News items from 2011 (second half)
23/12/11: Fun had by all at Christmas tournament
The last Bristol Backgammon event of 2011 saw the year off to a fun-filled climax at the BCSC last night!
Fourteen players tried their luck in the tournament, the format of which featured 3-points matches all the way, starting with three round robin groups, and concluding with two flights of knock-out.
The three group winners, Roland Herrera, Steffen Nowak and Ian Preston, all collected small cash prizes, as well as qualifying for the main knock-out flight along with five others.
The bottom two in each of the three groups went into the consolation knock-out.
The main flight saw a win for Simonetta Herrera, who defeated Steve Morris and Roland, before despatching Nick Barham in the final.
In the consolation it was James Lintell-Smith, who reached the final via a bye and victory over Tom Chapman, and then beat Ian Tarr in the final.
All four finalists received cash prizes as well as the handsome bonus of a bottle of bubbly each, generously provided by Steve to add a bit of festive cheer.
So seven of the fourteen players got something back for their efforts, everyone was kept pretty busy for the majority of the four and a half hours of play, and a lot of fun was had by all.
23/12/11: Premier Two line-ups announced
Before last night's tournament, there was the small matter of the draw to allocate the three new players to the two divisions of Premier Two.
Occupiers of the remaining slots were already known via last season's finishing positions, and the ten player divisions will line up thus:
Premier Two Blue: Neil Young, Cecilia Sparke, Phil Charlton, Richard Holness, James Lintell-Smith, Michael Corbett, Steve Morris, Sean Hopson, Alan Parfitt and John Corrado;
Premier Two Red: Paul Watts, Simon Hughes, Malcolm Patterson, Chas Perry, Nick Barham, Ed Turner, Simon Baker, Andrew Cobb, John Paton and Mandy Macdonald.
22/12/11: Roll up for tonight's festive finale!
It's the final Bristol Backgammon event of the year at the BCSC tonight!
With all of our annual grand prix issues done and dusted, the Christmas Tournament takes centre stage, with every player guaranteed lots of action and at least two shots at a prize.
Unlike every other Thursday event, this one centres entirely around 3-point matches, with an initial round robin phase preceding a two flight knock-out phase.
Round robin winners will win small cash prizes, while knock-out finalists will do likewise.
And as an added bonus Steve Morris has generously provided a bottle of Champagne, one of Prosecco, one of Cava, and one of Bucks Fizz, all of which will be won on the night!
Come along and join the fun, before Bristol Backgammon embarks on its annual break, which will last a fortnight this time.
22/12/11: Thirty-two in Premier League line-up
The deadline for entries to the 2012 Premier League passed at midnight, and there will be 32 players lining up in the three divisions of the league.
Premier One will be one player short of last season's total of thirteen after Derek Clew was a surprise withdrawal.
And the two divisions of Premier Two will comprise ten players each.
Apart from Derek, those 2011 members missing from the league this time are Miles Farren, Lewis Young, Jamie Nevill, Cynthia Roberts and Ian Preston, all of whom will continue to be invited in years to come.
On the plus side, John Paton returns to the league after an absence of two years, while two players -- John Corrado and Mandy Macdonald -- will be making their Premier League debuts.
Premier Two line-ups will be announced shortly.
19/12/11: Time running out for Premier League entrants
There remain just two days for those invited to enter the 2012 Premier League to sign up.
Thirty-two players are already committed, but it now looks unlikely that last year's total of 35 players will quite be equalled.
19/12/11: Monday competition cancelled for the second time in four weeks
Just three players made it to the BCSC on MOnday, so the scheduled event -- a Nackgammon Tourno -- was cancelled.
This left the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix leaders unchallenged at the death, so Roland Herrera wins the competition, with Bahman Salahshour the leading intermediate.
16/12/11: Thursday will see a bubbly season finale
Next week provides us with the final two opportunities of the year to get in some backgammon action at the BCSC.
And after Monday's final phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, Thursday will see a fittingly festive finale to our year.
The now annual Christmas Tournament features a very generous sponsorship on the part of our regular player Steve Morris.
He is providing four assorted bottles of bubbly to augment the cash prizes for four lucky winners -- bottles of Champagne, Prosecco, Cava and Bucks Fizz.
The tournament will feature entirely 3-point matches, with at least the initial part of the event in round robin format.
What a great way to round off the year on the build up to the Christmas holiday.
16/12/11: Three divisions guaranteed again
With five days remaining before the deadline for Premier League entries, there have now been enough positive responses to ensure that will again be three divisions in 2012.
Twenty-seven have signed up so far, with a handful more expected before the clock strikes midnight on the 21st.
Those who have elected not to continue in 2012 are Miles Farren, Lewis Young and Cynthia Roberts, while John Corrado and Mandy Macdonald will be making their Premier League debuts.
16/12/11: Simonetta wins clock blitz event
Just six players turned out for the third and final Clock Blitz Grand Prix event of the year.
With its round robin format guaranteeing lots of action for everyone, and lots of fascinating time management issues, the mystery is: why aren't more players enjoying the hurly burly of these particular events?
Clocks bleeped on the approach to zero seconds on a few occasions, and also caught out Simonetta Herrera on one occasion when the bleeper had not been set.
That was her only loss, though, and her four wins out of five were enough to give her the money.
The CBGP title race only involved three players at the outset, but with only 85 points available Simon Hughes needed a clean sweep to oust leader Ian Tarr, while second placed Gaz Owen would have needed a similar performance if he had turned up.
Simon won three out of five, and Gaz wasn't there, so Ian, who had a moderate evening, retained his title.
13/12/11: Stuart equals Lesters win record
Stuart Mann yesterday celebrated competing in his fiftieth Lesters Trophy event by defeating Roland Herrera 11-2 in the held over final of last week's tournament and equalling Dave Pym's long standing record of seven Lesters titles.
The result did nothing to change the outcome of the OGP title race, as that had already been decided in Roland's favour.
But Stuart was a very creditable runner-up with 410 points from just five events contested, three of which he won!
That was early in the afternoon, and later Roland was back at the BCSC to contest the penultimate phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, which took the form of a pair of four player 3-point round robins.
Honours were shared in both groups -- Julia Griffith and Ian Tarr winning two apiece in one group, Bahman Salahshour and Steve Morris doing likewise in the other.
Roland's overall AGP lead over second placed Bahman looks unassailable, as does Bahman's lead over Julia as leading intermediate.
09/12/11: John accepts surprise invitation
One player who was not going to receive an invitation to contest next year's Premier League was John Corrado.
John made his maiden Bristol Backgammon appearance back in 2007, when it emerged that he had a BIBA ranking score of 1508.
Such scores have been used over the years to "fast track" players into the Premier League when they move to Bristol with a proven track record, but in 2005 the qualifying score was raised from 1500 to 1550.
John's BIBA ranking score, however, stems from his brief BIBA career which ended in 1996, so Director Ian Tarr determined that he satisfied the criteria when the Premier League started back in 2000.
John has accordingly been invited to participate next year, and has accepted his place.
Meanwhile entries are still trickling in, and Ian believes that entries will be close to last year's healthy level of 35 members.
Entries close on December 21st.
08/12/11: DECEMBER GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Why does it seem like Friday today?
It must be because the final monthly grand prix tournament of the year took place yesterday -- Wednesday -- at the BCSC, instead of the usual Thursday slot.
Just fifteen players contested the tournament, including John Sprague, who was leaving it late to make his first appearance of 2011 -- making him the 89th different player to pay to enter a Bristol Backgammon event this year.
08/12/11: Roland and Stuart make it to the final ......
Roland Herrera and Stuart Mann will contest the main final of the December monthly grand prix event, a k a Lesters LXXXI.
Roland defeated John Corrado, John Sprague and Simonetta Herrera to reach the final, while Stuart was eliminating James Lintell-Smith, Simon Hughes and Steve Morris.
08/12/11: Ian wins consolation ......
First to be eliminated from the main flight, Ian Tarr bounced back to win the consolation flight.
Victories over Richard Owsley, Cynthia Roberts and Steffen Nowak in the final were enough to clinch it.
08/12/11: Roland makes sure of OGP title ......
With the possibility of 140 points being available for taking the main flight, there were several players in with at least a theoretical chance of overhauling OGP leader Roland Herrera.
The field of fifteen reduced the possibility to 120 points, and the draw also worked in Roland's favour as other contenders took each other out of the equation.
In the end, Roland took things into his own hands by moving to the final, and putting himself beyond the reach of even his final opponent Stuart Mann, whose excellent all round season will include second place in the OGP, despite only contesting five of the twelve events.
It is Roland's third OGP title win in four years, emulating Stuart's feat in the first four years of the competition.
08/12/11: Absentees take IGP honours ......
It was perhaps predictable in this year of modest intermediate achievement that the climax of the IGP turned out to be something of a damp squib.
Hadi Kermani and Mandy Macdonald sat in the vital top two positions going into the tournament, putting them in line for Premier League invitations for next season.
There were a few others well within striking distance, so there was all to play for.
But only fifth placed John Corrado and seasonal debutant John Sprague toed the start line, so while John S still had a theoretical chance of breaking into the top two in one fell swoop, it was John C who had the best chance of doing so, needing just one win from either flight.
The main flight draw was unkind to him, pitting him against Roland Herrera, and the anticipated result came to pass.
In the consolation his opponent in the vital match was Blaine Buchanan, but John C fell to a narrow defeat to finish a frustrating third.
With the top two gaining Premier Status for the lowest points returns ever, it is likely that there will be a rule change in place for next season.
08/12/11: No rollover, and Steffen gets final Masters place ......
With a modest £30 rollover in place for the Winner Takes All pool last night, seven of the fifteen players invested this time around.
The emergence into the final of two of them -- Roland Herrera and Stuart Mann -- scotched any hopes of a further rollover, and the two will have a total pot of £345 to play for when they sit down to the 11-points final, probably on Monday.
Meanwhile, there was the small matter of filling the sixteenth and final place in next year's Bristol Masters.
The tournament winner was in line for this honour, but as both finalists have already qualified, a further Premier One high finisher will now benefit, and that player is Steffen Nowak.
08/12/11: Steffen finished third in Clock GP table ......
Before last night's tournament Richard Owsley and Steffen Nowak had some unfinished business to take care of.
This was the main final of last week's Clock Grand Prix event.
Steffen prevailed to move into third place in the final table.
06/12/11: Simon takes Premier Two title
The BCSC was the venue this evening when Simon Temme and Mike Smith met to decide the destiny of the outright Premier Two title.
They are, of course, both champions anyway, having won Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red respectively.
And it was Simon who upheld the bizarre tradition of Blue supremacy by winning 11-8 -- the fourth time out of four such events where the Blue divisional winner has come out on top in the battle of champions of these two parallel divisions.
06/12/11: Steffen takes Monday honours
A comparatively rare Monday evening foray by Steffen Nowak proved to be a profitable one.
Last night's latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a Tric Trac Tourno -- was contested by eleven players, and Steffen's tally of 12 points was enough to edge Ian Tarr and Cynthia Roberts out of the money.
Roland Herrera, who unusually failed to register even a single gammon from his ten games, still leads the AGP by a substantial margin, with Ian now in second place, just ahead of Bahman Salahshour, who leads the race for the top intermediate prize.
People have been known to question whether the scoring system actually does encourage playing for gammons (like it says on the tin).
But last night's event provided interesting evidence, since Steffen won despite losing six of his ten games, and the three players who won most games -- Pat Meek, Ian Preston and Bahman -- finished fifth, sixth and seventh simply because they managed only two gammons between them.
04/12/11: Thanks to Nick for library boost
Thanks are due to Nick Barham for some new additions to the Bristol Backgammon Library.
"Improve Your Backgammon" by Paul Lamford and "Backgammon Boot Camp" by Walter Trice, plus an additional copy of Magriel's "Backgammon" have joined the other titles on the list.
Email Ian Tarr, phone him on 07940 284652, or collar him at an evening session if you are interested in borrowing any of the titles.
02/12/11: Simonetta holds on to win the title
Ten players contested the last of six Clock Grand Prix tournaments at the BCSC last night, and seven players still had a theoretical chance of taking the title.
Leader Simonetta Herrera had Miles Farren, Stuart Mann, Ian Tarr, Roland Herrera, Richard Owsley and Neil Young in pursuit, but when Miles and Neil were no shows, the contenders were reduced to five.
Then Richard was drawn in the "short" half, thus depriving him of the chance to gain enough points to overhaul Simonetta.
And when Stuart, Ian and Roland all exited at the first hurdle the title was Simonetta's.
It was just as well that these circumstances transpired, as Simonetta herself failed to add to her points tally, her 25 matching her discarded total.
Richard and Steffen, having earlier contested last week's held over Handicap consolation final, then found themselves in another final -- Steffen defeating Ian and Simon Hughes, while Richard was beating Stuart and Simonetta.
The final will probably take place on Wednesday evening.
The consolation final saw a win for Roland over Ian.
While Simonetta finishes top of the CTGP standings, second place will go to either Miles or Richard, depending on the outcome of the final.
02/12/11: Owsleys finish the job
Last week's final Handicap Trophy event of the season was notable for the efforts of the Owsleys -- father Richard and daughter Lily -- in reaching the two finals.
These were held over until just before last night's advertised event (see report above), and both matches featured Owsley victories.
Sixteen year old Lily finished off a memorable run -- having beaten zero-handicapped players Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr en route to the final -- by despatching another zero handicapper, Dave Ablett.
Her 3-0 start was looking less of an advantage when Dave pegged things back to 3-2, but Lily powered on to win 7-2 and secure her first tournament win.
Meanwhile Richard was continuing his recent run of success by defeating Steffen Nowak in the consolation final.
01/12/11: CTGP reaches conclusion tonight
The latest of our annual competitions to reach its finale is the Clock Tournament Grand Prix, with the sixth and final tournament of the season taking place at the BCSC tonight.
Simonetta Herrera is the table leader, but given the assumption that 100 points will be the best possible return tonight, there are still still six players who could wrest the title from her.
But how many of those six will actually turn up? A report will appear here tomorrow.
01/12/11: Season over so Mandy is champion
In what was probably the most bizarre competition in the history of Bristol Backgammon, Mandy Macdonald has been crowned champion of the Bristol Conference League.
The eleven month season has now passed, and although five players paid their £10 entry fees, only two matches were played during the entire season!
Both of these featured Mandy and Pearl Foster, and since Mandy won both matches she wins the title.
The Conference has, until this season, proved a useful feeder competition to the Premier League, providing anything between one and five players for the following year's Premier League line-up.
This season, however, because of the unprecedented lack of keen entrants, nobody has got close to claiming a top flight place via their Conference efforts.
Mandy, however, may get there by virtue of her IGP exploits.
The top two from that competition gain Premier League status, and with one contributing tournament to go the vital places are held by Hadi Kermani and Mandy, although a handful of others are close to Mandy's current points total.
29/11/11: Derek winds up Premier League season with a win
All of the regular season Premier League matches have now been completed after Derek Clew's 11-4 Premier One victory over Blaine Buchanan at the King William yesterday evening.
Derek was already guaranteed fourth place -- an excellent result in his first season in the top flight -- while Blaine finishes safely in eighth, having returned to the top flight after seven years in Premier Two.
So all 376 matches in the three Premier League divisions have been played, with just two of the 334 playing days to spare.
This is confirmation of the commitment of the 35 players, and also the penalty system that occasionally cajoles them into action.
The only Premier League action remaining is the play-off between the winners of Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red.
That first-to-11-points match is yet to be scheduled, but for the protagonists -- Simon Temme and Mike Smith -- it will be an occasion to remember.
And whilst on the subject of occasions to remember, the latest Monday session at the BCSC hardly fell into that category.
For the first time in over two years there were insufficient players present to contest even one 3-point round robin, so the three who made it -- Roland Herrera, Bahman Salahshour and Ian Tarr -- contested an entertaining chouette.
27/11/11: Ed finishes with a win
There is just one regular season Premier League match remaining after Phil Charlton and Ed Turner rounded off their Premier One campaigns at the Sugar Loaf, Easton, on Friday evening.
Because of the late updating of the website -- apologies to all readers! -- Phil would have been unaware that his chance of avoiding relegation had disappeared with Blaine Buchanan's win the previous evening.
But Phil was unable to gain the win he might have thought he needed on the night, when Ed prevailed 11-5.
27/11/11: On Thursday it was good to be an Owsley
We are quite often aware of the exploits of the Herreras, and sometimes the Youngs, but on Thursday it was the turn of a different dynasty to fall under the spotlight.
Richard Owsley first appeared in Bristol Backgammon competition late in 2003, and has been one of our regulars ever since, steadily making progress to the extent that when he arrived at the BCSC on Thursday evening he was one beneficial result away from clinching a debut season in Premier One.
The word beneficial is used advisedly, because the result in question was not one he could have any control over.
Having finished his Premier Two Blue fixtures last week, he was sitting in the second of the automatic promotion slots, sweating on the result of the final match of the division, between Cecilia Sparke and Paul Watts.
From Richard's viewpoint the equation was simple -- a win for Cecilia would see her push Richard down to third, while a win for Paul would effectively promote Richard.
Cecilia had various possible outcomes.
A win by 11-0 or 11-1 would make her divisional champion, 11-2 would force a play-off with Simon Temme for that honour, while any other win would "merely" mean promotion.
So when she went 3-0 ahead after the first two games, she seemed on course for the promotion that she has come close to on more than one occasion.
Paul began to turn the tables, however, and the championship and play-off possibilities soon evaporated.
And as Paul forged ahead, even the last of Cecilia's positive options was slipping away -- his eventual 11-3 win moving him into third place at her expense and confirming both Simon's championship and Richard's promotion.
The good news was far from over for the Owsleys, however.
Both Richard and daughter Lily, still 16, were lining up for the last of the series of six Handicap Trophy tournaments -- Richard with his newly acquired zero handicap, Lily on a handy three.
The main draw for the tournament had the potential to be highly significant in its own right.
The number of points available in the tournament is dependent on the number of matches each player might play.
With fewer than seventeen players entering -- the final number was just ten -- the maximum number of points to be won was exactly 100.
But for those players receiving a first round bye that number was reduced to 85.
Only two players could gain enough points to have a chance to overhaul leader Ian Preston, and one of those, second placed Derek Clew, was absent!
Ian could then have been confirmed as Handicap Trophy champion if the other contender, Steffen Nowak, were to receive a bye.
Steffen, however, was first out of the hat, so the title was still -- just -- a two horse race.
Of course Ian had the opportunity to put the matter beyond doubt with a winning performance himself, but a hard fought opening encounter with Ian Tarr eventually went against him, and his first consolation flight match with Roland Herrera also resulted in defeat.
No matter, Steffen was to fall to Steve Morris at the first hurdle of the main flight, and the title was Ian's anyway.
Meanwhile the main flight saw Lily making the most of her three point starts against both Roland and Ian Tarr to reach the final.
The long half of the draw was proving exceedingly long, but Dave Ablett was to emerge as the other finalist, long after Lily had left for home.
In the consolation flight, it was Steffen and Richard who got to the final, and this is likely to be played this coming Thursday evening.
So for the Owsleys, the only blemish on the night was Richard's main flight defeat by Nick Barham.
Another important match was also taking place alongside the tournament.
Simonetta Herrera was hoping to end the Premier One season with an eighth successive league victory to clinch the runner-up spot, while her opponent, Blaine Buchanan needed a win to remove any doubt about his continuing presence in the top flight by relegating Phil Charlton.
Blaine was to edge home 11-9.
22/11/11: Shared spoils spell good news for Mike and Richard
The Premier Two Red season reached a pulsating climax at the BCSC this evening With a double header between Neil Young and Simon Hughes.
For different reasons each player was looking for a pair of victories.
Provided the wins were of sufficient margins, Neil could become divisional champion, or alternatively clinch the second promotion slot.
Even two narrow wins could have seen him missing out on promotion altogether.
For Simon the situation was more clear cut, as a brace of wins would see him finish third at Neil's expense, with the possibility of promotion via the proverbial back door.
Simon had the best of the opener, moving into a 9-1 lead. Neil, with his promotion hopes dangling by a thread, managed to claw it back to 5-9 before eventually succumbing 5-11.
This reduced the return encounter to what was effectively a play-off for third place.
Once again Simon raced into the lead, going 7-0 up.
Neil stuck to his task, however, and the match was soon level at 7-7, and then 9-9.
Neil took the next, and then won a tense Crawford game to clinch the potentially crucial third berth.
All of this happened without the other two contenders being present.
The first result was, of course, very good news for both Mike Smith, confirmed as divisional champion and a qualifier for the 2012 Bristol Masters, and Richard Biddle, who finishes runner-up and will taste top flight backgammon next year for the first time.
22/11/11: Simon double sets up Premier Two Red finale
With just four matches remaining to be played in Premier Two Red the spotlight had fallen on Simon Hughes, as he was involved in all of them.
Automatic promotion was not an option for Simon, but a third place finish might yet see him elevated back to the top flight through the back door.
This remained a possibility last night when he took on Andrew Cobb at the Knights Templar.
11-2 and 11-9 victories pushed Simon closer to third placed Neil Young to set up that pair's double header which is scheduled for tonight.
Two more wins will move Simon into third, while Neil has various targets in mind.
Two 11-4 wins for Neil would see him crowned as champion, while two 11-8 wins would necessitate an unprecedented promotion play-off with Richard Biddle.
Two narrower wins would condemn Neil to an agonising third place, after setting the pace for the greater part of the season.
Meanwhile, for the second successive week at the BCSC we had a player winning the advertised event only to cede the prize pot to others.
Geoff Hazell made his Bristol Backgammon debut in the seven player DMP Tourno, and won five of his six games to win, but had taken the zero entry option which is available on Mondays.
Thus second placed Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour shared the pot, and they now occupy the top two positions in the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, albeit with an 85 points gap between first and second.
There was time for a further seven player £3 DMP Tourno, and this time Julia Griffith took the pot.
17/11/11: NOVEMBER LEAGUE NIGHT NEWS ......
You could cut the tension with a knife!
Thursday saw the final league night of 2011 at the BCSC, and twelve Premier League players battled through a total of ten matches, resolving some of the outstanding issues, but leaving others tantalisingly on a knife edge (there's that knife again!).
Meanwhile five others were engaged in a chouette.
17/11/11: Simon is up, while Paul misses out ......
Four players went into the evening with a chance of making it into the two Premier Two Blue promotion slots, and three of the four outstanding matches with a bearing on that scenario were scheduled for BCSC action.
Of the four contenders, Richard Owsley ranked as the outsider.
But that was to change when he raced to an 11-0 whitewash of Sean Hopson.
And although the return encounter threatened at 4-4 to be an entirely different affair, Richard pulled away again and an 11-4 win saw him sitting proudly on top of the division.
So with his programme completed, all Richard had to do was to wait and hope.
Paul Watts now sat in fourth place, but as his final two encounters were with Simon Temme and Cecilia Sparke -- now second and third respectively -- Paul had the opportunity to clinch the divisional title with a pair of victories.
The match with Simon was already under way, and proved to be a gruelling affair, with never more than two points in it either way.
Richard's exploits had only added to the pressure.
Such had been the positive effect on Richard's average points difference that for Simon it was a case of win and get promoted or lose and stay down.
And at 9-9 the sheer drama of the situation epitomised what the Bristol Premier League is all about.
And in a climax that will have aged both players it was Simon who won the vital two points.
Much relief for him, plus the probability that he will be the divisional champion, as Cecilia can only pip him with an 11-0 or 11-1 win when she plays Paul next week.
For Paul there was only desperate disappointment.
The match with Cecilia can now only see him elevated to third place at her expense.
But if Cecilia wins Richard misses out on promotion.
One match remaining, and still none of the top four know precisely where they will finish.
Ian Preston and Malcolm Patterson completed their campaigns when they shared the spoils of a double header.
Malcolm has finished fifth -- a worthy improvement on his initial foray into Premier League backgammon last year.
17/11/11: Tim safe, but relegation confirmed for Miles ......
With six players in Premier One action, the spotlight fell on the double header between Phil Charlton and Tim Line as they both prepared to try and stave off relegation.
Tim had the more clear cut task, as one win would ensure his safety, while Phil's prospects were subject to more permutations.
But when Phil romped to an 11-3 victory in the opening encounter Tim was under serious threat, especially so as a further defeat by 9-11 or worse would definitely condemn him to a bottom four finish.
Fortunes swung the other way in the return, however, with Tim clinching another season of top flight backgammon with an 11-6 win, and also consigning Miles Farren -- whose survival chances were always a tad tenuous -- to the drop.
The odds must now be against Phil surviving, as three results need to go his way -- his own final match, against Ed Turner, and Blaine Buchanan's meetings with Simonetta Herrera and Derek Clew, both of which Phil needs Blaine to lose.
And Phil also needs a 15 points swing to complete his escape.
Taken individually, each of those three results would probably get the vote of the pundits to go in Phil's favour -- the results, but not necessarily the points swing he needs -- but as we all know, life is seldom like that.
Further Premier One action saw newly crowned champion Stuart Mann edge home 11-8 against Steffen Nowak, a result which gave Stuart an enviable 75% win ratio for the season.
Steffen, already safe from relegation, needed the win to move ahead of Ian Tarr to grab the outstanding top flight place in next year's Bristol Masters.
Ian will now take that spot unless Blaine can register mega wins in his final two matches.
Meanwhile, already relegated bottom two Richard Holness and Ed Turner swapped 11-9 wins.
17/11/11: A deafening silence from Premier Two Red ......
With just four Premier Two Red matches -- Simon Hughes's double headers with Neil Young and Andrew Cobb -- remaining to be played, and just thirteen playing days to the end of the season, some action might have been anticipated.
But with no news from the front, Director Ian Tarr was left wondering whether or not a single player leaving 20% of his fixtures this late was a good idea.
The hope is that there are no last minute hitches, because appeals are likely to be fruitless.
17/11/11: Tim was "Champ 'o' Champs" last weekend
Tim Line knew he had had a successful weekend at Backgammon Live in London, having been the winner of both the Swiss Format tournament and the doubles.
But it has now been revealed, in the points table derived from the myriad aspects of the event, that Tim was indeed the "Champ 'o' Champs", i.e the top all round player of the weekend.
16/11/11: Cornubia victories for Cecilia, Steffen and Phil
The Cornubia was the centre of Bristol Backgammon attention this evening when three Premier League matches took place there.
First up was a Premier Two Blue encounter with a distinct bearing on the promotion race.
Cecilia Sparke was in dire need of a victory over Sean Hopson to keep her quest for top flight backgammon on track, and when she went 10-0 ahead it was within reach.
Sean stuck to his task, however, and pulled it back to 5-10 before succumbing.
Cecilia has just one match remaining -- against fellow contender Paul Watts -- and if she wins it she will be up. She is likely to miss out if she loses, however.
It was then the turn of Premier One and a demanding evening for Steffen Nowak, with matches against Ian Tarr and Phil Charlton.
Ian moved into a 6-1 lead, but Steffen came back strongly to win 11-8.
Against Phil it was Steffen who started well, but his 8-2 lead evaporated into a 9-11 defeat.
The victory is enough to guarantee Steffen's top flight safety, and he can still be almost sure of a 2012 Bristol Masters place by winning his last match, against newly crowned champion Stuart Mann.
Phil kept his survival hopes alive, and his double header with Tim Line tomorrow evening will shed a lot more light on the bottom four situation.
15/11/11: Richard wins grand prix nail biter
The main final of last week's monthly grand prix tournament took place at the BCSC this evening, and it went right to the wire.
Richard Owsley edged home 11-10 against Tony Walters in what was a fifth Bristol Grand Prix final for both players.
And what is more, both players have now recorded two wins in those finals.
Richard has also clinched a place in the 2012 Bristol Masters, making him the eleventh of the sixteen qualifiers.
Meanwhile there will also be a small Winner Takes All pool rollover to December thanks to Tony's defeat.
15/11/11: Jonathan and Pat win Super Nackgammon tournos
The latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix took the form of two four player Super Nackgammon tournos at the BCSC last night.
Jonathan Loukes had the satisfaction of cashing for the first time in his fledgling backgammon career by winning one group, while Pat Meek would have done likewise had she not opted for the zero entry option.
Although Pat had the satisfaction, second placed Roland Herrrera had the cash.
Roland has extended his AGP lead to 97 points, while Bahman Salahshour -- in third place overall -- is still the leading intermediate.
With plenty of the session remaining Manesh then made his customary late entry and participated in an impromptu DMP Tourno, winning all seven games to claim the cash.
13/11/11: December tournament brought forward a day
The final monthly grand prix tournament of the year has been brought forward a day to Wednesday December 7th.
This is to enable our venue to stage a lucrative function on the Thursday.
The Bristol County Sports Club will provide £50 as compensation for this disruption, and the extra funds will all be added to the tournament prize money.
13/11/11: Premier League title decided in London!
The Salt Quay, Rotherhithe, was the venue this afternoon when Stuart Mann clinched his fifth Premier League championship.
Stuart and Tim Line are in the capital to compete in Backgammon Live in London, and had long since planned to fit this fixture in, as Tim is based in East London these days.
Stuart's victory came in some style with an 11-0 triumph.
He has one match to play, but assuming he claws back his September penalty point, his lead is unassailable.
Gaz Owen, having completed his fixtures, is now second, while Simonetta Herrera can rise above him with a win in her final match.
As for Tim, he has slumped from apparent title contention with a run of six successive defeats.
A win from one of his final two matches -- a double header with fellow anti-relegation battler Phil Charlton -- will ensure his top flight survival, however.
11/11/11: NOVEMBER GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Maybe it's the recession, maybe not. But numbers continue to be less than we are used to, with just fifteen players in competitive action on monthly grand prix night, traditionally the most active night of any month.
And the twelve who entered the main event constituted the smallest field since monthly grand prix events began in 2002.
11/11/11: Tony reaches second successive GP final ......
Richard Owsley and Tony Walters will contest the main final of the November monthly grand prix event.
Tony -- who also made last month's final -- defeated Nick Barham and Simon Hughes, while Richard got past Ian Tarr, Derek Clew and Chas Perry, who clawed his way back into the match to give himself a 34 in 36 chance of making the final, only for Richard to roll one of the two requisite doubles.
Richard and Tony will be arranging their meeting very soon.
11/11/11: Nick wins consolation flight ......
The consolation flight of Thursday's tournament was won by Nick Barham, who defeated John Corrado and Simonetta Herrera, before despatching Ian Tarr in the final.
11/11/11: Almost as you were at the head of the OGP ......
Discards are coming more and more into play as the final stages of the OGP are unfolding.
Of the six leading players in the competition only Simon Hughes managed to increase his points tally last night, and even then only by five points.
So Roland Herrera goes into December's final event with a lead of 31 points, with several players within striking distance.
11/11/11: John running out of opportunities ......
In this most disappointing year for intermediates, only one turned out for Thursday's event.
John Corrado at least is hell bent on gaining enough points to get himself into the final top two of the IGP.
But his failure to win a match in either flight saw him adding only the basic 10 points to his tally.
With just December's event to come, Hadi Kermani and Mandy Macdonald hold those vital positions, which carry a passport to Premier League backgammon.
11/11/11: Tony threatens WTA rollover ......
Only three of the twelve contestants of Thursday's tournament bothered with the Winner Takes All pool, but when two of them -- Simon Hughes and Tony Walters -- met in the semi-final, rollover hopes were guaranteed to be under threat in the final.
Neutrals may well be hoping for Richard to win that final.
Meanwhile whoever wins will definitely qualify for the 2012 Bristol Masters.
11/11/11: Nick deals Neil a heavy blow ......
Three Premier Two Red matches were played out at the BCSC on Thursday.
And with all due respect to Simon Baker and Alan Parfitt's double header, which saw Simon finish the season with a brace of narrow victories, it was the other match which carried more significance.
In fact it was only half a match, as Neil Young and Nick Barham picked up where they left off when the match had previously been adjourned with Neil 8-6 ahead.
Neil, however, failed to win another point, and must now win both of his remaining matches to stand a chance of automatic promotion.
As a sample of all the permutations available, a pair of 11-4 wins would be enough to wrest the title from Mike Smith's grasp, while a pair of 11-8 wins would force an unprecedented promotion play-off with Richard Biddle.
Two wins with a net gain of five game points would leave Neil tantalisingly short.
09/11/11: Manesh takes Monday honours
For work reasons Manesh doesn't often arrive at the BCSC in time to contest the advertised event, but he made the most of a rare early start to win the 3-point round robin on Monday.
There was little movement towards the top of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix table, although Bahman Salahshour did enough to overtake Julia Grifith as the competition's top intermediate.
While this was happening two other players took advantage of Roland Herrera's kind offer of a training session, which was augmented by PC analysis.
04/11/11: Paul wins to stay in contention
Paul Watts arrested his recent slump in form to defeat Sean Hopson 11-9 at the BCSC yesterday evening, as ten players tried their luck in various different formats.
Paul's chances of promotion from Premier Two Blue thus received a timely boost, and it's anyone's guess as to which two of the four contenders will clinch those all important promotion slots.
There are just seven matches remaining to be played in the division, and five of those have a bearing on the promotion outcome.
Meanwhile Stuart Mann was defeating Tony Walters 11-3 in the held over final of last month's monthly grand prix tournament.
The win was Stuart's second of the season, which is not bad considering it was only the fourth of these events he has contested.
The 35 points gained for winning the final have raised him up to fifth in the OGP, and with no need to worry about discards a fourth OGP title is not out of the question.
Stuart's win also ensures that an extra Premier One player will qualify for the 2012 Bristol Masters, as Stuart had already qualified via his March win.
The evening's main event was the damp squib to end all damp squibs, however.
Of 226 previous grand prix events of various kinds, not a single one had attracted an entry of fewer than seven players.
But just a day after he had announced in his monthly newsletter that the Nackgammon Grand Prix was to be given another chance in 2012, Director Ian Tarr was left scratching his head, and wondering whether or not he had made a terrible mistake.
Only four players lined up at the start, insufficient to fund a consolation flight -- the first time that has ever happened.
And the Herreras, semi-final victors over Richard Owsley and Ian, decided to adjourn the final to the comfort of home later, where Simonetta prevailed to emphatically retain her NGP title.
With so much spare time available there was a five player 3-point round robin, with Simonetta again taking the honours, plus a 5-point consulting doubles match.
01/11/11: Roland wins Monday Tric Trac
Roland Herrera took control of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix when he won an eleven player Tric Trac Tourno at the BCSC.
The win pushed him 77 points ahead of his nearest challenger.
Leading intermediate Julia Griffith was absent, which allowed Bahman Salahshour a chance to close the gap to a mere 5.5 points.
Meanwhile Cynthia Roberts and James Lintell-Smith completed their Premier Two Blue season, Cynthia winning 11-9.
28/10/11: ALL THE NEWS FROM OUR FINAL DOUBLES NIGHT OF 2011 ......
The final instalment of our 2011 Consulting Doubles Grand Prix series, some crucial league action, and a chouette made for a low-key but varied Bristol Backgammon Thursday evening.
28/10/11: Lewis crowned doubles champion ......
Five title contenders were in action at the BCSC as the Consulting Doubles Grand Prix reached its climax.
There were thirteen players willing to toe the start line, so Director Ian Tarr stepped back in customary fashion to ensure that everyone else had a partner.
Jonathan Loukes made his Thursday debut partnering Roland Herrera, while Kevin Jones made one of his rare but welcome visits from Manchester to take part, and was paired with Nick Barham.
And Kevin and Nick proved to have the right chemistry when they defeated first Stuart Mann and Lewis Young, and then Simonetta Herrera and Julia Griffith to reach the main final.
There they met Neil Young and Tony Walters, who had come through the short half of the draw.
Kevin and Nick ran out winners, while Stuart and Lewis took the consolation flight.
The consolation final win gained Lewis enough points to raise him to the top of the table, taking the doubles crown for the second time in three years.
His successful partnership with Stuart -- with whom he shared the 2009 title -- accounted for two of his appearances this season, while on the third occasion he was partnered by his father Neil.
The absent Steve Morris has finished runner-up this time, with Roland third.
28/10/11: Gaz wins to set the target ......
Gaz Owen completed his Premier One campaign at the Foresters, Downend, last night.
This has been Gaz's best league campaign to date, and he rounded it off with an 11-6 victory over Phil Charlton, giving him a closing sequence of eight wins out of nine.
The win moves him to the top of the league, but his chances of remaining there appear slim.
Stuart Mann, who will reclaim the penalty point he incurred at the last checkpoint when he finishes the season on time, and Simonetta Herrera both have their eyes set on the title.
Simonetta has one match left -- against Blaine Buchanan -- and she will finish third if she loses, but either first or second if she wins.
A win for her would mean Stuart would still take the title as long as he can win either of his last two matches -- against Tim Line and Steffen Nowak.
If Stuart and Simonetta fail to record another win, Gaz can be champion, but only if Stuart fails to score more than four points in his two matches.
Chances of escaping the drop are running out for Phil. It's unlikely that he will stay up unless he can win all four outstanding matches.
And his double header with Tim -- who also has work to do to reach safety -- could be one of the highlights of the season.
28/10/11: Premier Two promotion issues still unresolved ......
There was a chance that at least one other Premier Two promotion issue -- after Mike Smith's promotion -- could be resolved last night.
In Premier Two Blue Simon Temme took on Malcolm Patterson, knowing that a win would secure his top flight place for next season.
Malcolm is a different proposition this season, however.
After struggling in his first foray into the Premier League last season, his results have improved greatly this time around, and after starting well, he never got close to relinquishing the lead, winning 11-5.
So although Simon remains a favourite for promotion, this result has left the door well and truly open for Cecilia Sparke, Richard Owsley and Paul Watts.
Meanwhile in Premier Two Red Neil Young attempted to get one step closer to going up when he met Nick Barham at the V-Shed.
But with both needing to make tracks to the BCSC for the tournament, they ran out of time with Neil 8-6 ahead.
27/10/11: James defeats Lewis
Lewis Young's Premier Two Blue season ended in anti-climax yesterday evening, when he went down 6-11 to James Lintell-Smith at the BCSC.
Lewis had at one stage been well in contention for promotion, but fell away in the last few matches.
James, on the other hand, found life tough early on in his first Premier League season, but has won seven of his last ten matches to reach mid table respectability.
24/10/11: Honours shared in round robins
The eighth of the sixteen phases of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix at the BCSC this evening featured a pair of 3-point round robins.
The five player group saw the pot shared between Roland and Simonetta Herrera, while a similar occurrence in the four player group saw Cynthia Roberts and Ian Tarr share the spoils.
Roland's AGP lead over Ian is extended to nearly 12 points, while third placed Julia Griffith is the leading intermediate.
The round robins saw the competitive debuts of Barry Baker and Rob Hall, who is not to be confused with a player of the same name who appeared just once in April 2009.
24/10/11: Mixed fortunes for Neil
Jamie Nevill became the latest player to conclude his league campaign this afternoon, when he took on Neil Young in a Premier Two Red double header at the V-Shed.
Neil, needing at least three wins from his final five matches to clinch promotion back to the top flight, suffered a setback when he lost the opening encounter 8-11, but won the next 11-9 to preserve his chance of making it into the top two.
His last three matches are another double header, against Simon Hughes, and a single encounter with Nick Barham.
21/10/11: OCTOBER LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Late season league nights are becoming a little lack lustre, with comparatively few matches remaining to be played.
But eleven players did manage to complete a total of seven Premier League matches in a total of three locations, with Miles Farren and Richard Biddle being the latest players to complete their campaigns.
21/10/11: And then there were three ......
The four contenders for the Premier One title, the biggest prize in domestic Bristol Backgammon competition, were whittled down to three after each played a single match on Thursday.
The biggest match involved contenders Stuart Mann and Derek Clew, and although Derek managed to get 9-5 ahead, it was Stuart who edged a titanic tussle at DMP.
The result means Derek can no longer take the title, and has been consigned to fourth place, still an excellent first attempt at top flight backgammon.
So the destiny of the title rests between Stuart, Simonetta Herrera and Gaz Owen.
Gaz and Simonetta both kept up the pressure with wins, Gaz electing to decamp from the BCSC to the Graze Bar for his match with Miles Farren to avoid the smell of fresh paint.
Gaz won that one 11-6, while Simonetta was pushed to the wire by Richard Holness, finally edging home 11-9.
Assuming Stuart claws back his penalty point, third placed Gaz can only overtake him if Stuart loses his final two matches while Gaz is winning his with a total points swing of 24.
Stuart and Simonetta have both won sixteen matches, but again Stuart's immensely superior points difference means that only a win for Simonetta and two defeats for Stuart will leave Simonetta ahead.
At the other end of the table Miles arrived at the BCSC to wind up his league season with an 11-2 win over Phil Charlton.
With Ed Turner already down and Richard now condemned by his defeat by Simonetta, the race is on to avoid the other two relegation slots.
Tim Line and Phil have the answers here.
If just one of these two can pass Miles, then he is down. Miles needs Tim to lose all three of his remaining encounters, but since two of these are against Phil, he then needs Phil to falter in his other three matches, as Phil's difference is already better than that of Miles.
Neither Steffen Nowak nor Blaine Buchanan is yet out of danger, but with three and two matches respectively remaining, every win will be gratefully received.
21/10/11: Mike promoted as Richard finishes with two victories ......
Mike Smith's promotion back to Premier One was confirmed in his absence in an unlikely setting yesterday evening.
The Crossways Inn, West Huntspill, Somerset, was the latest new venue to stage Bristol Backgammon action, when Buckinghamshire based Richard Biddle met currently Cornwall based Jamie Nevill for a Premier Two Red double header.
It was Richard who had the most to play for, and his 11-7 and 11-9 wins give him a 75% win rate over the season.
Nevertheless this does not guarantee him the promotion his efforts so richly deserve, as he has finished below Mike on average points difference, and must now wait and see whether Neil Young can overhaul him.
Neil will probably make it with three wins from his last five matches, although four would make it absolutely certain and also bring him the divisional championship.
None of his matches can be regarded as easy, however, with double headers against Jamie and Simon Hughes, and a single match against Nick Barham.
Simon can no longer gain automatic promotion, but still has the incentive of a third place finish to go for, as this might see him up via the back door.
21/10/11: Simon is almost there ......
The only match played last night in Premier Two Blue featured promotion rivals Simon Temme and Paul Watts.
Paul was the division's pace setter earlier in the season, but has hit a rough patch, while Simon's recent form has seen his challenge gathering pace.
Recent form held firm when Simon scored an 11-4 win, and he can guarantee promotion by winning one of his final two matches.
The other contenders are Paul, Cecilia Sparke and Richard Owsley, and two key remaining fixtures are Paul's match with Cecilia and his return encounter with Simon.
19/10/11: Neil scores important win at the Wellington
Neil Young stayed on track towards playing a full part in the Premier Two Red promotion run in when he defeated Steve Morris 11-6 at the Wellington this afternoon.
Four players have their eyes on the two automatic promotion slots, with Mike Smith having set a stiff target of 45 points at the top.
17/10/11: Sean scuppers Lewis's promotion chances ......
Three wins from his final three matches would have been enough to give Lewis Young a chance of promotion to the top flight.
But both legs of his Premier Two Blue double header with Sean Hopson this evening ended in defeat, albeit very narrow ones, and the two promotion slots now rest between the top four.
If that was the most significant action at the BCSC tonight, the advertised event was the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, a DMP Tourno contested by just six players.
And a four way tie at the top resulted in the most modest of profits for Roland Herrera, James Lintell-Smith, Ian Preston and Ian Tarr.
So Roland retains his narrow AGP lead over Ian Tarr, while the absent Julia Griffith and Bahman Salahshour inevitably lost ground.
14/10/11: OCTOBER GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
Nineteen players were in action at the BCSC on Thursday -- and all but one of them entered the main event of the evening, the tenth of this year's monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournaments.
14/10/11: Stuart and Tony to contest October main final ......
The main flight final of the October Bristol Grand Prix tournament will be contested by Stuart Mann and Tony Walters.
While Tony was eliminating Steffen Nowak, John Corrado and Nick Barham, Stuart was getting past the challenges of Steve Morris, John Plummer and Blaine Buchanan.
The eleven point final will doubtless take place very soon.
14/10/11: Steffen wins consolation flight ......
Victories over Phillip Hill, Simon Hughes and Jerry Limb gave Steffen Nowak the consolation flight at Thursday's tournament.
14/10/11: Few changes at the top of the OGP table ......
Of those players at the top of the OGP table going into Thursday's tournament, not one of the top seven players managed to score more than 25 points, and with discards now biting, the table had a very familiar look to it afterwards as well.
Roland Herrera's lead was cut by 10 points to 36 by second placed Simon Hughes, while fourth placed Simonetta Herrera gained 10 points only by virtue of falling out of the slow play penalty zone -- her 10 penalty points now being shared equally by Phillip Hill and Richard Owsley.
Stuart Mann has moved up to sixth, and can rise a further place by defeating Tony Walters in the outstanding final.
14/10/11: John and Fred increase IGP tallies ......
The finalists in the Intermediates Trophy each added 35 points to their IGP points tallies on Thursday.
Fred North gained his points by winning that final, but opted out of the main event.
His final victim John Corrado managed to add to his tally -- complete with 10 bonus points -- by defeating Simon Hughes in the GP main flight.
With no other intermediates in evidence, both players were able to move closer to the vital top two positions.
John is now just 25 points adrift of second placed Mandy Macdonald, while Fred is a further 15 points back.
The top few in the IGP have a great deal to play for in the final two tournaments of the year, if they wish.
14/10/11: Rollover hopes dashed ......
Just a third of the field invested in Thursday's Winner Takes All pool, so hopes of a rollover to November were high.
With three of those six eliminated before the quarter-final stage, the neutrals would still have been fairly happy.
But nobody could dislodge either Stuart Mann or Tony Walters, so the two will have an extra £60 to fight over when they play the final.
Meanwhile the quest for places in the 2012 Bristol Masters continues with Tony needing a win to clinch his place, while Stuart is already qualified by virtue of his March tournament win.
If Stuart wins the final, this will free up a place for a third Premier One high finisher.
Gaz Owen, the only member of the now "untouchable" top four in that league not to have gained a place through a knock-out win, is thus also assured of his place, along with one or two others.
14/10/11: Derek's narrow win decides top flight top four ......
Derek Clew and Tim Line adjourned their Premier One match at 7-all to contest the tournament, but were able to finish things after their respective eliminations.
It was Tim who got his nose in front, but at 8-10 post Crawford Derek managed to conjure a match winning double gammon to clinch his fourteenth win of the season and stay in contention for the top honour.
Nobody can now touch the top four, who will take the cash prizes, but Stuart Mann and Simonetta Herrera still look the likeliest champions.
The defeat leaves Tim looking over his shoulder, and he will probably need to win at least one of his three remaining matches to ensure top flight survival.
14/10/11: Fred beats John to take Intermediates Trophy title ......
The held over final of last week's Intermediates Trophy tournament took place before Thursday's main event.
And Fred North took the title, defeating John Corrado 7-3.
10/10/11: Roland and Ian take Nackgammon honours
The latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a pair of nackgammon round robins -- took place at the BCSC on Monday.
A welcome inclusion in the line-up was debut player Jonathan Loukes, who took the zero entry fee option and did well enough to be encouraged to pay the £3 entry for a later ten player DMP Tourno.
The Nackgammon Tournos saw wins for Ian Tarr in the five player group and Roland Herrera in the four player group.
The points they gained were enough to elevate them over previous AGP leader Julia Griffith, who remains the leading intermediate in the competition in third place overall.
The margin of Roland's lead over Ian is less than two points.
The ten player DMP event saw a victory for John Corrado, who declared himself more comfortable with the orthodoxy of the DMPs as opposed to the slightly more complex Nackgammon games.
10/10/11: Gaz wins to keep championship race interesting
A crucial Premier One title race match took place at Gaz Owen's in Kingswood today, when he played host to championship favourite Stuart Mann.
A win for Stuart would have put him in an immensely strong position, but Gaz's 11-8 victory has kept the door ajar for any of the top four to claim the big prize at the death.
07/10/11: John and Fred to contest Intermediates Trophy final
It was a refreshingly different evening at the BCSC on Thursday, not so much for the size of the turnout as for the diversity of it.
There were fifteen players present as the intermediates took centre stage with the staging of the annual Intermediates Trophy knock-out, and we had one debut player -- local Finn Mikko Laihon -- plus two returning after lengthy absences -- Devon based Jim Goodwin, whose last appearance at the BCSC was just over two years ago, and Steve Miles, whose period of absence was twice as long as that.
Given the dearth of intermediate activity this year, Director Ian Tarr had more reason than usual to fear a postponement -- his declared policy for this event is that it will happen as long as at least four players turn up.
But a gratifying ten toed the start line, equalling the second best turnout in ten years of the event.
It looked like being nine, as the draw had been made just before Steve's arrival. But given the inclusive nature of the event, and the fact that three others were still en route, the Director asked the "odd" player in the draw, who happened to be Mikko, if he would forego his bye and play Steve.
Mikko was happy to do so, and perhaps deserved his subsequent win because of this (no disrespect to Steve).
In the quarter-finals Mikko met John Corrado, and ended up being narrowly beaten.
John then got past Mandy Macdonald to reach the final.
In the other half of the draw, it was Fred North who emerged as John's final opponent, via wins over his Swindon travelling companion Gary Plant and Lily Owsley.
John and Fred agreed to postpone the final until a later date, possibly before next week's grand prix tournament.
While the main event was going on, Richard Owsley made good use of his time by defeating first Steve Morris in the held over consolation final from last week's clock tournament, and second Ian Preston in a Premier Two Blue match.
If he can win his final two matches, there's still a glimmer of a chance of promotion for Richard.
The evening was completed by a chouette led by the Herreras and Steve Morris, which both Matt Reekie-Black and Mikko joined after their elimination from the knock-out.
04/10/11: Mike sets a tough target
Premier Two Red leader Mike Smith is the latest player to finish his league season.
And his double header with Nick Barham at the BCSC last night provided him with a tough assignment as he attempted to set as daunting a target as possible for those other players in with a chance of promotion to the top flight.
But Mike came out on top of two gruelling encounters with 11-10 and 11-9 wins, which see him sitting on top of the league with 45 points to his name.
With two automatic promotion slots available Mike has put himself beyond the reach of all but two contenders.
Richard Biddle has two matches remaining -- both against Jamie Nevill -- and can equal Mike's record with, for example, two 11-4 wins.
Neil Young, meanwhile, has taken the cagey approach, wilfully incurring penalties on the assumption that those with less motivation will put themselves out to play him when he wants to play.
This is a tactic -- theoretically gaining an advantage by knowing precisely what is required -- that could backfire.
If Richard should win his matches with Jamie, Neil would find himself needing to win either four or five out of six matches -- all against tough opposition -- to gain promotion.
04/10/11: Julia moves into Autumn Grand Prix lead
Monday's advertised event was the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, with two groups of five players fighting out 3-point round robins.
One group saw Roland Herrera and James Lintell-Smith sharing the pot, while the other was won outright by Julia Griffith, who scored enough points to overhaul Bahman Salahshour at the top of the AGP table.
Both players are vying not only for the top prize, but also for the top intermediate prize, leaving Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr as their closest pursuers.
01/10/11: Eight penalised at midnight checkpoint
The midnight Premier League checkpoint passed with eight players incurring various degrees of penalty.
Two players failed to record sufficient results to claw back penalties incurred in July.
In Premier Two Blue Sean Hopson was three matches short of the required seventeen, so as well as incurring three fresh penalties, the single point incurred in July now becomes permanent, like the three May penalties, albeit subject to appeal.
Meanwhile in the top flight Tim Line fell one match short of the twenty-one results needed.
This would mean the three points incurred in July becoming permanent, but Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr has decided to roll up Tim's four points as though they had been incurred at this checkpoint.
In the Director's opinion, the fact that Tim is London based, has completed nineteen of his twenty-four matches during eleven visits to Bristol, plus one other while at a BIBA event in Hinckley, and has made well documented unsuccessful efforts to arrange further matches, makes his situation exceptional enough to waive the appeals procedure.
Others to incur fresh penalties -- which will all be clawed back if players complete the season on time -- at midnight were Phil Charlton (3) and Stuart Mann in Premier One, Paul Watts (1) in Premier Two Blue, and Neil Young (3), Simon Hughes and Jamie Nevill in Premier Two Red.
30/09/11: Roland wins clock event
On a low key Thursday there were thirteen players involved in various activities.
Just seven contested the advertised event, the fifth of six Clock Grand Prix tournaments, four others played league matches, and two others joined in with a chouette.
In Premier One Dave Pym completed his season with a brace of wins over Richard Holness, whose top flight survival hopes now look extremely precarious.
Dave won thirteen of his 24 matches, and seldom looked like successfully defending his championship. But a probable top half finish in this league is still no mean achievement for anyone.
Meanwhile at the Naval Volunteer Derek Clew moved into fourth place by halting his recent mini slump with an 11-1 win over Blaine Buchanan.
Derek and third placed Gaz Owen each need to win their last three matches and hope that the top two falter.
Blaine will need to win at least one of his last two matches to feel reasonably sure of another Premier One season.
The clock event featured the lowest turnout ever for one of these events, but that won't bother Roland and Simonetta Herrera who both reached the main flight final, where Roland prevailed.
The consolation final -- between Richard Owsley and Steve Morris -- will probably take place at the BCSC next Thursday.
Simonetta has taken over from previous leader Miles Farren at the top of the CTGP table, and with a 15 points cushion is well placed to retain her title.
28/09/11: Double wins for Mikes
Two double headers took place in different Colston Street venues this evening.
Mike Smith scored a brace of 11-2 wins over Alan Parfitt at Colston Yard to move above Richard Biddle at the top of Premier Two Red.
And Michael Corbett rounded off a disappointing season in Premier Two Blue with similarly emphatic victories over Malcolm Patterson at the BCSC -- in his case by 11-0 and 11-3.
The defeats removed the last vestige of promotion hope for Malcolm.
28/09/11: Four still in penalty jeopardy
With two playing days remaining before the September 30th midnight Premier League checkpoint there are still four players whose penalty points incurred in July will become permanent if they fail to record the prescribed number of results this time around.
In Premier One Richard Holness is two results short of the 21 required, while Derek Clew and Tim Line are each one short.
And in Premier Two Blue it's just Sean Hopson, who is three short.
For those who don't make it, there is of course the appeals process to fall back on, but only those with very convincing cases are likely to succeed in that arena.
Meanwhile there are players in all three divisions who can still incur fresh penalties, which can all be clawed back by finishing the season on time.
27/09/11: Stuart back at the summit
Stuart Mann is back at the top of Premier One after defeating Blaine Buchanan 11-5 at the Kings Head, Victoria Street, this afternoon.
He now heads Simonetta Herrera on average points difference and has two matches in hand, as he closes on what would be a fifth Premier League title.
In an earlier encounter at the Beachcomber, Brean, Ian Tarr defeated Ed Turner 11-5.
26/09/11: Bahman extends AGP lead
The fourth phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix saw nine players contesting a Tric Trac Tourno.
And Bahman Salahshour took the event on countback from Pearl Foster, with all players finishing within three points of one another.
This was the third successive week in which Bahman has won a round robin, and this is reflected in his extended lead in the AGP table, where he now leads second placed Julia Griffith by almost 30 points.
There was also time for a seven player DMP Tourno, and here Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr shared the pot with five wins apiece out of six.
23/09/11: SEPTEMBER LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Fourteen players contested twelve Premier League matches in a variety of locations on the September league night.
Both Premier Two divisions have new leaders. And it became certain that there will be no expungements in any of the three divisions this season, always a landmark moment for Director Ian Tarr.
23/09/11: Stuart still favourite; Derek suffers setbacks ......
Stuart Mann approached Thursday's league night as favourite for a fifth Premier One title, and despite suffering mixed fortunes on the night that situation remains unaltered.
A win and a defeat keep him firmly on course to overhaul leader Simonetta Herrera, and from Stuart's viewpoint the results were the right way round, losing to mid-table Ian Tarr before defeating title race rival Derek Clew.
It was a bad night for Derek, who arrived at the BCSC after suffering a 7-11 defeat by Gaz Owen at Gaz's home.
The Stuart and Derek clash proved to be a titanic tussle, with Stuart in arrears for most of the match.
A double gammon moved him 10-9 ahead, however, before a tense post-Crawford game unfolded.
Derek did the right thing, going for the gammon that would have won him the match, but it didn't work out, and Stuart prevailed.
Stuart, whose defeat by Ian was his first in ten league matches, is now three points behind Simonetta, but with three matches in hand and a markedly superior average points difference.
Gaz and Derek, in third and fourth places, remain in contention, but as outsiders.
At the other end of the table Richard Holness kept his flickering hopes of top flight survival alive when he defeated Ian 11-10.
With Ed Turner already relegated Richard, Phil Charlton and Miles Farren remain favourites to join him, but strong finishes allied to slip ups from the mid table group can still change things.
23/09/11: Simon's fate in his own hands ......
Cecilia Sparke and Paul Watts have looked favourites for promotion from Premier Two Blue for most of the season, but recent setbacks have opened the door for others.
And while pursuers Richard Owsley, Lewis Young and Malcolm Patterson all went down to damaging defeats last night, Simon Temme grasped the opportunity, defeating Malcolm to move into the lead.
Simon's promotion fate is now in his own hands, as further wins in his final three matches would guarantee him the title.
Since he faces Paul in two of those three matches, however, there is still plenty to do.
23/09/11: Richard goes top to put pressure on Neil ......
The latest episode of the Richard Biddle Premier Two Red roadshow was enacted at the White Lion, Frenchay, last night.
Alan Parfitt's local hosted a league double header for the second time this season, and it was visitor Richard who took six points home to Buckinghamshire with 11-4 and 11-5 victories.
The wins have propelled Richard to the summit of the league at Neil Young's expense, although Neil appears to be biding his time, with four matches in hand from which to recoup the six points deficit.
While Mike Smith remains in contention, another challenger emerged last night in the shape of Simon Hughes, double victor over Chas Perry at the BCSC.
So the outstanding double header between Neil and Simon will be interesting.
Chas deserves a special mention as the first player to complete his Premier League fixtures this year.
21/09/11: Steffen wins twice at home
Steffen Nowak played host to Blaine Buchanan this afternoon, and scored two much needed Premier One wins to arrest his recent slide.
He is not yet clear of relegation trouble, but will be sleeping a little easier now, while the two defeats have effectively terminated Blaine's interest in the championship race, which now appears to involve only the top four.
Both Blaine and Steffen will now be looking for at least one victory in their remaining four matches (Blaine) and three (Steffen) to ensure that the fight to avoid relegation does not involve either of them.
20/09/11: Andrew comes out on top in Bath double header
The Rose and Crown, Larkhall, Bath, was the venue for a Premier Two Red double header today.
And it was Andrew Cobb who scored a brace of wins over Simon Baker, winning 11-8 and 11-3 to haul himself off the bottom of the league at Simon's expense.
19/09/11: Blaine close to top flight safety
A Premier One double header at the BCSC this evening saw Blaine Buchanan scoring twenty-two points to Richard Holness's one.
Blaine could not conceal his embarrassment at both his great dice and Richard's diabolical ones, but will nevertheless be grateful for six league points, which not only see him close to safety, but also keep alive his slim championship chances, with six matches remaining.
The pair of defeats were a major blow to Richard's hopes of avoiding the drop, leaving him with little margin for error in his final six matches.
Meanwhile, the evening's centrepiece was a pair of 3-point round robins, the third phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Eleven players contested these, having been split into two random groups.
Bahman Salahshour took the honours in the six player group, while Roland Herrera won the five player counterpart.
Previous AGP leader Ian Tarr had a moderate evening, and has been overtaken by Bahman, Julia Griffith, and Roland -- the former two also heading the list of top intermediates.
19/09/11: Paul and "Bristol" are winners in Coventry
Notable successes at the weekend's BFCE Festival of Backgammon in Coventry were Paul Gilbertson, who won Saturday's inaugural Midland Open, and a team playing under the Bristol banner who won Sunday's Team Challenge.
Former Premier One player Paul has not made it to too many events lately, but has clearly lost none of his expertise.
Sunday's team event was contested by eleven 5-player teams -- not necessarily representative of specific clubs as was the case at the UK Clubs Championship earlier in the year.
And the team assembled by Julian Fetterlein was clearly hand picked to succeed, containing current Premier One big names Stuart Mann and Gaz Owen, as well as two of London's top players, Peter Bennet and Lawrence Powell.
While Peter and Lawrence are no strangers to Bristol, the decision to call the team "Bristol" might be considered a puzzling one, although Lawrence is a former Bristol Open champion and Peter is known to greatly admire our suspension bridge.
16/09/11: Ian on track with title defence
Reigning Handicap Trophy champion Ian Preston took a major step towards a successful title defence at the BCSC yesterday evening by winning his second Handicap Trophy tournament this year.
It was one of the venue's more vibrant evenings, with eighteen players toeing the tournament start line, three others partaking of some league action, two or three spectators, and a late chouette participant.
And Gaz Owen's generosity came to the fore as no fewer than six players, making their Thursday competitive debuts, took advantage of his sponsored free entry offer.
Asad and Tom Koeller have made Monday appearances, but the other four Thursday newcomers were all making their Bristol Backgammon bows.
Lily Owsley -- 16 year old daughter of Richard -- was joined by three welcome visitors from North Devon -- Roger Harding, Hassan Shenavar and Andrew Wheble.
Lily made a memorable start, making the most of her 4-handicap, when she eliminated Roland Herrera.
That was as good as it got for her, however, as Hassan -- the most successful of the newcomers on the night -- defeated her in the quarter-finals.
Asad also did well, reaching the consolation final before succumbing to Roland.
Meanwhile Ian Preston was overcoming Hadi Kermani, Andrew, and Hassan to reach the final, where he met Steffen "8-cube" Nowak, speedy conqueror of Richard Owsley, Ian Tarr and Nick Barham.
Ian came back from the brink of final defeat to take the win, and add 100 points to his tally.
It will take something special to dislodge him from pole position in the Handicap Trophy table when the final instalment of the competition comes around in November.
The league action centred around Premier Two Blue.
Richard found time before the tournament to defeat Lewis Young, for his fifth successive league victory.
Lewis then suffered further disappointment at the hands of Simon Temme, who then capped an excellent evening for him by winning his adjourned match with Sean Hopson.
The brace of wins propelled Simon right into the thick of the promotion race, breathing down the necks of leaders Cecilia Sparke and Paul Watts.
Richard's win also moves him into closer contention, and all six players who have lost either six or sevn matches can be considered serious contenders at this stage.
13/09/11: Lewis issues title reminder
The early season dominance of Paul Watts and Cecilia Sparke in Premier Two Blue may have given the impression that the race to finish in the top two slots might be a straightforward one.
But both have suffered recent defeats -- Cecilia's latest being a 9-11 reverse at the hands of Lewis Young at the BCSC yesterday evening -- and others, Lewis included, still have a chance of ousting one or both of the top two.
Meanwhile yesterday's advertised event -- a DMP Tourno as the second phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- attracted nine players, while Barry Baker, Ismail and Manesh joined in the action later.
The DMP Tourno saw the pot shared between Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour, who each won seven out of eight.
Ian Tarr scored enough points to edge into the overall lead, while Julia Griffith took over as top intermediate.
11/09/11: Roland extends OGP lead
The held over consolation flight final of Thursday's tournament took place at Kellaway Avenue this morning.
Roland Herrera defeated Simonetta Herrera 5-4 and extends his lead in the OGP to 41 points.
09/09/11: SEPTEMBER GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
Sixteen players contested the eightieth Lesters Trophy tournament at the BCSC on Thursday, and there was league action for one other.
09/09/11: Tim beats Simon to win the 80th Lesters ......
Tim Line won Thursday's eightieth Lesters Trophy event at the BCSC, defeating Tony Walters, Stuart Mann and Richard Owsley before completing an 11-3 defeat of Simon Hughes in the final, after trailing 0-3.
Simon had reached the final with wins over Matt Reekie-Black, Derek Clew and Ian Tarr.
09/09/11: Herreras to contest consolation final ......
The consolation final from Thursday's tournament will be a domestic affair, contested very soon, between Roland and Simonetta Herrera.
Simonetta defeated Tony Walters and Matt Reekie-Black en route to the final, while Roland was getting past Cynthia Roberts and Steve Morris.
09/09/11: Simon closer to OGP lead ......
Simon Hughes's run to his third grand prix main flight final of the year has moved him into second place in the OGP.
Roland Herrera's lead has been cut to 23 points, but if Roland should win the consolation final the gap would increase to 41.
Ian Tarr, Simonetta Herrera and Tim Line are also well within striking distance.
Points deducted via the experimental "slow play" penalty system are also now reflected in the table, but these are of course provisional, and can alter before the season ends.
09/09/11: Matt goes third in IGP ......
Just two intermediates were in tournament action on Thursday, but only Matt Reekie-Black won a match.
That victory, though, gained him 20 bonus points, as his victim was current Premier One player Miles Farren.
Matt moves into third place, just nine points away from a second place berth which would earn him Premier League status for 2012.
09/09/11: Eighth Masters place is Tim's ......
Tim Line's final win on Thursday earned him a place in next year's Bristol Masters.
Eight of the sixteen places have now been claimed, while the remainder will come from the last three grand prix winners and various league high finishers.
Meanwhile, the Winner Takes All pool, which carried a rollover of £60, with £70 added on the night, was destined not to roll over from the point where Richard Owsley lost his semi-final.
And the other, perhaps surprising, aspect of the evening was Director Ian tarr's decision not to bother with the traditional Lesters pre-tournament auction, after a few lack lustre editions.
This decision is reversible if there proves to be a demand for its reinstatement.
09/09/11: Premier One wins for Simonetta and Gaz ......
Tim Line may have won Thursday's tournament, but in a way he paid handsomely beforehand.
Getting in two Premier One matches, Tim's total points haul from those matches was a measly two points.
First stop was Kellaway Avenue, where Simonetta Herrera triumphed 11-2 -- her sixth top flight victory in succession.
And then Gaz Owen scored an 11-0 whitewash at the BCSC.
Tim's slim chance of taking the league title has disappeared, while the wins have done his conqueror's chances no harm at all.
Simonetta extends her lead, although she may be considered second favourite for the title, as Stuart Mann has five matches in hand with six points to make up the gap, but Stuart has a significantly superior average points difference.
Third placed Derek Clew is the other major contender, while Gaz, and to a lesser extent Blaine Buchanan, remain in the mix as outsiders.
06/09/11: Manesh is first Autumn Grand Prix leader
Manesh made the most of a week off work to win one of two SuperNackgammon Tournos at the BCSC last night.
His work usually prevents him from competing, although he usually turns up after 9pm, but this week we will see him compete twice.
While he was winning one of the tournos, the pot in the other was shared by Julia Griffith and Ian Tarr.
So Manesh is the early leader in the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, and also took the money when an eight player DMP Tourno followed the advertised event.
04/09/11: Jamie and Andrew shared the spoils five days ago
Two Premier Two Red results from five days ago have come to light!
Jamie Nevill and Andrew Cobb played out a double header at the BCSC, Jamie winning the first match 11-7, Andrew replying with an 11-10 nailbiter.
02/09/11: Derek defeated in Redfield
Derek Clew travelled to the Fire Engine, Redfield, this evening for a Premier One match with Ian Tarr.
He led for the entire match, except at the point when it really mattered, losing 10-11.
Derek's defeat further enhances Stuart Mann's chance of grabbing a fifth Premier League title in nine seasons, while for Ian it was a case of moving one step closer to safety from the drop.
02/09/11: Gaz Suffers championship blow
A pre-tournament Premier One defeat -- 4-11 at the hands of Dave Pym -- has dealt a serious blow to Gaz Owen's chances of landing the league title.
For reigning champion Dave the result meant he was a big step closer to safety from relegation.
The evening's only other league action was a close mid-table Premier Two Red encounter between Steve Morris and Chas Perry, which Steve won 11-9.
As for the advertised event, there were just seven contestants for the second of three instalments of the Clock Blitz Grand Prix, which dictated a single round robin group.
Debut player Nader Abbasi took advantage of the Gaz funded free entry sponsorship.
So there was plenty of action, with each player scheduled to play six matches.
Nader acquitted himself well, despite winning only one match, and he was not pressurised by the tight timescales.
Ian Tarr scored a clean sweep of six victories to take the pot, and moved into the lead in the CBGP table, just ahead of Gaz.
Realisticaly the winner of the title will now be one of Ian, Gaz and Simon Hughes, who missed last night's tournament.
02/09/11: International Championship Qualifier cancelled
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr has today announced regretfully that the Bristol Qualifier for the 1st International Backgammon Championship is cancelled.
It has not proved possible to elicit the support of at least sixteen players -- the minimum requirement stipulated by the organisers.
All those who paid their £69 entry will receive a full refund, while those who won the satellites will now receive the cash prize instead of their tournament seat.
26/08/11: Simonetta goes top; Ed relegated
The battle to land the biggest prize in domestic Bristol Backgammon competition -- the Premier League title -- took another twist on the evening of the August doubles tournament.
Sixteen players were present at the BCSC, and the early evening action featured a Premier One double header between Simonetta Herrera and Ed Turner.
Simonetta scored a double success, winning 11-6 and 11-7, and now sits on top of the league, although the chasing duo of Stuart Mann and Derek Clew each have four matches in hand, and will be favourites to leapfrog back above Simonetta.
The victories were her fourth and fifth in succession, and the second one ensured that she joins an elite band of players to have won a century of Premier League matches -- the sixth player to do so.
For Ed the double defeat consigns him to a bottom four finish and the prospect of a return to Premier Two.
Assuming everyone claws back their penalty points as expected, Ed can still theoretically finish above Richard Holness and Phil Charlton, but he can only overhaul one of Steffen Nowak and Blaine Buchanan as they still have to meet.
And there was more league action as Paul Watts took on Richard Owsley in a Premier Two Blue double header.
Paul needed just one win from this session to move back to the top of the league at Cecilia Sparke's expense, but a 2-11 defeat was followed by a 6-11 reverse -- results which, in conjunction with Richard's victory over Cecilia last week, throw the divisional promotion race wide open.
All those with five, six or seven defeats can now be considered contenders for those crucial top two positions, with the possible exception of Sean Hopson, whose three permanent penalty points pretty much rule him out of the race.
Meanwhile the third of four Consulting Doubles Grand Prix tournaments was contested by six pairs.
Among the starters were John Corrado, whose only previous visit had been to a Handicap Trophy tournament back in 2007, and debutant Tom Chapman, who availed himself of the Gaz Owen sponsored free entry offer.
The main flight saw a victory for Steve Morris and Hadi Kermani, who defeated Ed Turner and Anne Foreman, and then Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour, before beating John and Phillip Hill in the final.
In the consolation flight Nick Barham and Tom took the honours, beating Ed and Anne in the final.
In the new CDGP table Roland and Steve are the new joint leaders, as they and third placed Hadi have all overhauled previous leader Lewis Young. Bahman and Stuart are also within striking distance of the lead, with just the final event in October to go.
25/08/11: Another win for Gaz
Gaz Owen took another step in the right direction for the Premier One title run in when he defeated Ed Turner 11-7 at the Merchants Arms, Hotwells, yesterday evening.
The win keeps him in contention, while the defeat means Ed pretty much has to win his final six matches to stand a chance of staying in the top flight.
If his traditional late season recovery is to materialise, it has to be now.
23/08/11: Simonetta and Gaz stay in contention
On a night when a very pleasing turnout of eighteen players materialised at the BCSC, the action was split between the advertised event -- the final phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix -- and a flurry of Premier One matches.
Later, of course, there was the inevitable chouette.
In Premier One Simonetta Herrera and Gaz Owen kept in contention for the league title.
Simonetta defeated Gaz, who then bounced back to score a double win over Steffen Nowak.
Neither challenger has much margin for error on the run in, however, and both will be hoping leading contenders Stuart Mann and Derek Clew fail to maintain their recent impressive form.
The two defeats have plunged Steffen into difficulty. Only a few days ago he had won more matches than he had lost, but the double blow was an echo of a similar session at last Thursday's league night.
There was also a pressurised double header between Miles Farren and Ed Turner.
The shared honours -- Miles won the first encounter, Ed the second -- saw both players falling short of what they needed for top flight survival, since both have now lost thirteen matches and can realistically afford no more slip ups.
In Miles' case, with just two matches remaining, there is still a ray of hope. Ed on the other hand, probably needs to win all seven of his remaining matches.
In the SGP there were thirteen players contesting the 3-point round robins, which resulted in the rarity of three groups.
The SGP title appeared to be a race between Roland Herrera and Hadi Kermani, although Ian Preston had a ghost of a chance to overhaul them.
Roland's slight points advantage became more significant when he and Hadi were drawn into the same group, and when they sat down to contest the opening match of their group Hadi really needed a win.
He didn't get it, and Roland went on to win the group outright to add another title to his list.
Hadi was however already in an unassailable position as top intermediate, so his failure to add to his points tally had no further down side.
Andy Hopkins, in only his second foray into competition, won the five player group, while the third group resulted in a three way tie between Julia Griffith, Simonetta and Gary Plant.
19/08/11: A good night for Derek and Simonetta
There were just eleven players at the BCSC for the August league night -- just eight in league action, while the others partook of a chouette.
Most of the league action came in the top flight where five matches were completed.
Derek Clew and Simonetta Herrera came out on top of a couple of hard fought double headers to stay on course for a title challenge on the run in.
Derek's wins over Steffen Nowak -- by 11-8 and 11-9 -- put him firmly in second place, with almost a carbon copy of leader Stuart Mann's record.
Both players had unspectacular starts to the season, each winning four of the first eight.
But while Stuart gathered momentum with nine successive wins, Derek has "only" won eight out of nine since that modest start.
Of the other challengers Simonetta -- a double winner over Dave Pym -- is now best placed to give the top two a problem, while of the remainder of the field only Tim Line and Gaz Owen have won more than they have lost.
The other Premier One match was between Miles Farren and Phil Charlton. Phil won 11-6.
They now appear, along with Richard Holness and Ed Turner, as the likeliest candidates for relegation.
But a strong finish to the season for any of those four, allied with a dip in form for any one of Dave, Steffen, Ian Tarr, Blaine Buchanan, or even Gaz, could make life near the bottom of the league quite interesting.
Meanwhile the only Premier Two action involved Richard Owsley and Cecilia Sparke.
Richard inflicted an 11-8 defeat on Cecilia, her first setback in seven matches, to haul himself off the bottom of the Premier Two Blue table.
Cecilia still tops the division, but second placed Paul Watts now looks favourite for the title.
19/08/11: Derek wins August grand prix tournament
Derek Clew and Steffen Nowak elected to double up the first match of their Premier One double header (see story above) as the final of last week's Bristol Grand Prix main flight final.
Derek's win moves him into fourth place in the OGP, and as he has already qualified for the 2012 Bristol Masters this releases a second slot for a Premier One high finisher.
18/08/11: Julian's amazing BIBA consistency
Earlier this month Julian Fetterlein made it to the sharp end of a BIBA tournament for the fifth time this year!
Finishing second behind Mike Heard at BIBA's SAC Trophy event made it two wins and three second places in the last six months -- an astonishing rate of consistency.
And during this time Julian has unsurprisingly moved back to his "rightful" place at the head of the BIBA rankings.
16/08/11: Blaine makes the most of rare Monday visit
Blaine Buchanan -- very much a "Thursday player" -- turned up at the BCSC last night and contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix.
It was his first Monday Club participation since a handful of forays in the autumn of 2008, and Blaine began making up for lost time when he won the seven player Tric Trac Tourno which formed the penultimate phase of the SGP.
Still vying for the SGP title are Roland Herrera and Hadi Kermani.
With just next Monday's event to go, they are still separated by a single point in the table, as Hadi was absent and Roland failed to do enough to add to his overall points tally.
Rookie Tom Koeller turned up for the second week running and played some friendly matches under the guidance of Ian Tarr, while the main event was followed by an entertaining chouette.
12/08/11: AUGUST GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
With holidays having an impact and a promised carload from North Devon failing to materialise, the August Grand Prix tournament was contested by just thirteen players, the lowest turnout since September 1999!
12/08/11: Steffen and Derek to contest August final ......
Steffen Nowak and Derek Clew made it through to the main flight final of the August Bristol Grand Prix, and they will play the match -- probably doubled up as a Premier One league match -- at the BCSC next Thursday.
Steffen's route to the final came via wins over Simonetta Herrera, Phillip Hill and Ian Tarr, while Derek was defeating Miles Farren, Tim Line and Simon Hughes.
12/08/11: Tim wins consolation flight ......
After a long wait for a match in the main flight, and quite a long match that eliminated him, Tim Line eventually came good to win the consolation flight, with victories over Steve Morris and Matt Reekie-Black.
12/08/11: Roland edges further ahead ......
Roland Herrera won one and lost one in yesterday's tournament, but despite this modest return he has edged a little further ahead in the OGP table.
The only real difference is that his closest pursuer is no longer Simonetta Herrera, after Ian Tarr did enough to move into second place, 55 points behind.
Simonetta, Simon Hughes and Dave Ablett are all within striking distance of the lead, as will be the winner of the outstanding final.
Meanwhile, this year's experimental slow play logging system is beginning to take shape, and there was evidence of players hurrying last night!
The last two initial matches to finish, if taking longer than 70 minutes, are logged, and the most consistent offenders are penalised.
Only those players who have had at least six potential loggings are eligible for the penalty points, which will be incurred by the top three players on the list, with 50, 30 and 10 points respectively.
These penalties will begin to show in the table as from next month, but as things stand at present those in line for penalty are Derek Clew, Steve Morris and Simonetta Herrera.
12/08/11: Matt has a chance in IGP ......
Given the low level of intermediate activity this year, the Intermediate Grand Prix looks like the most likely route to Premier League status, with the top two players guaranteed elevation.
Hadi Kermani, the only intermediate to have contested more than two tournaments thus far, built on his modest lead last night by taking the minimum 10 points.
But Matt Reekie-Black, playing his second consecutive grand prix event, picked up 45 including 20 bonus points for defeating Simonetta Herrera, and having already moved into fourth place, he stands a great chance of moving into one of the crucial top two positions.
12/08/11: Winner Takes All pool rolls over to September ......
With six players investing in the Winner Takes All pool, a rollover was always a distinct possibility.
And so it proved when Simon Hughes and Ian Tarr dipped out in the semi-finals.
12/08/11: Steffen has Masters place to play for ......
One of the rewards for winning a monthly grand prix event is usually a place in the following year's Bristol Masters tournament.
In that respect Steffen Nowak has more to play for than his final opponent Derek Clew, as Derek has already qualified for the Masters.
Should Derek win the final, the place would go to an additional Premier One high finisher.
12/08/11: Steffen scores league win ......
Steffen Nowak's run to the final of the evening's main event was not his only good news.
An emphatic Premier One win over Tim Line preceded the tournament.
10/08/11: Just two places left for September 10th event
The Bristol qualifier for the 1st International Backgammon Championship now has just two vacancies.
Fourteen players have now declared their intention to take part in the sixteen player September 10th event, which will give the winner a valuable seat in the online phase of this new global venture.
09/08/11: Cynthia and Neil take Monday prize pots
With some away on holiday, just eight players turned up for the latest Monday Club session at the BCSC.
Included in that number was Tom Koeller, making his debut appearance at a Bristol Backgammon session.
All eight present partook of the competitive fare on offer -- a pair of four player 3-point round robins.
Cynthia Roberts made a clean sweep of three wins in one group to take the pot, while the other group saw Neil Young and Pat Meek level at the top with two wins apiece.
Neil took all of the money, however, as Pat plays for free on Mondays, thus foregoing her prize winning and grand prix points gathering opportunities.
In the Summer Grand Prix table Hadi Kermani won enough points to move to within a single point of Roland Herrera, while Neil moved into third place and still has no need to worry about discards.
05/08/11: Richard thwarts Tim's perfect visit
Tim Line -- driving again -- made the most of a visit from his current London base by fitting in three league matches and one of the 1st International Championship satellites.
First up was a Premier One match at Ian Tarr's in Redfield, where a 6-0 lead turned into a 6-9 deficit before Tim recovered to an 11-9 win.
At the BCSC Tim had elected to be in the £18 four player satellite, and victories over Tony Walters and Richard Holness won him his seat for the Bristol Qualifier.
After that there was the not inconsiderable prospect of a league double header with Richard.
The first match went Tim's way -- 11-5 -- but then Richard halted Tim's run of success with a much needed win and an 11-9 reply.
Tim moves up to fourth in the league, while Richard will need a strong run in to survive in the top flight.
While Tim was securing one place in the September 10th event, the other satellite, a £9 eight player affair, saw Simon Hughes bag his seat with victories over Steffen Nowak, Cynthia Roberts and Chas Perry.
01/08/11: Ian and Neil share DMP honours
There were twelve players present at the latest Monday Club session at the BCSC.
Eight contested a DMP Tourno (the latest phase of the Summer Grand Prix), welcome newcomer Barry Baker was given some tuition by Ian Tarr, and there were some money games later, while four contested a further DMP Tourno.
The main event saw Ian Preston and Neil Young win five games each to share the pot, an outcome which didn't change a great deal at the top of the SGP table, where Roland Herrera remains a narrow leader over Hadi Kermani.
The later, impromptu, DMP Tourno saw a win for Ian Tarr.
01/08/11: Sean will not appeal
Sean Hopson has indicated that he will not appeal against the permanent imposition of three Premier Two Blue penalty points at the midnight checkpoint, saying he will "take it on the chin".
01/08/11: Premier League milestone on checkpoint day as twelve are penalised
The July checkpoint arrived at midnight, just after a small flurry of action.
A Premier One double header between Blaine Buchanan and Ian Tarr took place at the Star and Dove, Totterdown, and Blaine scored a double triumph, hauling himself out of the bottom four.
Later on Sean Hopson played host to Michael Corbett in Premier Two Blue, and the honours were shared.
Because the two sessions overlapped time wise, we may never know which match delivered the 3,000th result in Premier League history.
It may have been Blaine's second victory, or it may have been Sean's win, as both were completed at around 7.45pm.
At the checkpoint, twelve players incurred penalties, and one failed to claw back the three incurred on May 31st.
After a May checkpoint without blemish in Premier One, no fewer than eight of the thirteen contestants have now incurred penalties which they will need to claw back by compliance with the September 30th checkpoint.
They were Richard Holness, Tim Line, Steffen Nowak and Gaz Owen (3 points apiece), Derek Clew and Ed Turner (2 apiece), and Blaine and Simonetta Herrera (1 apiece).
And while everyone in Premier Two Red avoided problems, there were four in Premier Two Blue who didn't.
While Sean managed to complete six matches in the fourteen days prior to the checkpoint, this was not enough to claw back his three May penalties. This is, of course, subject to appeal, should Sean feel he has a compelling case.
Sean adds one to his penalty tally this time around, as does Malcolm Patterson, while Richard Owsley and Lewis Young are each docked two points.
29/07/11: Stuart extends Premier One lead; Matt wins first tournament
There were sixteen players in action in a variety of locations yesterday.
Stuart Mann played his third Premier One match at the Cornubia in two days, and registered his third win with an 11-2 triumph over one of his closest challengers, Gaz Owen.
The win, which was actually Stuart's ninth league win in succession, moves him nine points clear at the top of the league, and was concluded with the cube on sixteen!
Stuart's text sheds some light: "5-2 up and then won with cube on 16!! Doubled a race, he turned it round and redoubled to 4, I got a big advantage, pipcount 22 to 28 and put match on line with 8 cube. He has automatic recube to 16. Very tense with Gaz needing double 3s or better on last roll. He threw 6 4. I saw the 6 first. Heart still racing."
In other league action, Nick Barham and Chas Perry played a Premier Two Red double header at Colston Yard.
Chas won 11-6 and 11-5, and thus ended Nick's automatic promotion chance.
There were also three Premier Two Blue matches at the BCSC.
Cynthia Roberts and Lewis Young picked up an adjourned match, which Lewis won 11-9. Cynthia got her revenge in the return, recovering from 3-8 to win 11-8.
And Cecilia Sparke's 11-4 win over Sean Hopson took her to the top of the league.
Cecilia and Paul Watts are now strong favourites to take the two promotion slots. If they are to be challenged, Simon Temme, Lewis and Malcolm Patterson are the likeliest contenders.
The central feature of the evening was the fourth of this year's six Handicap Trophy tournaments, contested by ten players.
Julia Griffith became the latest recipient of Gaz's sponsorship, gaining a free tournament entry on her Thursday debut.
And making good use of her handicap of 4, she defeated Steve Morris, before being pipped in the semis by Cynthia at DMP.
But it was Matt Reekie-Black, another recent Thursday debutant, who won the event.
His three points starts over Simonetta Herrera and Simon Hughes came in handy, and his single point start over Cynthia in the final was also enough.
Derek Clew won the consolation flight, and the points gained have increased his Handicap Trophy lead to 35 points, with Cynthia moving into second place.
27/07/11: Two wins for Stuart at the Cornubia
Stuart Mann won a Premier One double bill at the Cornubia this evening.
Phil Charlton and Ed Turner were his opponents, and they succumbed by scores of 8-11 and 7-11 respectively.
That's eight straight wins for Stuart now, and he seems to be en route to setting a stiff target for his pursuers.
For Phil and Ed the defeats did them no favours in their efforts to get out of the bottom four.
Meanwhile, with just four days remaining to the July league checkpoint, there are still three players who haven't yet eradicated the possibility of expungement from the league.
For Gaz Owen in Premier One, and Lewis Young and Sean Hopson in Premier Two Blue, one more result will solve the problem.
And Sean also needs three more results to avoid his May penalty points becoming permanent.
26/07/11: Wins for Dave and Sean
In a Premier Two Blue meeting at the Hen and Chicken, Bedminster, early this evening Simon Temme's promotion hopes were dealt a blow when he succumbed to a 7-11 defeat by Sean Hopson.
Meanwhile at the BCSC Dave Pym scored a Premier One double over Phil Charlton, which was a reversal of recent form.
Dave, whose title defence had foundered somewhat with six defeats from seven matches, got things moving back in the right direction with 11-9 and 11-10 victories, which halted Phil's run of five wins out of six.
Dave is now third, although he has now played more matches than those around him, while Phil's chances of top flight survival have taken a knock.
25/07/11: Cecilia goes second
The BCSC this evening saw a Premier Two Blue double header featuring Cecilia Sparke and Ian Preston.
Both matches were extremely close, but Cecilia edged home each time -- 11-10 in the first, 11-9 in the second -- to move into second place, just behind Paul Watts on average points difference, but six points ahead of third placed Simon Temme.
For ten others there was a nackgammon round robin, with the field split into two groups of five.
Simonetta Herrera won one group, Neil Young the other.
Thus the top end of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix table remains largely unchanged.
Leader Roland Herrera and second placed Hadi Kermani finished bottom of the groups, and the 13.5 point margin is preserved.
And with third placed Ian Preston otherwise engaged and fourth placed Pearl Foster absent, the pursuers had a chance to make some inroads.
Julia Griffith's tally of 37.5 points moved her ahead of Pearl into fourth place, and although she is now second highest intermediate, she still has some way to go to threaten Hadi's chances of taking that particular prize.
25/07/11: August 4th satellites filling up
Interest in the Thursday week (August 4th) satellite evening, where players will be attempting to win seats at the Bristol Qualifier for the 1st International Backgammon Championship is beginning to escalate.
A scheduled eight player satellite, for which entry is a mere £9, now has only two slots left, although the £18 four player satellite has only one slot filled -- by Shadow Hamilton.
At the previous satellite evening on June 30th Stuart Mann and Simonetta Herrera booked their seats for the September 10th event.
22/07/11: JULY LEAGUE NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Only twelve players were in league action on the dedicated league night, but a handful of others were at the BCSC for chouette and friendly matches.
22/07/11: Nine point haul moves Ian to third ......
The early evening match between Simonetta Herrera and Gaz Owen had every appearance of being the Premier One match of the day, given that Gaz would have wanted to put the pressure more firmly on leaders Stuart Mann and Derek Clew, while Simonetta would have hoped to move closer to the top three.
And it was Simonetta, whose 11-3 triumph included a quadruple gammon, who achieved her objective.
She was uncertain as to whether she would get any more league action later, as her previously arranged opponent had cried off.
But potential opportunities were there after Dave Pym's and Ian Tarr's double header.
Ian claimed the spoils of this with 11-3 and 11-9 wins, and later agreed to face Simonetta.
This match also went Ian's way, after a pivotal double gammon set up a 5-2 lead for him in a game which could just as easily have gone the other way.
Ian's subsequent win gave him a nine point haul for the evening, moving him to third in the league and looking squarely ahead rather than anxiously over his shoulder as he had been.
Miles Farren also had a good evening, scoring a double over Richard Holness.
The double setback means Richard will probably need to win more than he loses on the run in to preserve his top flight place.
Miles retains hope of survival, but has the same needs as Richard during the eagerly awaited denouement.
22/07/11: Richard goes level with top two ......
Richard Biddle made the trip down from Buckinghamshire for a double header with Simon Baker.
The Air Balloon, Birdlip, Gloucestershire -- a venue last used for Bristol Backgammon purposes in 2001 -- was the scene of Simon's 11-2 win and Richard's 11-0 reply.
Richard is now level on points with leaders Neil Young and Mike Smith, although Neil has two matches in hand.
Meanwhile at the BCSC Simon Hughes established himself as the player most likely to threaten the top three, when he scored an 11-6 win over Jamie Nevill.
Simon's fourteenth result of the season also ensured that he reclaimed the two penalty points he incurred in May, and all Premier Two Red players are now clear of penalty worries at Sunday week's checkpoint.
22/07/11: Paul extends lead ......
Paul Watts played a Premier Two Blue double header with James Lintell-Smith at the BCSC, and each player managed a win.
Paul moves six points clear of his nearest challengers, but many have a game or two in hand.
20/07/11: Paul edges further ahead
Paul Watts defeated Sean Hopson 11-10 at the BCSC this evening to extend his Premier Two Blue lead.
19/07/11: Phil wins at the Star and Dove
The Star and Dove, Totterdown, was the venue for a Premier One match this evening.
Blaine Buchanan's home advantage apparently counted for nothing, as Phil Charlton emerged the 11-4 winner.
The result leaves Blaine and Phil tied in equal ninth position, with the pair of them straddling the relegation dotted line.
It's unlikely to happen, but if they were to finish in identical positions, a relegation play-off would be triggered.
And positions three to eleven inclusive are now covered by a mere six points.
18/07/11: Simonetta wins July grand prix final
Dave Ablett spent just two days at the head of the Bristol Rankings.
Losing the main flight final of the July Bristol Grand Prix tournament 5-11 to Simonetta Herrera at the BCSC this afternoon meant that Dave slipped back below Gaz Owen.
Simonetta's win moved her into second place in the OGP, and cemented her place in the 2012 Bristol Masters.
In the evening eight players contested two Monday Club 3-point round robins, and the honours were shared in both.
Yuri Cherkasenko and Hadi Kermani shared the pot in one group, while Roland Herrera and Cynthia Roberts did likewise in the other.
Roland maintains his lead over Hadi in the Summer Grand Prix, while their closest pursuers lost ground.
Meanwhile Ian Tarr played some friendly matches with Pat Meek, while a chouette materialised after the round robins.
Elsewhere, there was league action at the Tobacco Factory, where James Lintell-Smith won only two games against Sean Hopson, but still won their Premier Two Blue match 11-6, since both his winning games saw 8-cubes!
17/07/11: Dave makes the final
Dave Ablett yesterday moved to the final of the July Bristol Grand Prix tournament by winning his "local derby" with Cecilia Sparke.
And Dave, who will meet Simonetta Herrera in that final, has now replaced Gaz Owen at the top of the Bristol Rankings.
With Dave in third place in the OGP table and Simonetta in fourth, whoever wins the match will move into second.
15/07/11: JULY GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
Fifteen players -- the lowest turnout for a monthly grand prix tournament since September 2005 -- contested Thursday's tournament at the BCSC.
And Matt Reekie-Black, an occasional Monday visitor, made his Thursday debut.
15/07/11: Simonetta awaits a final opponent ......
Simonetta Herrera reached the main flight final of last night's tournament, but will have to wait to see who she will play after chouette took surprising precedence over the main event.
She defeated Miles Farren, Steffen Nowak and Richard Owsley to claim her eleventh career monthly grand prix final berth.
But when Dave Ablett and Cecilia Sparke -- who are what is commonly referred to as "an item" -- made it through to the other semi-final, and Cecilia reserved the right to defer the final (if she makes it) because of early morning work commitments, it was agreed she and Dave would fight out a semi-final "domestic" some time very soon, with the final to be arranged shortly thereafter.
15/07/11: Simon back in consolation groove ......
Simon Hughes racked up his seventh monthly grand prix consolation flight title at the BCSC last night.
Wins over Roland Herrera, Hadi Kermani and Cynthia Roberts did it for him.
15/07/11: Roland still leads despite blank evening ......
Roland Herrera's 80 points cushion at the top of the OGP table ensured that he was wouldn't be under any immediate threat of being overhauled.
He failed to win a match last night, but second placed Ian Tarr fared only slightly better, reducing Roland's lead to 65 points.
But if Simonetta Herrera or Dave Ablett should win the final, Roland's lead would be further reduced.
15/07/11: Hadi tops IGP table ......
Previous IGP leader Bahman Salahshour turned up at the BCSC last night, but too late to enter the tournament.
This probably cost him the IGP lead, because Hadi Kermani did enough to move into pole position himself, with a 23 points margin over Bahman, with another absentee, Mandy Macdonald, a further 15 points back in third.
15/07/11: Slow play penalty latest ......
The system introduced into the OGP for a one year trial period in an attempt to encourage quicker play is now developing into an interesting sub plot.
There are still only six players who have played enough tournaments to guarantee falling under consideration for this, although that number is sure to rise substantially as we get closer to the end of the season.
The idea is to penalise those players who are most often amongst the last to finish their opening matches.
Players whose initial main flight matches are the two last to finish are logged, provided they have taken more than 70 minutes to register a result.
Last night was the first occasion this year that only one opening match -- between Cecilia Sparke and Tony Walters -- took longer than 70 minutes.
Of the six players with enough data so far, it's still Simonetta Herrera leading the pack with three loggings from seven appearances, with Ian Tarr (two loggings in seven) next in line.
15/07/11: Pool rollover added some spice ......
Last night's tournament was proof positive that a substantial Winner Takes All pool rollover doesn't necessarily pull in the extra punters, although twelve of the paltry field of fifteen did choose to augment the £90 already in the kitty.
So the £210 pool dwarfed the official tournament prize money, and when Richard Owsley was eliminated in the semis, hopes of a further rollover evaporated.
As for qualification for the 2012 Bristol Masters, this will be straightforward if either Simonetta Herrera ro Cecilia Sparke wins the event.
But as Dave Ablett has already qualified (via his January title win), a win for him would open up a place for an additional Premier One high finisher.
15/07/11: Simon suffers setback in Premier Two Red ......
Simon Hughes and Nick Barham arrived early at the BCSC yesterday to continue the recent flurry of activity in Premier Two Red.
Nick won 11-9 to deal a body blow to Simon's promotion chances.
Neither player now has much margin for error if they are to make it into one of the two automatic promotion slots.
13/07/11: Red Division double headers at Hen and Chicken and Colston Yard
Simon Baker and Simon Hughes met for a Premier Two Red double header at the Hen and Chicken, Bedminster, early this evening.
And it was Simon H who came out on top with 11-6 and 11-4 victories to rekindle the dying embers of his promotion push.
Later, in the same division, Colston Yard was the venue when Alan Parfitt brought to an end Nick Barham's winning sequence with an 11-10 win, but Nick struck back with an 11-6 victory of his own.
12/07/11: Roland and Nick win Monday Tric Tracs
There were thirteen players present to contest the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix at the BCSC.
They were split into two groups to contest Tric Trac Tournos, which were won by Roland Herrera and Nick Barham.
With six sessions remaining, Roland now leads the SGP table, closely followed by Hadi Kermani and Ian Preston.
Hadi is also top intermediate, but Pearl Foster and Julia Griffith are within striking distance.
There was also some Premier Two action.
At the Clifton, in Regent Street, Clifton, Nick Barham scored a double victory over Simon Baker, his fourth and fifth successive Premier Two Red victories.
And before the BCSC's main event Simon Temme had time to defeat Cynthia Roberts to move into second place in Premier Two Blue.
08/07/11: Miles wins latest clock tournament
Thirteen players contested the latest in the series of six Clock Grand Prix tournaments at the BCSC on Thursday, while there were also a couple of double headers in Premier Two Blue.
Miles Farren won the main event, defeating Ian Tarr, Steffen Nowak and Simonetta Herrera before despatching Richard Owsley in the final.
Richard, after receiving a bye in the opening round, fought his way past Simon Hughes and Steve Morris to reach the final.
Stuart Mann took the honours in the consolation flight, defeating Cynthia Roberts, Roland Herrera and Simon Hughes.
The tournament win has propelled Miles to the top of the CTGP table, thirty points ahead of Simonetta, Stuart and previous leader Ian.
James Lintell-Smith and Malcolm Patterson had adjourned a Premier Two Blue match at 6-6 a week ago, and when they resumed early in the evening it was Malcolm who came out on top with an 11-9 win.
James turned the tables in the reverse, however, winning 11-5.
Later on Michael Corbett and Simon Temme fought out a couple of matches, with Michael winning both to haul himself off the bottom of the league.
The double setback was a blow to Simon's promotion hopes, but he is still in the thick of the race.
05/07/11: Honours even for Dave and Ed
Dave Pym and Ed Turner got together for a Premier One double header at the BCSC this evening, and the outcome could not have been more even.
Dave Won the opening encounter 11-6, only for Ed to reply with a win by the identical score.
05/07/11: Ed and Roland win round robins
There was more of a buzz than usual at the latest Monday Club session at the BCSC.
In all seventeen players turned up, twelve of them being split into two six player 3-point round robins, while others who arrived later played some friendly matches.
There were debut appearances for Andy Hopkins, Sica Weiss and "David" (not his real name -- some Iranians think we can't cope with their real names!).
Sica and David arrived too late for inclusion in the round robins, but Andy -- a BCSC member who had previously expressed an interest -- took the plunge into competition.
Ed Turner and Roland Herrera won the groups with clean sweeps, while recent newcomers Julia Griffith and Yuri Cherkasenko both won more than they lost.
Roland's tally of 75 points sees him tucked in just behind the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix leaders Hadi Kermani and Ian Preston -- all three players now covered by less than three points.
01/07/11: Stuart and Simonetta book their September places
The first satellite evening for the Bristol Qualifier for the 1st International Backgammon Championship took place at the BCSC on Thursday evening.
There were twelve players lined up to participate -- eight in a £9 entry knock-out, and four in an £18 entry one.
But when Cecilia Sparke failed to show, Director Ian Tarr was left with a minor problem in the eight player knock-out.
This turned out to be no problem at all, when Newport based Yuri Cherkasenko -- making his first ever visit to Bristol Backgammon -- happily volunteered to fill the vacancy.
Yuri had never played with a clock before, but still managed to register a first round victory over Steve Morris, before bowing out to Miles Farren.
Miles had defeated Chas Perry -- no way for Chas to celebrate the arrival of new son Donald at Southmead the previous day -- in the opening round, before losing out to Simonetta Herrera in the final.
Simonetta had beaten Derek Clew and Simon Hughes, and her victory over Miles made her the second player to win her seat in the September 10th event.
The first was Stuart Mann, who had earlier won the four player knock-out with emphatic wins over Cynthia Roberts and Roland Herrera.
If the satellites were the headline events of the evening, there were also other activities on offer.
Participating in a variety of small money matches and a chouette were Hadi Kermani, Bahman Salahsour, Manesh and Ian Tarr, while there was also some league action.
In Premier Two Blue James Lintell-Smith completed two and a half matches.
His first encounter, with Malcolm Patterson, was adjourned at 6-6, and the ensuing double header with Ian Preston resulted in a win apiece.
Meanwhile in Premier Two Red Nick Barham reported a brace of victories from the previous evening, when he beat Andrew Cobb at the BCSC before moving on and defeating him again at Colston Yard.
Recent news items
News items from 2012 (first half)
News items from 2011 (first half)
Back to Home Page