Herrera.
And as the quarter-final line-up was being clarified, out too went Lawrence Powell, Pia Jeppesen, Amsterdam based Egyptian Rida Hassan, and the reigning champion John Clark, who had a £50 bounty on his head that was too much for Ed Turner to resist, a double backgammon providing the spectacular coup de grace.
As is often the case, the progressive consolation was slow to get off the ground, more of which later.
With only eleven point matches in the main flight, however, the Intermediate category was progressing excellently.
There were twelve current Bristol players, one former one -- Phil Doubtfire -- making a welcome visit, and a contingent of three from Birmingham.
Two of the most strongly fancied players in terms of past results -- Ralph Eskinazi and Martin Hemming -- fell at the first hurdle, rendering the flight wide open. Richard Owsley and Simon Hughes were their conquerors.
In the last eight, it was left to Birmingham's Pat Holly to fly the non-Bristol flag, a task she performed admirably, progressing to a final meeting with Derek Clew, arranged for noon on Sunday. Richard Holness and Simon Hughes had cashed as losing semi-finalists.
Saturday evening featured the now customary Texas Hold 'Em event, while the side events -- masterminded expertly by London's main man, Mike Main -- also got under way.
Sunday morning came, and many eyes were focussed on the top flight. From a Bristol perspective, seeing a last eight line-up containing no fewer than five current Bristol players was a tremendous sight.
Two of those, Ed Turner and Ann Pocknell, had got ahead of the pack and played their quarter-final the previous evening, Ann coming out on top.
But Peter Edwards and Gaz Owen were also still in contention, along with the more experienced Simonetta.
Peter and Gaz were to lose out extremely narrowly -- Peter to Shino, and Gaz to Julian Fetterlein, while Simonetta moved on at the expense of Martin Barkwill.
The non-Bristol semi-final saw Julian defeat Shino, while the Bristol ladies went head to head, Simonetta eventually coming through.
The final was a see-saw affair, with each player getting an eight points windfall along the way. Losing nearly all of an 11-2 lead at a single stroke might have seriously fazed Simonetta in times gone by, but she steadfastly stuck to her guns and the match arrived at DMP.
She prevailed for the finest achievement of her international career, even -- dare I say it -- eclipsing her last sixteen placing in Monte Carlo last year.
In the progressive consolation things had moved on very well after earlier worries about progress.
Lawrence Powell eliminated Martin Barkwill at the semi-final stage, while the Bristol flag was being expertly carried by yet another top lady, Cecilia Sparke, who edged home against Dave Moon to reach the final, having earlier claimed the esteemed scalps of Raj Jansari and Mikael Jensen.
Lawrence was to prevail, but Bristol ladies taking three of the top six prizes on offer is a staggering statistic.
The last chance, seven points all the way, proceeded without a problem.
The Danes, who had not been having the customary share of the spoils in the other flights, began to make their mark, with both Poul Lindberg and Michael Soerensen reaching the semis.
Poul went out to Mike Heard, but Michael made it all the way by defeating Rida Hassan. And it was Michael who also won the final, ensuring that Denmark would not return home entirely unrewarded.
The Intermediate final was another close affair, but Derek Clew edged out Pat Holly to take the title.
Derek has only been playing live backgammon for a very short time, but he has impressed many Bristol observers, to the extent that the win was no surprise.
As for the exceedingly modest Pat, she will hopefully be encouraged to enter more events. Her ability certainly warrants this.
And the Birmingham Three all cashed! Ralph Eskinazi avenged his main flight elimination at the hands of Richard Owsley by beating him in the consolation final, while Fak Laight took the last chance final with a win over Martin Hemming.
All was done and dusted, and the response from the players has been generally good, with a couple of exceptions.
In defence of Tournament Director Ian Tarr, he may somehow have acquired a reputation as a top TD, but it should be remembered that when it comes to large events like this, he is still pretty inexperienced.
His style is to attempt to bridge the gap between the relaxed, laissez faire approach and its draconian opposite, and this is sometimes a hard path to steer.
One criticism was entirely justified -- the initial draw for the Championship progressive consolation was skewed against those who were unlucky enough not to get a bye in the main.
Another criticism surrounded the lack of communication with a player who was awaiting a match with a player who had retired for the day on the TD's advice.
These imperfections were unfortunate, but will be eliminated when we assemble for the fourth Bristol Open in 2009, which Ian and co-organiser Roland Herrera are now firmly committed to staging.
As a footnote, the organisers would like to thank the many players who contributed their help in so many ways, large and small.
The presence of our great friend Mike Main was a vastly reassuring one, and Nicky Check contributed some constructive help.
Mark Dixon ran the poker, Chris and Cynthia Roberts stepped in to help with the preparation of food, some players bought the organisers drinks and made them coffee, a handful of players arrived early to help set up, and some stayed behind to help with the tidy up.
All in all, a fine team effort, and our thoughts are now firmly set on a bigger and better event next year.
And the full results are now browseable.
01/09/08: Simonetta takes Bristol Open 2008 crown!
Simonetta Herrera is the Bristol Open 2008 champion. And a major feature of the event was the collective success of Bristol's top three lady players.
A weekend that saw 52 players descend on Bristol for the main event (although 24 of these were locals) passed as a resounding success, given that there was comparatively little notice given, a factor which certainly restricted the overseas invasion.
There was still a very strong field for the 36-player Championship category, however, and organisers Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr feel sufficiently encouraged enough to vow to make the event an annual occasion in future.
To summarise the results from the weekend (a full report should appear here by tomorrow):
Championship category:
Main flight: Winner: Simonetta Herrera; Finalist: Julian Fetterlein; Semi-finalists: Kazuhiro Shino, Ann Pocknell.
Progressive Consolation: Winner: Lawrence Powell; Finalist: Cecilia Sparke.
Last Chance: Winner: Michael Sorenson; Finalist: Mike Heard.
Intermediate category:
Main flight: Winner: Derek Clew; Finalist: Pat Holly; Semi-finalists: Richard Holness, Simon Hughes.
Progressive Consolation: Winner: Ralph Eskinazi; Finalist: Richard Owsley.
Last Chance: Winner: Fak Laight; Finalist: Martin Hemming.
Friday night warm-up tournament:
Winner: John Clark; Finalist: Dave Moon; Semi-finalists: Peter Bennet; Gaz Owen.
01/09/08: Ed following his own tradition?
Ed Turner made it as far as the last eight of the Bristol Open at the weekend, a decent enough achievement in its own right.
But that wasn't the limit of his exploits, as he managed to fit in three Bristol Premier League matches on Sunday, and won them all!
Martin Hemming was his first victim, followed by Ann Pocknell who lost a double header.
It it now a tradition, it appears, that Ed starts the season slowly, looking odds on for relegation, and then storms up towards a respectable mid-table berth.
That is where he now finds himself whith just four matches to play.
29/08/08: Twenty-seven contest warm up event
The Bristol Open weekend is upon us!
Twenty-seven players contested the warm-up knock-out event at the Artillery Grounds this evening, an inexpensive precursor to the weekend's main event.
John Clark and Dave Moon made it to the final, which was held over until it can be fitted in over the weekend.
Both finalists are in the optional £20 side pool, while semi-finalist Gaz Owen was the outright winner of the £5 side pool.
Mikael Jensen won a quarter entry satellite event, defeating Raj Jansari in the final, and there was a late poker session.
Martin Hemming and Ann Pocknell found time to complete a Bristol Premier League Division One match, Ann prevailing 11-1.
A brief report will appear here after each day's activity, with full results available on this website as soon as possible afterwards.
29/08/08: The lull before the storm
Only seventeen players turned out for the August league night at the BCSC on Thursday, and only thirteen of these managed to register a league result.
The low turnout was no doubt a reflection of the fact that the majority of players have their sights well set on the weekend's big tournament.
Premier Two Red saw most action with six results. The top places remained unaffected, but Ian Preston and Richard Owsley kept alive their outside chances of promotion with wins.
John Lewis grabbed a useful double over Phillip Hill, while Neil Young and Drew Caudwell were the others to register a success.
In Premier Two Blue Tony Walters, Simon Hughes and Alan Parfitt scored victories.
The only action in the Conference was another nail biter for Simon Temme who edged home 11-10 against John Sprague to consolidate his third place.
27/08/08: Cecilia still well in the mix
A much needed double over Jerry Limb at the Blackboy Inn has propelled Cecilia Sparke right back into the thick of the promotion race in Premier Two Red.
The Monday afternoon wins move Cecilia into second place, three points behind Dave Pym with a match in hand, while third and fourth placed Steffen Nowak and Simon Baker have matches in hand on Cecilia.
25/08/08: There's poker too at the Bristol Open
Saturday evening at the Bristol Open (click the logo on the left for full details) will see Texas Hold 'Em poker as an attractive sideshow to the main event.
It's not uncommon for the two activities to go hand in hand at weekend backgammon tournaments, and this one is no exception.
The poker will be hosted by Mark Dixon, with a 9pm start scheduled. Late starts will be accommodated for those needing to finish the Saturday rounds of the backgammon, but with blinds small to begin with, being blinded out until sitting down will not impose too much of a penalty.
The format will be £50 freezeout with £5 registration, with starting stacks of 6000, and 20 minute blinds starting from 25/50.
There will also be facilities for side games for those eliminated early.
24/08/08: Bristol Open registration starts on Friday
Registrations for the Bristol Open (click the logo on the left for full details) will be taken on Friday at the Warm-up evening, as well as in the hour from noon to 1pm on Saturday.
Two players, of course -- Gaz Owen (Championship) and Steve Morris (Intermediate) -- are already registered, having won their entries through the satellite events staged in Bristol earlier this month.
But for everyone else it will be a case of paying at the venue. Entry fees (£170 for the Championship and £30 for the Intermediates) will all be returned 100% as prizes, as will the stakes from the optional side pools, while registration fees cover the costs of the event (hopefully!).
23/08/08: Danish rules O.K.
The upcoming Bristol Open (click the logo on the left for full details) will be run under Danish Backgammon Federation rules, like its predecessor tournaments in 2005 and 2006.
The main issue here is that premature or illegal rolls can either be re-rolled at the behest of the opponent or condoned.
The rules will digress from the Danish rules only in respect of the use of clocks, which will follow the BIBA standard of 2 minutes per point per player with a 12 seconds delay.
23/08/08: Gaz still in touch after Devon double header
The Well House Tavern in the heart of Exeter today became the latest new venue to be graced by Bristol Backgammon action.
Premier One title contenders Gaz Owen and Ann Pocknell were the protagonists, and both matches turned out be be one sided, each containing an unlikely backgammon.
Ann prevailed 11-0 in the first match, but went down 1-11 in the second.
In truth Ann really needed to win both matches to maintain a realistic interest in the title race, given that she had a lot more ground to make up on leader Stuart Mann than her opponent did. Her interest now seems to be purely mathematical.
The results weren't ideal for Gaz by any means, but with five matches left for the top two, he is still in touch, albeit as clearly second favourite.
22/08/08: Warm up (and down) with the stars
Just a week away is the eagerly awaited 2008 Bristol Open, with a very strong field due to assemble at the Artillery Grounds, Whiteladies Road, Clifton.
Events at the main venue kick off on the warm-up evening, with doors open at 6pm on Friday 29th.
There will be a cheap and cheerful knock-out event, and satellites (probably with quarter or eighth entry), jackpots, blitzes, or stoppots available according to demand.
Many of the visiting stars from home and abroad are likely to be there, limbering up for the main event on Saturday and Sunday.
And there is also an open invitation to all visiting players to turn up for the regular "bread and butter" Bristol Backgammon sessions at the BCSC on Thursday 28th and Monday September 1st.
Entry to all Friday's action apart from satellites is not restricted to those contesting the weekend's events, so there is likely to be an intriguing mix of players.
Click on the event logo (left) for fuller information on Bristol Backgammon's biggest weekend of the year.
22/08/08: Peter and Blaine win doubles event
The third of four 2008 Consulting Doubles Grand Prix events was contested on Thursday by eleven pairs, proving the popularity of the format once again.
Peter Edwards and Blaine Buchanan took the honours, defeating Roland Herrera and Lizzie Pearce in the final.
The consolation flight final -- between Ed Turner and Anne Ryder and Ian Preston and Nick Hill -- was held over for another night, possibly next Thursday.
Roland now leads this year's doubles rankings, with Blaine second, Lizzie third, and Peter fourth.
22/08/08: Dave and Steffen pile on the pressure
There were five Premier Two Red matches played last night -- with two venues playing host.
Dave Pym managed to get in three matches at the BCSC, first defeating John Lewis and then sharing the spoils with Cynthia Roberts.
Steffen Nowak and Jerry Limb fought out a double header at the Blackboy Inn, with Steffen shrugging off the effects of Jerry's home advantage to score a valuable double.
Dave now sits atop the league with a six points cushion over Steffen, but Steffen has three matches in hand.
Simon Baker, displaced from second place by Steffen, remains well in contention with two further matches in hand, and at this stage it would be surprising if the divisional top spot were to be occupied by somebody else come the end of the season.
Cecilia Sparke, Ian Preston and Richard Owsley are still well in the promotion mix, however.
Simon Temme continued his admirable pursuit of Conference opponents, and scored another narrow victory -- this time over Mandy Macdonald.
Simon moves into third place, and his twin aims must be to carry on winning while at the same time encouraging more players to breach the eight match threshold which can trigger further promotion slots than the single one earned thus far.
19/08/08: Roland thwarts Leo to extend lead
Roland Herrera scored a narrow win over Leo Waters in the August Bristol Grand Prix final on Monday evening.
The win scotched hopes of a Winner Takes All pool rollover, as well as extending Roland's OGP lead to 195 points with just four events remaining.
And as Roland already had a double 2009 Bristol Masters qualification to his name, there will now be four Premier One high finishers gaining entry to that event.
Eight players, including Leo and Roland, contested a quick clock tournament, and Leo won the main flight defeating Gaz Owen in the final, while Roland pipped Ian Preston in the consolation final.
15/08/08: AUGUST GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-six players were in action at the BCSC on Thursday, including the twenty-four entrants to the monthly Grand Prix event.
15/08/08: Leo makes the most of his latest visit ......
Leo Waters and Roland Herrera will meet in the main final of the August Bristol Grand Prix event, on Monday evening at the BCSC.
Leo's visits from Berlin are few and far between -- although he has twice been over recently -- but he has had impressive results on each occasion.
He came through the long part of the draw with wins over Tony Walters, Ed Turner, Ian Tarr and Todd Young to book his final place, while Roland was overcoming Nick Barham, Neil Young and Peter Edwards.
For Todd, who will be thirteen next month, this was his best ever run in a grand prix event, with victories over fellow Premier Two players Steve Morris, Simon Hughes and Cecilia Sparke preceding his near miss against Leo, where he led 6-2 before succumbing.
15/08/08: Blaine takes consolation ......
Blaine Buchanan won the consolation flight of Thursday's event, defeating Gaz Owen in the final.
His tough route to success took him past Marcus Wrinch and Simonetta Herrera, while Gaz was defeating Nick Barham, Lewis Young and Richard Holness.
15/08/08: Roland now almost untouchable in OGP ......
With just four events to go Roland Herrera's lead over the rest of the OGP field just gets bigger and bigger.
Roland yesterday maintained his record of winning at least three main flight matches in each grand prix event he has entered this year -- a record of remarkable consistency.
And his lead of 160 points over second placed Blaine Buchanan can increase by a further 35 points if he can defeat Leo Waters in Monday's main flight final.
Blaine has a 40 points cushion over third placed Fathers4Justice activist Tim Line, who may have left his best efforts on Lord Justice Sir Mathew Thorpe's rooftop.
15/08/08: Derek edges back into IGP lead ......
Derek Clew is once again just ahead of Lewis Young at the top of the IGP table.
While his lead is a mere four points, he also has the considerable advantage of only having contested three of this year's events, so will not have to discard more than one score before the end of the season.
Lewis, meanwhile, has contested seven events already, so will have to discard a score every time he competes from now on.
There are two Premier League places up for grabs in the IGP, so Lewis -- who also looks set to qualify via the Conference -- and Derek look well set to take these, as their nearest challengers are well over 100 points behind.
But a good performance in any of the remaining events could still throw other names into the mix.
Best scorer yesterday was Richard Holness, whose wins in the consolation flight were both against Premier League players, thus earning him bonus points.
Richard draws level on points with John Sprague, who still holds third place on countback.
15/08/08: Rollover hopes rest with Leo ......
There was no rollover in the Winner Takes All pool, but the September tournament may yet be subject to one.
Leo Waters opted out of the pool, so will carry many good wishes when he plays Monday's final, as a win would stop Roland Herrera scooping the money.
Meanwhile, a win for Roland would mean an extra place in the 2009 Bristol Masters for a Premier One high finisher, as Roland has already qualified.
15/08/08: Gaz books Open place ......
Last week's Bristol Open satellite event was completed before last night's tournament with the playing of the Championship Satellite final.
Gaz Owen joins Intermediate Satellite winner Steve Morris as a fully paid up entrant for the big event, at the end of the month.
If there is a demand, there could yet be further satellites between now and August 30th.
15/08/08: Ian sanctions first ever "provisional" match ......
Sometimes special circumstances require special treatment.
Apart from Adrian Fisk's refusal to come all the way back from Cardiff to finish a consolation flight in 2006, it has always been possible to finish tournament flights, even if there have sometimes been regrettable delays.
Visitors have often come to our events from far away, and as visitors, of course, they go away again.
Usually we have been able to finish events satisfactorily before their departure -- in most cases by ensuring the visitor is eliminated from the tournament! -- but that could never be guaranteed.
Enter, stage left, Leo Waters from Berlin. Leo has shown a marked refusal to be eliminated from any of the few tournaments he has entered in Bristol!
The handicap knock-out a fortnight ago saw Leo progressing to the main final in double quick time. As a second visit from Berlin was looming, all that was necessary was to get the outstanding semi-final played in the interim.
Unfortunately Mike Osborne has been unwell, and has not been able to play the semi with Lewis Young, and won't be available to do so before Leo returns to Germany once again.
As a possible solution Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr decided to depart from normal practice and allow a "provisional" final to be played last night.
If Lewis eventually wins the semi when it's played, the result of that provisional match -- a win for Lewis -- will then stand, and the flight will be deemed complete.
If Mike wins the semi, another solution will be found.
12/08/08: Steve's Open entry assured
Steve Morris last night won the outstanding final of the Intermediate Satellite for the Bristol Open.
He edged home against Lotte Ryan to ensure that his entry and registration for the big event at the end of August have now been paid.
Meanwhile nine players enjoyed a couple of 3-point round robins at the Monday BCSC session.
Entry was £10 for one of these, £5 for the other, and the pots were shared by joint winners -- Gaz Owen and Tony Walters in the £10 event, Nick Hill and Ian Preston in the other.
And Patrick Duggan scored an 11-6 Conference win over Lars Ericsson.
08/08/08: Satellite news ......
...... and no, this has nothing to do with satellite TV, as one player suspected the other day!
Jackpot evening at the BCSC saw pre-qualifying tournaments for the upcoming Bristol Open taking centre stage.
There were just seven takers for the Championship satellite, with the cost of entry (£38) and the auctioning of a semi-final place (for £37!) covering the £170 Bristol Open Chamionship entry, £30 registration and £100 optional side pool entry.
Peter Edwards and Gaz Owen emerged from the throng to contest a final which has been set for next Thursday.
As for the Intermediate equivalent, there was a better turnout, with eight players paying a mere £9 each for the privilege, covering the £30 Bristol Open Intermediate entry, £10 registration and £30 optional side pool enry.
Once again the event was not completed, with the final, between Lotte Ryan and Steve Morris, adjourned at 4-3 in Lotte's favour. This is scheduled for completion on Monday evening.
There were two other jackpots, with Juanita Ferrer and Cynthia Roberts splitting the pot from one, and Ian Tarr winning the other.
And some took advantage of the opportunity to get in some league action.
Todd Young pulled off an excellent Premier Two Blue result, defeating promotion contender Phil Charlton 11-9.
Todd's elder brother Lewis Young continued on his inexorable way towards promotion from the Conference with a win over league debut making Lotte.
In the process Lewis equalled the all time record for number of Conference matches played, his 54 matches drawing him level with none other than his brother Todd!
And in the same competition Simon Temme cemented his new burgeoning reputation for marathon matches, going down very narrowly to John Sprague.
Simon had earlier lost out to Steve in the held over final of the consolation flight of last week's Handicap Trophy event.
01/08/08: Eight penalised at midnight checkpoint
While the July 31st Premier League checkpoint has passed without anyone getting expunged, and without anyone failing to claw back penalties incurred in May, eight players have incurred penalties this time around.
In Premier One Miles Farren is docked two points, while Martin Hemming and Paul Gilbertson lose a point apiece.
Premier Two Blue's transgressors are Mike Smith and John Paton who each incur three penalty points.
The three who incur penalties in Premier Two Red are Jerry Limb with three points, Andrew Cobb and John Lewis, who each incur a single penalty.
All eight players can claw these points back by complying with the requirements of the September 30th checkpoint.
01/08/08: Leo does it again
Berlin based Leo Waters' welcome visits to Bristol Backgammon don't happen too often, for obvious reasons, but he makes the most of it when he is in the area.
Last year, as an unknown quantity to us, he was granted the benefit of the maximum handicap of 4 at the August Handicap knock-out, and proved the handicapper totally wrong by winning the event.
Now his latest visit has coincided with a similar event, so Director Ian Tarr exercised his prerogative to reduce Leo's handicap to a still friendly 1.
Unperturbed, Leo still made it to the final, where he will meet either new Handicap Trophy leader Lewis Young or Mike Osborne, who put in his first appearance of 2008 and came through to the semi-finals.
Mike and Lewis will no doubt play their semi quite soon, while the final will hopefully be scheduled during Leo's next visit, which is coming quite soon.
Leo's path to the final came via wins over three zero handicap players -- Roland Herrera, Tim Line and Nick Barham.
Mike got past a trio of ladies -- Anne Ryder, Cynthia Roberts and tournament debutante Lotte Ryan -- to reach the semis, while Lewis defeated Steve Morris and Simon Hughes after receiving a bye in the first round.
Another welcome debut player was Barry Vasili, who lost a close encounter with Lotte, but will hopefully be back for more.
The consolation flight final was adjourned at 3-all, so Simon Temme and Steve Morris will resume that match some time soon.
Lewis has opened up a 30 points gap at the head of the Handicap Trophy table, and can add to that by making further progress in this event.
Meanwhile, there was some important league action as four players made sure of avoiding penalty points at the midnight checkpoint.
In Premier One Gaz Owen established himself as the clearest challenger to Stuart Mann's title aspirations by fending off the challenge of Ian Tarr with an 11-8 win.
Ian could have gone second with a decent win, but his chances of challenging Stuart are now looking as slim as everyone else's, bar Gaz.
Tim Line defeated Todd Young in a Premier Two Blue match, and stays on the fringes of the promotion race.
Lewis Young also found time to complete a couple of Conference matches, losing to John Sprague before defeating Mike Osborne.
Lotte Ryan is the latest player to join the Conference.
29/07/08: Miles dents Ann's championship hopes
Ann Pocknell's bid to add the Bristol Premier League championship to her string of 2008 titles hit a snag this evening in Taunton, when she suffered a 9-11 defeat at the hands of Miles Farren.
The defeat leaves Ann still twelve points adrift of leader Stuart Mann with just one match in hand, while Miles is one step closer to extricating himself from the bottom four.
29/07/08: Is Todd a world record breaker?
Monday's BCSC session saw a handful of league matches played, three welcome debut appearances, and an unusual Tric Trac Tourno, as no fewer than eighteen players put in an appearance on the night.
The new players were Heather Richardson and her sister Carol, who took advantage of some coaching from Director Ian Tarr, and Lotte Ryan, who performed creditably in the Tric Trac Tourno. Hopefully all will be back for more.
The Tric Trac Tourno might just possibly have created a record (the format's inventor Mike Main would be best placed to answer that question), in that thirteen players took part, a number hitherto unheard of for this format in Bristol at least.
And it was Todd Young -- at the tender age of twelve -- who took the prize.
Todd had played a Premier Two double header with Nick Barham earlier in the evening, and had come out distinctly second best, so the TTT success was all the more welcome.
That brace of wins elevated Nick into the second promotion slot at the expense of Phil Charlton, and those two players have now opened up a gap ahead of the other challengers.
In the same league Alan Parfitt and Blaine Buchanan fought out another double header just up the road at Colston Yard. The honours were shared, which means both players have lost a little ground in the promotion race.
In Premier One Miles Farren was beaten by Michael Corbett, but at least ensured that nobody in any of the three Premier League divisions will be expunged come Thursday's midnight checkpoint.
Indeed the only player with a serious problem to solve before the checkpoint is Todd, who needs to fit in one more match to ensure that the penalty point he incurred in May does not become permanent.
There are still twelve players in the three divisions, though, who stand to incur initial penalties at Thursday's checkpoint.
The other Premier One match saw Ian Tarr edge to victory over Simonetta Herrera, a result which keeps both players very firmly in the "something to play for" bracket.
Simonetta will probably need to win at least four of her remaining six matches to stay up, while Ian still has an outside chance of wresting the title from the clear leader Stuart Mann.
27/07/08: Bristol Open website now online
Click on the panel on the left for details of the 2008 Bristol Open.
The website is continually being updated with more and more details of this flagship event, so you are recommended to keep visiting it for the latest information.
Several eminent players -- both from at home and abroad -- have indicated their intention to participate.
Two of Norway's outstanding players, brother and sister Odin and Katja Spillum Svensen, and top Danes Pia Jeppesen and Martin Foldager are amongst the overseas players on the list, as are top UK players John Clark, Rachel Rhodes, Mike Heard and Chris Ternel.
There is also certain to be a strong Bristol contingent to swell the field.
25/07/08: International backgammon returns to Bristol!
The hot news on the Bristol Backgammon scene is the imminent return of international backgammon to Bristol, in the shape of the third coming of what will now be called the Bristol Open.
The predecessors to this event were the much celebrated Wedding Tournament in 2005, and the Bristol International Festival in 2006.
After taking a year out last year Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr are pleased to announce a slightly scaled down version of the 2006 event, which will retain the virtues of the excellent location, and the anticipated high quality field.
Watch for further announcements -- and mail-shots -- very soon as the event takes shape.
25/07/08: Overseas guests add to quiet league night
With just fifteen players in league action, the July league night atmosphere was boosted by the separate visits of two players based overseas, who participated not only in chouettes, but also in an eight player jackpot put on in their honour.
Pictured are Jorgen Mohr Poulsen and Leo Waters (right) contesting their jackpot semi-final.
Jorgen, currently ranked number seventeen in arguably the world's strongest backgammon nation Denmark, is currently a guest of the Herreras, while Leo, an expat based in Berlin, is visiting family in the area. Leo has visited us once before, when -- given the benefit of a very generous handicap -- he scooped last August's Handicap Trophy main flight.
Jorgen was defeated by his host Roland Herrera in the final of the jackpot.
Meanwhile Stuart Mann was reasserting himself in the race for the Premier League championship, with victories over Michael Corbett and Ann Pocknell -- the latter match featuring a recovery from a 0-8 deficit.
Stuart now has a nine points lead over second placed Gaz Owen, albeit having played three more matches.
Ed Turner added to Michael's woes with a win that bears all the hallmarks of a typical Ed escape from the relegation zone, although he still has much work to do.
Michael, on the other hand, has slumped from mid-table into a bottom but one position which does not bode well for his chances of survival in the top flight.
It was Premier Two Red which saw most action on the night.
You could throw the proverbial blanket over the top six contenders now, with only three points covering them all.
Simon Baker is the new top dog after sharing the points in a tight double header with fellow contender Richard Owsley.
The absent Cecilia Sparke drops to second on average points difference, just ahead of Ian Preston, who also arrived on eleven wins with victory over Dave Pym, his sixth successive league win to rescue what had looked like a poor season for him.
Dave, Steffen Nowak, and Richard make up the top six, while it's certainly not too late for others to force their way into the reckoning.
Jerry Limb scored a brace of wins to haul himself off the bottom of the league, while Phillip Hill was the evening's other winner.
In Premier Two Blue there was just a double header between two of the candidates challenging for the second promotion slot.
A brace of wins would have seen either Alan Parfitt or Nick Barham well placed, and it was Nick who achieved that objective, closing fast on second placed Phil Charlton.
In the Conference Richard Holness won the night's only game, 11-2 over John Sprague.
Richard is well clear of third place, and awaits the almost inevitable granting of a second promotion slot to give his season a little more meaning.
23/07/08: Marcus making a move
After his 2007 Conference heroics, it's fair to say that Marcus Wrinch has had a disappointing start to his first season in Premier Two Blue.
However, a double success today over Mike Smith at the Travellers Rest, Ross-on-Wye, has catapulted Marcus from ninth position right up to third, and he is now one of those best placed to challenge Phil Charlton for the second promotion spot.
23/07/08: John off the bottom
A result from Monday night at the Hare on the Hill sees John Paton move from the bottom of Premier Two Blue.
The 11-7 win over Blaine Buchanan is a further dent to Blaine's promotion chances.
22/07/08: Gaz closes on Stuart
Gaz Owen has moved to within three points of Premier One leader Stuart Mann.
His 11-6 win over Paul Watts at the Blackboy Inn, Whiteladies Road, keeps his championship challenge very much alive, while at the same time making it even harder for Paul to extricate himself from the relegation zone.
The only good news for Paul was in reclaiming the two penalty points he incurred at the July 31st checkpoint by ensuring he is up with the schedule for next week's checkpoint.
22/07/08: Premier League rule enhancement
The small print has been subtly altered in the Premier League rules.
Director Ian Tarr is always reluctant to change rules in mid-season, but had spotted a minor loophole in the way the positions for next year's leagues are supposed to be determined.
This particular aspect of the rules catered very well with leagues where all players are finishers, but was marginally unfair to the bottom finishers when there have been resignations or expungements.
Hopefully such a scenario will not occur, but the purpose of rules should be to cater for all eventualities, and this is the aim of the change.
20/07/08: Ann wins again -- this time in Liverpool
Not content with winning the BIBA British Open, the Bristol Masters and the July Bristol Grand Prix event, Ann Pocknell today added to her list of 2008 successes by winning the Liverpool Open!
There were four regular Bristol League players among the 47 starters in Saturday's Swiss format phase, and all four managed to progress to Sunday's 16-player final knock-out phase.
Paul Gilbertson and Cynthia Roberts didn't make it to the last eight, but Ann and Marcus Wrinch did.
That was as good as it got for Marcus, but Ann went all the way, and defeated Jimmi Wong in the final.
19/07/08: Simon and Dave were in action too
A couple of results from Tuesday evening at the BCSC have emerged.
They formed a Premier Two Red double header between promotion contenders Simon Baker and Dave Pym.
Simon won the first match 11-8, but Dave got his revenge with an 11-4 success.
Both players remain well and truly in contention for the two promotion slots, with leader Cecilia Sparke and Steffen Nowak also very well placed.
18/07/08: Peter's promotion now assured
The inevitable has finally happened in Premier Two Blue -- Peter Edwards' promotion to the top flight has now been rubber stamped.
Tony Walters' 11-10 victory over Phil Charlton at the BCSC provided the confirmation, as only Nick Barham can now overtake Peter.
Phil later gained his revenge over Tony, and remains the favourite to take the second promotion slot.
Meanwhile Mark Dixon was doing his best to finish his fixtures before his departure to London with a double header against Paul Watts at Clifton College.
Mark scored a double success, giving him a great chance to avoid a bottom four finish. The same cannot now be said of Paul, who needs a dramatic change of fortune to stay in the top flight.
In Premier Two Red Drew Caudwell ended his long drought with an 11-9 win over Richard Owsley, striking a blow to Richard's chances of promotion.
And in the Conference Simon Temme was consolidating his tenure of third place with a victory over Richard Holness, who was suffering only his second reverse in nine matches.
There was also a nine player Tric Trac Tourno, which saw Simonetta Herrera take the prize.
16/07/08: Ann wins July grand prix; Phil consolidates
The Queen's Hotel, Newton Abbot, was the venue for the held over final of the July Bristol Grand Prix event.
Ann Pocknell took the title after a reluctant acceptance of Ian Tarr's opening game redouble saw her eventually take an 8-0 lead. Ian recovered to 5-8, but got no further.
Ann moves up to fourth in the OGP, and her second qualification for the 2009 Bristol Masters means that a further Premier One high finisher will benefit.
Closer to home, at the Highbury Vaults, Phil Charlton was consolidating his second position in Premier Two Blue with an 11-8 win over Simon Hughes.
15/07/08: Honours even in league double headers
There were two Bristol Premier League double headers this evening, as the pace picks up with the next checkpoint just over a fortnight away.
In Premier One Mark Dixon defeated Ed Turner 11-4 at the BCSC, before Ed gained his revenge with a similar scoreline.
And at the Rose and Crown, Bath, Andrew Cobb lost no time in whitewashing John Lewis thanks to a backgammon on a four cube, but John took his revenge, albeit by "only" 11-8 to maintain the status quo two thirds of the way down the Premier Two Red league table.
14/07/08: Mark delivers farewell seminar
Mark Dixon this evening delivered an excellent seminar featuring positions from his recent Premier One match against Stuart Mann.
There were upwards of a dozen avid listeners, and there was much food for thought.
Bristol Backgammon will miss Mark when he leaves Bristol shortly to take up a new post in London.
Later on Mark and Stuart completed their return Premier One fixture, with Mark once again coming out on top.
It was very nearly a whitewash, but Mark had to be content with a 10-0 lead, before Stuart clawed back eight points to give himself a real chance. It was not to be, however, and Stuart's lead now looks that little bit less impregnable, while Mark's rise from the bottom four is gathering pace.
Tomorrow evening he is scheduled to play a double header against Ed Turner.
There was also action in both divisions of Premier Two.
Phil Charlton was looking to consolidate his position as the player most likely to accompany Peter Edwards into Premier One from Premier Two Blue, when he took on Marcus Wrinch, another with promotion aspirations.
Marcus needed a win to add credibility to his campaign, and he got it by an 11-3 margin.
Drew Caudwell finished his adjourned Premier Two Red match against John Lewis, but went down 5-11 to record his eleventh successive league reverse.
John eased his way out of the bottom four at the expense of Andrew Cobb, against whom he is due to play a double header tomorrow.
Further action came in the way of an eight player three points jackpot, which saw Steve Morris defeat Simonetta Herrera in the final.
13/07/08: Trabi is world champion!
World backgammon giant Lars Trabolt, a welcome visitor to our April grand prix event, has today won the World Championship in Monte Carlo.
Many congratulations to Trabi!
And Alain de Foucher, an occasional visitor last year when he was based in South Wales, was runner-up in the intermediate category.
12/07/08: JULY GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-seven players were in action at the BCSC on Thursday, including the twenty-three entrants to the monthly Grand prix event.
12/07/08: Ann and Ian to meet in grand prix final ......
Ann Pocknell and Ian Tarr will meet in the main final of the July Bristol Grand Prix event.
Ann's path to the final took her past Steve Morris, Stuart Mann and John Sprague, while Ian was defeating Cecilia Sparke, Cynthia Roberts, Peter Edwards and Tony Walters.
12/07/08: Tim beats Cynthia in consolation final ......
Tim Line defeated Cynthia Roberts in the consolation flight final of Thursday's tournament, after wins over Steve Morris, Lewis Young and Steffen Nowak.
12/07/08: Roland's lead still an imposing one ......
The absent Roland Herrera had his OGP lead cut by just 25 points to 135, when his nearest rivals Blaine Buchanan and Tim Line chipped away with adequate points returns.
Whoever comes out on top in the final will push Stuart Mann out of fourth place.
12/07/08: Lewis edges ahead of absent Derek ......
IGP leader Derek Clew was a no show at Thursday's tournament, and left the way clear for Lewis Young to edge ahead of him.
Lewis picked up 25 points, enough to give him a slender six point advantage, but the star intermediate of the evening was John Sprague, whose run to the main semi-final brought him fifty points to push him into third place.
12/07/08: Rollover hopes die with John's exit ......
Eleven of the twenty-three tournament entrants opted to enter the Winner Takes All pool, where hopes of a rollover were running high.
But of the non pool entrants only John Sprague survived to the semi-final stage, where he was eliminated by Ann Pocknell.
12/07/08: Another Premier One Masters place assured ......
There will be at least four Premier One participants in the 2009 Bristol Masters after Ann Pocknell and Ian Tarr made it through to the main final on Thursday.
Ann has already qualified as Masters holder, while Ian will join the list if he wins the final.
If he doesn't, a further place will go a Premier One high finisher.
12/07/08: League wins for Phil, Steffen, Neil and Simon ......
Phil Charlton trailed for virtually the entire match when he met Tim Line in a Premier Two Blue encounter.
He wasn't trailing at the end, though, and his 11-10 win has moved him into second place in the league table.
Meanwhile Drew Caudwell was tidying up a couple of adjourned matches. Unfortunately for him, though, both ended in defeat, with Steffen Nowak pressing his claim for a Premier Two Red promotion slot, and Neil Young consolidating his mid-table position.
All that action took place before the tournament, but the evening's only Conference match took place alongside it.
And what a marathon it was, with Simon Temme narrowly defeating Patrick Duggan.
12/07/08: Peter wins clock consolation final ......
The last loose end from the July 3rd clock tournament was tied up when Peter Edwards won the consolation final at the expense of Richard Owsley.
06/07/08: Mark and Simonetta share the spoils
In a Premier One double header at Kellaway Avenue this afternoon Mark Dixon and Simonetta Herrera broke virtually even.
Mark took the first match 11-9, but Simonetta had her revenge with an 11-8 win.
06/07/08: The weekend's BIBA results
Only twenty-two players contested BIBA's Keren di Bona Memorial knock-out event at Daventry this weekend.
But each of the four flights saw a player with Bristol connections featuring prominently.
Peter Bennet only ever contested one bread and butter Bristol event, but congratulations are due to him on the latest of a remarkable run of recent successes when he defeated Martin Barkwill to take the main flight.
In the 7-point consolation flight it was Premier One title contender Paul Gilbertson who got through to the final only to lose out to world backgammon giant Julian Fetterlein, who has yet to venture to one of our domestic events (apart from the 2006 Christmas meal!) from his base in Cheltenham.
The Last Chance, a 5-point flight, saw Conference title contender Richard Holness beaten in the final, while Marcus Wrinch from Premier Two Bluewon the the 3-point "Bona of contention" flight.
05/07/08: August events switched
The events scheduled for August 7th and August 21st at the BCSC have been swapped over.
The Consulting Doubles event originally scheduled for August 7th, has now been put back to August 21st, while the August jackpot evening has been brought forward a fortnight to the 7th.
The switch has been made to fit in better with the availability of Director Ian Tarr.
04/07/08: Simonetta bags second clock title
Sixteen players contested the fourth of this year's six clock tournaments with orthodox time allowances at the BCSC on Thursday.
And it was Simonetta Herrera who came out on top for the second time this year, when she fought her way past Richard Owsley, Lewis Young and Tony Walters, before defeating Ian Tarr in the final.
Richard will meet Peter Edwards in the consolation final, probably before next Thursday's grand prix event at the BCSC.
Ian also managed to fit in the final of last week's quick clock consolation flight before the main event, defeating Neil Young.
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