News items from 2012 (second half)
31/12/12: League season starts early!
Having obtained clearance from Director Ian Tarr, Simonetta Herrera and Tim Line followed a chouette session at Kellaway Avenue by playing their 2013 Premier One matches before the official season's start date.
Tim came out on top twice -- winning both matches 11-9 -- and is the first league leader.
While mention has been made in the past of playing league matches this early, a scan of the records shows that this was a ground breaking event.
27/12/12: Ed ends the year in style
Ed Turner won a one-sided encounter at the BCSC this evening to bring down the curtain on the 2012 Bristol Backgammon year.
The held over final of the December Bristol Grand Prix Tournament saw Ed defeat Ian Tarr 11-3 -- a win which not only gave him the lion's share of the prize money, but also saw him take the John Chidgey Cup and grab the last of the sixteen places in the 2013 Bristol Masters.
The result also ensures that there will be a small Winner Takes All pool rollover carried forward to the January grand prix event.
27/12/12: Premier Two line-ups completed
After the Turner-Tarr clash (see above) came the draw for the final six positions in next year's Premier Two, which decided where the six new league entrants will line up.
This was performed by former Premier League player John Lewis and his almost seventeen year old daughter Bronwyn.
Gary Plant, Alex Hodge and Andy Brown ended up in Premier Two Blue, with Andy Boysan, Fred North and Pearl Foster in Premier Two Red.
27/12/12: Simo's Fizz photos now online!
Simonetta Herrera took lots of photos of last Thursday's "Steve's Christmas Fizz Tournament", capturing the fun nature of the event very well.
You can view them by clicking here.
Thank you, Simo, for the link.
23/12/12: January and February grand prix dates moved to Wednesdays
The first two monthly grand prix events of 2013 have each been brought forward a day to Wednesdays.
The January event is on Wednesday 9th, and the February tournament is on Wednesday 13th.
22/12/12: Thirty-seven to contest 2013 Premier League
The entry deadline has passed, and thirty-seven players have signed up for the 2013 Bristol Premier League.
With the preferred split for that number of players being thirteen in Premier One and twelve each in Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red, the twelve qualifiers by right for the top flight will be augmented by Steve Morris, who will be making his Premier One debut along with James Lintell-Smith.
The only member of last year's Premier League not continuing next year is Michael Corbett, while six of the seven newly qualified players will be making their Premier League bows, the exception being Bahman Salahshour.
The full Premier One line-up is: Simon Baker, Blaine Buchanan, Phil Charlton, Simonetta Herrera, Simon Hughes, Tim Line, James Lintell-Smith, Stuart Mann, Steve Morris, Steffen Nowak, Gaz Owen, Dave Pym and Mike Smith.
The six newcomers will be drawn at random -- three in each division -- to join the other eighteen, who line-up thus:
Premier Two Blue: Andrew Cobb, Chas Perry, Simon Temme, Richard Owsley, Neil Young, Mandy Macdonald, Sean Hopson, Ed Turner and Malcolm Patterson.
Premier Two Red: Ian Tarr, Cecilia Sparke, Alan Parfitt, Nick Barham, Paul Watts, Richard Biddle, John Paton, Richard Holness and John Corrado.
21/12/12: Just one match outstanding
So that was 2012 -- in a Bristol Backgammon sense.
There is, however, one small piece of business to be concluded, and that is the held over main final of the December Grand Prix tournament, which Ed Turner and Ian Tarr wil fight out at the BCSC on December 27th.
The Director wishes all readers the very best festive breaks, and expresses the wish that more and more players will enjoy the many benefits of Bristol Backgammon in 2013.
21/12/12: The world didn't end at 11.11am......
So those players who have decided to enter the 2013 Bristol Premier League can really look forward to another season of challenging action.
The deadline for entry is midnight tonight, and it is likely that all those who will enter have already done so.
Director Ian Tarr's December 3rd forecast of 36 entrants has been exceeded, but only by one so far.
The tantalising situation for Steve Morris is that one more last minute entry would scupper his hopes of a "back door" elevation to a maiden season in the top flight.
Whereas a quiet last half a day would see him ready to make his Premier One debut next year.
Watch this space.
21/12/12: Six scoop prizes in Bristol Backgammon's festive finale
Eighteen players fought out the final event of the Bristol Backgammon year at the BCSC on Thursday.
Steve's Christmas Fizz Tournament followed on from the success of last year's similar event, and the fun packed tournament is now well established as an integral part of our calendar, and a fitting way to end the year's activity.
Based entirely around matches to three points, the event started with four round robin groups of either four or five players.
The scores, not just the results, were recorded so that the finishing order of each group had a viable tie break mechanism, which would have been backed up -- if necessary -- by looking at the results of meetings of tied players, with a single point shoot-out deciding as a last resort.
A buffet was served during the group matches, so players were able to use the breaks in play to good advantage.
The extra levels of tie break were not required, and the top two players (plus the third player in the five player groups) progressed to a main knock-out flight, with the remainder contesting a consolation flight.
Group winners Simonetta Herrera, Alex Hodge, Steffen Nowak and Roland Herrera each picked up a £15 bonus, before the draws were made for the two knock-out flights.
Simonetta and Alex also made it through to the main final, where Simonetta prevailed. And in the consolation flight, it was Ed Turner who defeated Nick Barham in the final.
As well as their cash prizes, the four finalists received bottled prizes from event sponsor Steve Morris -- champagne for Simonetta, prosecco for Alex, cava for Ed and buck's fizz for Nick.
A chouette followed, and a good time was had by all.
17/12/12: Premier League entries already up to last year's level
Thirty-two players have so far signed up for the 2013 Bristol Premier League, and a handful more are expected to add their names into the mix before Friday's midnight deadline.
It appears very unlikely, however, that the forty players required to trigger a new Premier Three division will be forthcoming.
Those who have signed up since the 03/12/12 article below are: Chas Perry, Simon Temme, Simon Hughes, John Paton, Gaz Owen, Gary Plant, Neil Young, Malcolm Patterson, Pearl Foster and Richard Holness.
17/12/12: Ian wins final Autumn Grand Prix event
Six players contested the final instalment of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix on Monday -- a 3-point round robin.
And Ian Tarr won the group with four wins from five matches, while nobody won fewer than two.
The 75 points Ian gained took him to within six points of AGP winner Alex Hodge.
Four players -- including latecomer Ed Turner -- still had time to play out a DMP Tourno, where Neil Edwards and Roland Herrera shared the pot.
14/12/12: LESTERS 85 ROUND-UP ......
There were just eleven players present at the BCSC to contest the final monthly grand prix tournament of the year, a k a Lesters 85.
14/12/12: Ed and Ian reach main final ......
Ed Turner -- leaving it late to make his first monthly grand prix appearance of the year -- and Ian Tarr made it through to the main flight final of Thursday's tournament.
Both received a bye straight through to the last eight, where Ed beat Alex Hodge while Ian was defeating Steve Morris.
Ian then eliminated Tony Walters while Ed beat Roland Herrera.
The final will take place some time very soon.
14/12/12: Simonetta wins consolation flight ......
Simonetta Herrera took the consolation flight of Thursday's tournament by defeating James Lintell-Smith, Simon Hughes and Derek Clew.
14/12/12: Ian wins a grand prix title for the third week running ......
The battle to win the OGP reached its climax on Thursday.
Simon Hughes arrived at the event in pole position, with Ian Tarr in second place needing to register at least two victories to stand a chance of dislodging Simon.
Three others -- Roland Herrera, Steve Morris and Derek Clew -- would need a tournament victory to stand a chance.
Unfortunately for Steve and Derek the low turnout, and the resultant limitation on points available, effectively took away their chance of achieving the most dramatic of climaxes.
Roland was still within reach of the summit, however, and wins over Derek and Nick Barham kept his hopes alive.
While Simon could still win the title even without troubling the scorers, his opening round defeat by Tony Walters took things out of his hands.
Meanwhile Ian was scoring the first of the wins he needed, defeating Steve.
Ian had started the event just five points behind Simon, but this was deceptive.
Having to discard a score of 25 points, the 10 points for competing plus 20 for beating Steve brought him dead level with Simon, but Simon had the advantage of having played fewer tournaments, so would still stay ahead of Ian, should he fail to beat Tony in the semis.
Simon still had the chance to add to his score in the consolation flight, however.
A flight win would give him 46 points, adding a net 30 to his total after discarding an earlier 16 points haul, coinciding with the 30 points Ian would get for beating Tony.
Ian was able to achieve that to reach the final, while Simon fell in the consolation semis to Simonetta Herrera.
Ian's win had also taken him beyond the reach of Roland, who succumbed in any case to Ed Turner, confirming Ian as a two time OGP champion.
This completed an unusual fifteen days for Ian, after winning the Clock Tournament Grand Prix on November 29th and the Clock Blitz Grand Prix on December 6th.
Winning three annual titles in such a short space of time is unprecedented, but perhaps doesn't quite make up for being relegated from Premier One!
14/12/12: No surprise as Alex clinches IGP title ......
Given the paucity of intermediate appearances on Thursdays, Alex Hodge's 140 points IGP lead never looked like being overturned.
And since he was the only intermediate present this time, his 40 points IGP haul only served to emphasise his easy annexation of the title.
John Sprague only played one event this year, but his efforts in that tournament -- where he reached the final -- were enough to get him the second place prize.
14/12/12: Rollover hopes depend on Ed ......
Just four players were tempted into the Winner Takes All pool on Thursday, and finalist Ian Tarr was one of them.
Neutrals will be willing Ed Turner to win the final and ensure that there will already be £40 in the pot when the January event comes around.
14/12/12: Ed or Blaine will take final Masters place ......
When the final of Thursday's tournament is completed, the sixteenth and last 2013 Bristol Masters seat will be filled.
Ed Turner has the chance to well and truly rescue a disappointing year -- both in terms of his low league finish, and his work induced absence from most events -- by claiming that last spot.
Ian Tarr has already qualified, so the place -- should he win the final -- would go to the next high finisher in Premier One -- Blaine Buchanan.
11/12/12: Phil maintains Blue Division tradition
Premier Two Blue champion Phil Charlton and Premier Two Red champion Simon Baker met at the Foresters, Downend, this evening to decide the destiny of the outright Premier Two championship.
And when Phil led 3-2 there was little indication of what was to come.
Things swung dramatically Phil's way, and he triumphed 11-2, unwittingly maintaining the bizarre tradition of these annual encounters.
It is a strange fact that each of the five Premier Two championship play-offs has gone the way of the Blue Division champ, Phil following previous winners Peter Edwards, Simon Hughes, Derek Clew and Simon Temme.
10/12/12: Alex clinches AGP title
With one tournament to spare Alex Hodge made sure of winning the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix when he shared the pot of the latest phase of the competition -- a DMP Tourno.
There were just five players present, so the tourno was a "double" one -- i.e. featuring two games against each opponent.
Alex, Ian Tarr and Neil Edwards each won five of their eight games, with Neil missing out on the cash (and grand prix points) as he had elected to take the no pay option, leaving Alex and Ian to share the pot.
Because of discards Alex failed to add to his points tally, while Ian edged ten points closer to Alex in the table.
The gap is 46 points, however, and taking into account the number of points available in the final session next week, Alex is in an unassailable position, making him the first player ever to win both the main prize and the top intermedaite prize.
There was still time for a "single" DMP Tourno, and this time it was Carol Mayne who missed out on a share of the money by not paying, leaving it to be shared by Alex and Chrissy Carter.
07/12/12: Ian takes another clock title
A week after clinching the Clock Tournament Grand Prix title, Ian Tarr yesterday added the Clock Blitz Grand Prix title to his portfolio.
The title win completes the only instance in Bristol Backgammon history of a player winning the same annual title three years running -- there are ten instances of two successive title wins -- and Ian, who has just been relegated from Premier One, has the chance to clinch another unusual hat-trick next week when he tries to regain the top spot in the OGP.
While he went into both last week's event and this week's as favourite to pick up the title, next week he is definitely the underdog, as he will need to win at least two main flight matches even to stand a chance of overhauling leader Simon Hughes.
As it happened he didn't need to excel in last night's event, as discards blunted the pursuit of closest pursuer Simon, meaning that both players failed to add to their totals.
This left the way clear for Roland Herrera to move into second place overall, after he shared the spoils of one of the two five-player groups with Nick Barham.
Alex Hodge cashed in the other group with a clean sweep of four victories.
There was time for a seven player DMP Tourno afterwards, and here Roland took the pot with five wins out of six.
03/12/12: Simon won a 2000-1 award!
A feat that went almost unnoticed during the first twenty-nine days of November was a sequence of eleven victories in particular competitions.
Simon Hughes's November monthly grand prix win featured four of the wins, with five Premier Two successes and two in the main flight of the November Clock GP tournament completing the run, which was eventually halted in the semi-finals by Richard Owsley.
Simon thus becomes the second player this year to scoop a 1000 to 1 award in the scheme generously sponsored by Roland Herrera.
03/12/12: Nick and Roland win round robin groups
The last but two episode of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a pair of 3-point round robins -- saw nine players competing.
The five player group was won by Roland Herrera, while Nick Barham won the four player group. Both players were undefeated.
This maintained the status quo at the top of the AGP table, as neither Alex Hodge nor Ian Tarr did well enough to add to their points tallies.
As discards bite with a vengeance at this stage, it's hard to see Alex's 56 points lead being overturned in the final two sessions.
03/12/12: Premier League entries accumulate
Just three days after the invitations were sent out, entries for the 2013 Premier League are already up to 22.
The latest players to sign up are Dave Pym, Blaine Nuchanan, Steve Morris, Mandy Macdonald, Steffen Nowak, Phil Charlton, Nick Barham and Andy Brown.
Director Ian Tarr is currently predicting a 36-player league.
01/12/12: Season over, and -- no surprise -- Gary is champion
The 2012 league season is over.
The midnight deadline for reporting results has passed with all quiet.
While the three divisions of the Premier League were tidily completed with one day of the 335 to spare, there was always the chance that the free format of the Bristol Conference League might just see further action at the death.
But with little to play for, the Conference season closed with a gratifying total of 119 matches played -- the second busiest season in the history of the competition.
Clearly there would be no surprise dash to supplant (forgive the pun) Gary Plant in pole position, given his 34 points advantage over second placed Fred North.
And although Andy Boysan's meteoric rise had moved him to within striking distance of Fred, Andy had other priorities yesterday as he claimed his first Thursday competition title, defeating Richard Owsley to win the last of the year's six CTGP events.
So with neither Pearl Foster nor Andy Brown having any ambitions to get amongst the prize money for the top three finishers, and nobody else with a realistic chance of grabbing a late passport to the Premier League via breaching the 20 points threshold, that was it for the season.
Director Ian Tarr has been very pleased to see the resurgence of the Conference this year, after a recent decline.
The enthusiasm of several of the players has been great to see.
Gary in particular has epitomised this, with his Swindon base being deemed absolutely no obstacle to chasing action, as evidenced by his record number of 39 matches played during the eleven month season.
And with Fred completing a Swindon one-two in a mere 21 matches, this pair will be assets to next year's Premier League.
The two Andys and Pearl have also richly deserved their elevation, while Alex Hodge would have joined them all with ease had he not already found other ways to qualify.
30/11/12: Premier League entries flooding in
Invitations have gone out to 83 players who are eligible to play in next year's Bristol Premier League.
And the acceptances are already flooding in.
Director Ian Tarr is this year harbouring hopes that there may be as many as 40 entries this year, which would be a record.
The odds may be slightly against that, but if it were to happen, a Premier Three division would be triggered for the first time ever.
Apart from Ian, those signed up so far are: Andrew Cobb, Paul Watts, Simon Baker, Richard Owsley, Alex Hodge, Mike Smith, Richard Biddle, John Corrado, Ed Turner, Stuart Mann, Andy Boysan, James Lintell-Smith and Fred North.
Entries close at midnight on December 21st, at which point it will become clear how the divisions will line up.
30/11/12: Andy takes clock title
Andy Boysan completed a successful debut in Thursday competition by defeating Richard Owsley in the held over final of the Clock GP Tournament at the Adam and Eve.
29/11/12: Andy and Richard reach final; Ian takes title
The final Clock Grand Prix tournament of the year was contested by thirteen players at the BCSC on Thursday, while two others brought the curtain down on the Premier League season.
Andy Boysan made his Thursday debut, having made an impression on Mondays, and Drew Caudwell made his first appearance since 2009.
The CTGP title was due to be decided, with only leader Ian Tarr and second placed Steve Morris having a realistic chance of taking it.
Ian went into the event with his 20 points cushion bolstered by the knowledge that his discard score of 10 points was more advantageous than Steve's 25.
Both scored victories on the opening round -- Ian over Nick Barham, Steve against Simonetta Herrera -- setting up a quarter final which had the potential to be the decider.
And so it proved as Ian recovered from an early setback to defeat Steve 7-3 and clinch the title.
In the semis he succumbed to Andy, earlier conqueror of Tony Walters and John Plummer, while Richard Owsley was emerging from the "short" side of the draw with wins against Alex Hodge and Simon Hughes.
Andy and Richard will play the final some time soon.
Meanwhile Simonetta was winning the consolation flight, her victims being Drew, Cynthia Roberts and Alex.
Richard Holness and Michael Corbett fought out the last of the 312 scheduled Premier League matches -- all now safely completed with a day to spare.
Michael led for much of the match, but it was Richard who prevailed by the narrowest of margins to pip Michael for eighth place in the final Premier Two Blue table.
28/11/12: Mandy scores double over Paul
The Premier Two Red season ended at the BCSC tonight with a double header between Mandy Macdonald and Paul Watts.
And it was Mandy who had the better of things, edging the opener 11-10 in fifteen games, before an equally gruelling return encounter threatened a similarly tight finish.
But Mandy took a double at 6-7 down which proved to be crucial, as she redoubled and won a gammon to take this match too.
The wins took her from tenth and last to seventh -- a respectable outcome from her debut season in the Premier League.
Paul finishes just one place above her in sixth.
27/11/12: Andrew finishes with a flourish
Malcolm Patterson and Andrew Cobb signed off their Premier Two Red season at the BCSC this afternoon.
The match had been adjourned some time ago with Malcolm 9-4 ahead.
But Andrew struck back to win 11-10, ending the season with six successive wins which have propelled him to his highest ever league finish in third place.
That record will put him second in line for any Premier One vacancies for 2013.
27/11/12: Andy wins Monday event
Nine players contested the latest episode of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix at the BCSC on Monday.
The Tric Trac Tourno saw Andy Boysan take the pot with 10.5 points, including four gammons.
The AGP table sees Alex Hodge 56 points clear of second placed Ian Tarr with just three events to go.
There was time for an impromptu eight player DMP Tourno, where Ian and Roland Herrera shared the pot with six wins each out of seven.
The evening featured a debut performance by Neil Edwards, who acquitted himself very well for someone who had never played competitive backgammon.
25/11/12: Steffen finishes fourth
The 2012 Premier One season finished this afternoon at Kellaway Avenue, when Steffen Nowak defeated Simonetta Herrera 11-8 to clinch the fourth and last prize money place.
Simonetta also rose a place in the table. All she needed to do was to play the match, which meant she reclaimed the penalty point deducted at the end of September.
This point was enough to ensure the relegation of Ian Tarr.
23/11/12: James promoted; Simonetta safe; Cecilia misses out; Ian down; Roland wins tournament; Simon takes NGP title
Ten players braved the horrendous wind and rain to turn up at the BCSC for the latest Thursday session.
And lots of issues were resolved.
Simonetta Herrera and Blaine Buchanan played out a Premier One double header where each player had a different objective.
Crucially for Simonetta the issue was top flight survival, as she looked for the single win that would almost certainly see her safe.
Her opponent was looking for a brace of wins to edge into the prize money in fourth place.
The first match started promisingly for Simonetta as she swept into a 7-2 lead.
There was quite a turnaround, however, as she failed to add another point, and Blaine was assured of at least a fifth place finish -- a new personal best.
Simonetta again set the pace in the return, scoring six points without reply.
Again Blaine recovered, and the scores were levelled at 7-7. But Simonetta pulled away again for an 11-7 victory of her own, ensuring her own safety and sending Ian Tarr down.
Blaine is fourth, but will slip to fifth if the only remaining top flight match goes the way of Steffen Nowak, when he meets Simonetta, whose recovery of her penalty point will finally see her outside the bottom four of the league, no matter what the outcome of the match might be.
That match will also decide one of the remaining qualifying positions for the 2013 Bristol Masters.
Steffen will take it if he wins, but if he loses Blaine takes the place.
Positions four to nine in the twelve player league will be covered by a span of just one win.
After her defeat on Monday, Cecilia Sparke had a lot to do when she tackled her final opponent of the Premier Two Blue season, Michael Corbett.
Promotion at the expense of second placed James Lintell-Smith was out of the question as soon as Michael raced into a 6-1 lead.
But Cecilia's "second prize" -- a third place finish and pole position in the queue to take up any top flight vacancy -- looked within reach when she powered back into a 10-7 lead.
The win she needed for that failed to materialise, as Michael pipped her at the post, and the defeat kept her below third placed Steve Morris.
Cecilia must be the unluckiest player in Premier Two history.
Her five seasons at this level have now yielded four strong promotion pushes -- all of which have been thwarted by narrow margins, twice on average points difference and twice for lack of one more victory.
And her career average win ratio in Premier Two -- over 60% -- is superior to countless others who have made it to Premier One -- including three of the four promoted players this year (Phil Charlton being the noteable exception).
With further perseverance her time will surely come.
If the league matches stole the headlines, it should not be forgotten that one of our annual grand prix competitions reached its conclusion last night.
Six players contested the final leg of the Nackgammon Grand Prix, and for the third time in the four events, there were insufficent entrants to sustain a consolation flight, a stat that fully justifies the event's removal from the Bristol Backgammon calendar next year.
The were four players still in with a chance of taking the title before the tournament, but one of those, Nick Barham, was a no show.
Leader Steve Morris was one of those who got a bye to the semis, but as it turned out winning one match would have been enough to keep him in charge.
He was unable to do that, however, succumbing to Roland Herrera, and Simon Hughes picked up just enough points in the other half of the draw -- defeating Neil Young and Ian Tarr -- to overhaul Steve by five points to take the title.
His final defeat at the hands of Roland was thus less painful than it might have been.
Only two players invested in the "furthest progression" pool, and they were drawn together in the quarter-final.
Ian's defeat of Alex Hodge added a small crumb of comfort on an evening he will remember for other, less happy, reasons.
21/11/12: John signs off with a win
A Premier Two Red match adjourned several months ago with the score at 9-8 was finally completed tonight at the BCSC.
John Paton got the two points he needed to complete the win over Ed Turner to round off what was an undistinguished season for both players.
Just eight Premier League matches remain to be completed before the season ends at midnight on November 30th.
20/11/12: Simon Hughes promoted, but Simon Baker just clinches championship
The Albion, Clifton, was the venue for an important Premier Two Red double header early this evening.
The protagonists were Simon Baker and Simon Hughes, and their agendas, while related, were very different.
Simon B, already promoted, could clinch the divisional championship by winning one of the two encounters, or alternatively by avoiding two heavy defeats.
Simon H could take the title by winning both matches emphatically, and could also ensure mere promotion with two narrowish wins. One win would leave him vulnerable to being overhauled by Andrew Cobb for the second promotion place.
The first match went to Simon H 11-4, leaving all options still possible, although not for Chas Perry, whose slim promotion chance had disappeared.
The second started with Simon H needing an 11-7 success to tick all of his boxes.
Unfortunately for him, Simon B managed nine points this time before succumbing, guaranteeing himself the divisional championship, but the victory was enough to ensure that Simon H took second place, leaving Andrew only the possibility of third place.
Simon B will now take on Premier Two Blue champion Phil Charlton -- who was confirmed as that divisional champion by Cecilia Sparke's defeat yesterday -- in the 11-point play-off for the outright Premier Two title.
19/11/12: Defeated Cecilia must now beat Michael
Cecilia Sparke's battle to reach the top flight of the Bristol Premier League suffered a setback at the BCSC tonight when she fell to an 8-11 defeat at the hands of Richard Holness.
The defeat means that Cecilia must defeat Michael Corbett emphatically in her final match of the Premier Two Blue season.
Were she to win that match by more than 11-4, she would pip James Lintell-Smith for the second promotion slot.
An 11-4 win would force an unprecedented promotion play-off with James, while a win by any other margin would leave her in third place, and a defeat would leave her fourth behind Steve Morris.
Cecilia and Richard were two of the fourteen players in action at the BCSC.
In Premier Two Red John Paton and Malcolm Patterson fought out a double header, with Malcolm coming out on top in both matches.
And Andy Boysan and Tom Koeller played two Conference matches, Andy winning both to move into third place.
Six others played a 3-point round robin in the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, including a welcome return for Jon Kent, who was making his first appearance since January, 2006.
The pot was shared between Andy Brown and Alex Hodge, Alex moving into a 61 points lead in the AGP table.
Latecomer Carol Mayne played some friendlies with Director Ian Tarr, who had opted out of the round robin as seven is an impractical number in the allotted time span.
15/11/12: NEWS FROM THE LAST EVER LEAGUE NIGHT ......
The November league night pretty much justified the decision of Director Ian Tarr to dispense with the sessions next year.
There were just six players present at the BCSC for league action, while two more fought out a crucial match elsewhere.
15/11/12: Richard down; Ian hanging by a thread ......
Some more outstanding issues in Premier One were resolved at the BCSC, when Stuart Mann met Ian Tarr, and Richard Owsley played Steffen Nowak.
Stuart needed a win to clinch second place, while the other three needed victories in their respective battles against relegation.
A pair of double gammons moved Stuart 8-2 ahead, and although Ian fought back, Stuart finally prevailed 11-8 to pip Dave Pym for second place.
Steffen overcame Richard 11-6, ending Richard's hopes of survival while ensuring his own safety.
The final relegation slot rests between Ian and Simonetta Herrera, for whom just one win from her final three matches will probably be enough to stay up.
15/11/12: Phil returns to Premier One ......
Phil Charlton and Alan Parfitt fought out their final Premier Two Blue match at the Foresters, Downend.
When Alan led 9-3, the portents were good for league leader James Lintell-Smith and fellow promotion contender Cecilia Sparke.
But Alan never got another point, and Phil's place in next season's Premier One was guaranteed.
The second promotion place will rest between James and Cecilia.
James has finished his fixtures, and a brace of wins for Cecilia would not only take her up at James's expense, but would also give her the divisional championship.
A win and a defeat for Cecilia would not be enough, unless she could improve her points difference by five.
15/11/12: Andy clinches Premier League place in 29 days ......
Recent arrival Andy Boysan has set about gaining a Premier League place for next season to such good effect that his mission has been accomplished just four weeks after making his Conference debut.
Tonight's successful double header with Matt Walder took him beyond the twenty points threshold, and his next task is to try and get amongst the prize money.
12/11/12: Simon's double gives him a great chance
There were nine players in action at the BCSC on Monday, with five contesting the latest leg of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, while five league matches were completed.
Simon Hughes did his chances of gaining promotion back to the top flight no harm at all, when he twice defeated Ed Turner in Premier Two Red.
Winning 11-8 and 11-6, he will definitely claim the second promotion slot if he should win his final two matches.
The slight problem there is that these are against the already promoted Simon Baker, who will himself be looking to clinch the divisional championship.
Simon H will overhaul second placed Chas Perry by winning just one of the two matches, but this would leave him vulnerable to being overhauled in turn by Andrew Cobb, should he snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in his final match, which was adjourned with Andrew 4-9 down to Malcolm Patterson.
In the Conference Andy Boysan was staging his latest attempt to breach the 20 points barrier to clinch a place in next year's Premier League.
Starting the evening on 16 points, this became 19 when he defeated Pearl Foster. So when Alex Hodge became available after the AGP event, a double header ensued, in which a win in either match would see Andy reaching his goal.
The initial match was over very quickly, Alex winning 11-1 in just two games.
But Andy led the second match all the way -- until Alex rounded things off with a post-Crawford double gammon from 8-10 down.
Andy is thus still a win away from Premier League backgammon.
In the AGP there was a DMP Tourno with each opponent being played twice.
The pot was shared by Alex and Ian Tarr, who each won six of their eight games.
Alex now leads the AGP table from Ian by just 36 points.
11/11/12: Simon defeats Roland to take OGP lead
The held over main final of Thursday's monthly grand prix tournament took place at the Grain Barge yesterday afternoon.
And for the second month running Roland Herrera had to settle for being runner-up, as he fell to a 6-11 defeat by Simon Hughes.
The win moves Simon into the overall OGP lead, just five points ahead of long time leader Ian Tarr, setting up an interesting scenario for the final instalment of the OGP on December 13th.
Steve Morris's slim chance of taking the title has now disappeared, while Derek Clew will need to win December's tournament with five victories on the night to stand a chance.
Roland would have been in much closer contention had he won yesterday, but he will now also need to win December's torunament to have a chance.
Simon, of course, is now favourite, as Ian will need to win at least one match to have any chance of overhauling Simon.
09/11/12: NOVEMBER GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were twenty-one players in action on the evening of the November Bristol Grand Prix tournament -- seventeen in the tournament itself, and four others in league action.
Back in circulation after a gap of more than six years was Rosey Bensley, on a multi-purpose visit from High Wycombe.
09/11/12: Roland and Simon to contest November main flight final ......
The main flight final of Thursday's tournament was held over, and will no doubt be played soon.
The protagonists will be Roland Herrera and Simon Hughes.
Roland's route to the final took him past Richard Owsley, John Plummer and Rosey Bensley, while Simon was defeating Tony Walters, Cecilia Sparke and Derek Clew.
09/11/12: Nick takes consolation flight ......
The winner of Thursday's consolation flight was Nick Barham, whose wins over James Lintell-Smith, Ian Tarr and Steffen Nowak earned him the accolade.
09/11/12: Simon and Roland staking strong OGP claims ......
Ian Tarr has led the OGP for most of the year, but with Thursday's final and the December tournament remaining, his position is under threat.
Indeed a win for Simon Hughes against Roland Herrera would convert Simon's 30 points deficit into a 5 points lead.
Should Roland win he would be within 33 points of Ian's tally.
Both Roland and Simon have amassed 65 points from the tournament so far, and Roland has also benefitted from a bonus of 20 points, having been overhauled in the slow play logging statistics.
He was eligible for the maximum 50 points penalty under the system, whereby opening matches which take longer than 90 minutes are logged.
That honour now falls to Cecilia Sparke, three of whose opening matches (from her five tournaments) have now been logged, while Roland's penalty is reduced to 30 points.
In the OGP race, while Ian, Simon and Roland are now the main contenders, Steve Morris and Derek Clew retain outside chances of crashing the party.
Discards play their part at this time of the year, and while Simon has a score of 16 to discard next month, Ian's discard score would be 25 and Roland's 28.
09/11/12: Alex extends IGP lead ......
Alex Hodge may have been unimpressed with his return from last night's tournament, but the 35 points added to his IGP tally have extended his IGP lead to 140 points.
If that sounds a lot, it is.
But with IGP bonus points it's still possible for a player to score 240 in next month's tournament, so celebrations would be a trifle premature.
09/11/12: Rollover depends on Roland ......
There was a Winner Takes All pool rollover of £40 from the October tournament, and that prompted six players to invest in this optional extra last night, boosting the total to a handy £100.
Whether or not there will be a further rollover depends on the outcome of the outstanding final.
Simon is in the pool, while Roland is not, so most neutrals will be rooting for Roland.
09/11/12: Stuart one win away from second place ......
There was a Premier One clash at the Ship, Park Row, yesterday evening.
Gaz Owen, who has already won the title, took on Stuart Mann, who is now targeting second place.
And it was Stuart who won 11-7, a margin narrow enough to mean that second place will only be achieved if he wins his final match against Ian Tarr next Thursday.
09/11/12: Andy frustrated in Premier League quest ......
Andy Boysan took on Fred North in a Conference double header at the BCSC last night, knowing that a brace of wins would take him to the 20 points total required for elevation to next year's Premier League.
When he won the opening encounter 11-2 he appeared to be well on track, but Fred hit back to win the return 11-8.
Andy is left on a 16 points, and looking for more league encounters before the season ends on November 30th, to enable him to reach the required mark.
07/11/12: Bristol related successes at BIBA
Marcus Wrinch -- a current Bristol Backgammon sponsor, occasional tournament visitor and former Premier League player -- has had a fine season at BIBA.
Numbers may have dwindled at BIBA events recently, but to win both annual titles -- the BIBA Grand Prix Championship and the BIBA Rankings Championship -- is still a special feat.
Julian Fetterlein achieved the same feat last year.
And at the latest BIBA event last weekend, the Townharbour Trophy Swiss Format competition, current Premier League player Richard Biddle won five of his six matches to place fourth.
07/11/12: Simon promoted as Andrew scuppers Paul's chances
A couple of late Premier Two Red results from last night have emerged.
Paul Watts, needing a couple of wins to keep his outside promotion hopes alive, met Andrew Cobb in a double header at the BCSC.
But it was Andrew who prevailed in both matches -- 11-9 and 11-7. And with five successive victories, he has emerged as a surprise contender for elevation himself.
So Paul must just try and finish as high as he can, albeit outside the top two.
And as he was one of only two players with a mathematical chance of overhauling leader Simon Baker, the results assured Simon of a return to the top flight.
The second promotion place now rest between Andrew, Chas Perry and Simon Hughes.
06/11/12: Phil closer to promotion
Phil Charlton defeated Sean Hopson 11-7 at the Foresters, Downend, this evening to move into second place in Premier Two Blue.
A win in his final match -- against Alan Parfitt -- would leapfrog him above James Lintell-Smith and guarantee him promotion back to the top flight.
Wins for Cecilia Sparke in her final two matches would almost certainly give her the divisional title, while James, who has finished his programme, can only wait for his fate to be decided.
One thing Phil's win does mean is that Steve Morris's slim chance of a top two finish has now gone.
There was also Premier Two Red action at the Windmill, Windmill Hill, where Ed Turner scored an 11-5 win over Mandy Macdonald.
05/11/12: Andy, Alex and Neil cash on Monday
Eight players turned up at the BCSC to do battle in the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, a pair of 3-point round robins.
The draw saw all of the four highest ranked players present in one group, and the pot was shared between Alex Hodge and Neil Young.
The other group saw Andy Boysan taking the honours with a clean sweep.
Alex has extended his AGP lead over second placed Ian Tarr by ten points to around 61.
Seven of the eight stayed on for a DMP Tourno, which was won by Alex.
Meanwhile, there was league action at the Prince of Wales, Westbury-on-Trym, where John Corrado signed off a disappointing debut Premier League season with a nail biting defeat by Alan Parfitt, who in turn is enjoying his best league season to date.
Alan has missed out on promotion from Premier Two Blue, but his efforts this season augur well for the next one.
01/11/12: Alex wins Handicap Trophy; Chas suffers promotion setback
There were fourteen players in action at the BCSC on Thursday evening.
All fourteen entered the final instalment of the year's series of six Handicap Trophy tournaments, and two of these arrived early to contest an important match in the Premier Two Red promotion race.
That was Chas Perry's final match of the league season, and it was a crucial one against another contender in Simon Hughes.
A victory for Chas would have left him odds on for promotion, while defeat would leave him dependent on the results of others.
And defeat it was, with Simon registering an 11-0 whitewash.
Only Simon and Paul Watts still have the opportunity to overhaul leader Simon Baker, and both players have four matches remaining.
The tournament field included one player making his Bristol Backgammon debut. But that player, going by the name of Johnny C, will not be appearing again in one of our events.
Drawn to play Cynthia Roberts in the opening round, his attempts to bully his opponent into submission thankfully came to nothing.
Being uncertain of the rules is one thing, but a total inability to listen, and a propensity to argue that black was white, prompted Director Ian Tarr to exclude him from the consolation flight, returning his entry fee on the understanding that he would never again darken our metaphorical doorstep.
The remainder of the event passed without a hitch.
Going into the event, the two favourites to land the Handicap Trophy were leader Ian Preston -- attempting to win for the third year running -- and Alex Hodge, who had won his two previous HT events, aided by beneficial handicaps.
So when the pair were drawn together in the first round, it took on the mantle of a virtual title decider.
And despite Ian's single point start, it was Alex who prevailed, after which he inflicted defeats on Steve Morris, Mandy Macdonald and Chas in the final, making it three wins out of three in this format.
Steffen Nowak took the consolation flight, defeating Ian Tarr, Simon Hughes and Ian Preston in the process.
01/11/12: Simon almost there
In a Premier Two Red double header at the Hare on the Hill last night Simon Baker took an important step towards returning to the top flight.
Opponent John Paton prevailed 11-10 in the opening encounter, but Simon hit back to win the return 11-5.
That win moves Simon into the lead, and one further win would clinch both promotion and the divisional championship.
Assuming all the contenders recoup their penalty points, Chas Perry, Paul Watts and Simon Hughes can each finish above Simon on average points difference, but since Chas and Simon H still have to meet, the lowest Simon B can finish is third.
30/10/12: Phil wins in Hawkesbury Upton
The pace in the race for promotion from Premier Two Blue shows no sign of relenting.
Contender Phil Charlton scored an 11-6 win over Sean Hopson at the Beaufort Arms, Hawkesbury Upton, this evening to stay well in contention.
The chances are that two of James Lintell-Smith, Cecilia Sparke and Phil will take the two top berths, while Steve Morris still has an opportunity, albeit a distinctly tenuous one.
29/10/12: Two Andys share the honours
This evening saw a Conference double header between two players named Andy B at the BCSC.
Recent recruit Andy Boysan is on a mission to breach the 20 points barrier in double quick time, having already amassed twelve points from his four matches to date.
He would have hoped to get to 18 points with a double success over Andy Brown, who has already qualified for next year's Premier League, having played 28 league matches before this evening's session.
Andy Boysan won the opening encounter 11-3, but the other Andy turned the tables to win the return encounter 11-4.
So Andy Boysan has moved to within six points of his target.
Monday's advertised event was a Nackgammon Tourno, the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Five players contested it, and Ian Tarr came out on top to move to within 51 points of AGP leader Alex Hodge.
There was plenty of time for further action, and a double DMP Tourno (i.e. one where each opponent was played twice) saw Roland Herrera take the pot.
25/10/12: Gaz clinches championship
Gaz Owen has clinched the Bristol Premier League championship for the first time.
Having finished as runner-up in both 2008 and 2011, he went one better when he and Simon Temme managed a win apiece in their double header at the Ship, Park Row, this evening.
Reigning champion Stuart Mann can no longer pass Gaz, even with 11-0 victories in the two remaining relevant matches -- their own meeting and Stuart's other match, against Ian Tarr.
For Simon the evening's events confirmed that he can no longer escape the drop to Premier Two.
Meanwhile Richard Owsley who, like Simon, has been experiencing top flight backgammon for the first time this year, still has a chance of staying up after defeating Blaine Buchanan at the Naval Volunteer.
In Premier Two Blue James Lintell-Smith had the opportunity to clinch the divisional title when he took on Richard Holness in a double header at the BCSC.
A pair of emphatic wins could have taken him out of reach of the pursuing Cecilia Sparke and Phil Charlton.
He was on track when registering an 11-5 win in the opening encounter, but Richard hit back to win the return 11-2.
So James has signed off his excellent season, sitting in pole position and awaiting the outcome of Cecilia's and Phil's remaining matches.
Cecilia can pass James with an emphatic win and a narrow defeat, while two wins and a defeat for Phil will almost certainly not be enough to do likewise.
Lily Owsley scored what could be an important win over Andy Brown in the Conference.
She now has eleven points -- just three wins away from clinching a Premier League place for next year.
The league action overshadowed what was the advertised event at the BCSC, the last ever Consulting Doubles Grand Prix tournament -- at least in its present format.
When only three players turned up to contest the event -- despite publicity highlighting the possibility of winning the title for all contenders -- the event was abandoned, and Alex Hodge, Tim Line and Ian Tarr had to content themselves with a few money matches.
This means that the winners of the only one of the four scheduled events this year to be staged successfully -- Tony Walters and Neil Young -- will take the title.
25/10/12: Tim safe; Ian must wait
In a Premier One double header in Redfield this afternoon, Ian Tarr and Tim Line shared the spoils.
Ian won the opening encounter 11-1, but Tim hit back with an 11-5 victory of his own.
This means Tim is effectively safe from the threat of relegation, while Ian will be if he can defeat Stuart Mann in his final match, otherwise his fate will depend on the results of others.
22/10/12: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players at the latest BCSC Monday session -- four playing Conference League matches, while the other ten contested a couple of 3-point round robins, which were the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
In the league Andy Boysan continued his quest to breach the 20 points mark, and he has reached 12 already after collecting his third and fourth wins at the expense of Pearl Foster.
Pearl slipped from second to third in the league as Fred North defeated Andy Brown in the other league match played.
Meanwhile the two 3-point round robins saw pot wins for Alex Hodge and Nader Abbasi, who along with Hadi Kermani was making his first appearance of the year.
Liz Scott would have shared the pot Nader won, had she not elected to take the free entry option.
Alex has extended his AGP lead beyond 90 points as the half way stage has been reached.
20/10/12: Richard keeps survival hopes alive
An 11-8 win at the Adam and Eve for Richard Owsley over Tim Line has kept his hopes of staying in the top flight alive.
Winning his two outstanding matches could see him safe.
Meanwhile the defeat leaves Tim needing to win one of his last two to allay any lingering fears of taking the drop.
18/10/12: Gaz now strong favourite
The future -- or otherwise -- of league nights was brought into sharp relief at the BCSC tonight.
While the leagues themselves are flourishing, the concept of setting aside one Thursday session for each of the eleven months of the season appears to be an outmoded one.
Five players were present at the BCSC this evening, and one of those was only there to collect results!
Three matches crucial to the outcome of the Premier One title race took place -- two at the BCSC and one at the Adam and Eve, Hotwells.
Gaz Owen and Richard Owsley did battle in Hotwells, and it was Gaz who prevailed, winning 11-3.
Meanwhile at the BCSC leader Dave Pym and Stuart Mann were fighting out a double header.
Stuart took the first match 11-2, but Dave appeared to be in a strong position to hit back when he moved into a 6-1 lead in the return encounter.
Stuart eventually came out on top, though, with an 11-9 win to stay in contention, while Dave can only take his second title in three years if a succession of extreme circumstances is to come to pass.
It must be assumed that Gaz's and Stuart's penalty points will be recouped, so thinking in those terms Gaz is already in pole position by virtue of his outstanding average points difference.
And it does look as though it will need Gaz to lose all three of his remaining matches if he is to fail to win his first ever league championship.
One of the four remaining relevant matches pitches him against Stuart, and the title will certainly be his if he wins this.
The evening's other action saw Andy Boysan making his league debut with a double header against runaway Conference leader Gary Plant.
And what a splendid effort it was, too, as Andy scored 11-6 and 11-4 victories.
There are only forty-three playing days left this season, but Andy has set his sights on breaching the twenty points threshold to earn himself the transition into Premier League backgammon in time for the new season in January.
16/10/12: Phil a step closer
The top three contenders for the two automatic promotion places from Premier Two Blue show no sign of faltering.
The latest in action was Phil Charlton, who defeated John Corrado 11-7 at the Prince of Wales, Westbury-on-Trym, this evening.
Leader James Lintell-Smith, second placed Cecilia Sparke, and Phil have each lost five matches, and while Phil has three matches remaining, the other two have just two.
Should they finish level on points -- and it should be remembered here that Phil's penalty point will be reclaimed when he finishes the season on time -- average points difference at the moment favours James, then Cecilia, then Phil, although this could change, of course.
While these three keep on winning, the promotion chances of Steve Morris and Alan Parfitt, already extremely slim, recede even further.
Of the contenders mentioned, only Alan and Phil have yet to meet.
15/10/12: Steve wins October grand prix event
There were fourteen players in Monday night action, including twelve at the BCSC.
The most important match was the final of Thursday's monthly grand prix tournament between Roland Herrera and Steve Morris.
And it was Steve who won the match 11-6 to move into third place in the OGP table and to clinch a place in the 2013 Bristol Masters.
And at the White Lion, Frenchay, there was a Premier Two Blue double header between two players with a tiny vestige of promotion hope.
Alan Parfitt's vestige remained just about intact as he won both matches -- 11-4 and 11-7.
The other ten players were involved in the advertised event at the BCSC, a Tric Trac Tourno -- the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Included among this field were three players making welcome returns after long lay offs, and one -- Nick Kemp -- making his Bristol Backgammon debut.
Those returning were Patrick Duggan, whose last competitive appearance was in November 2009, while Liz and Peter Scott were last seen in June 2010.
The tourno was won by Nick Barham, who included a backgammon and two gammons in his winning score of 11.5 points.
Alex Hodge still leads the AGP, but his lead was cut to 58 points by second placed Ian Tarr.
11/10/12: OCTOBER GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Fourteen players toed the start line at the October monthly grand prix tournament, including four intermediates.
11/10/12: Steve and Roland in grand prix main final ......
The main flight final of Thursday's tournament will be played some time soon, after Steve Morris and Roland Herrera agreed to adjourn it.
Steve got past Steffen Nowak, James Lintell-Smith and Derek Clew to reach the final, while Roland was defeating Richard Owsley, Simon Hughes and Alex Hodge.
11/10/12: Simonetta wins consolation flight ......
Wins over Ian Tarr, Stephen Thomas and Steffen Nowak gave Simonetta Herrera the consolation flight win at Thursday's tournament.
11/10/12: Simon edges closer to OGP lead ......
With leader Ian Tarr suffering defeats at the first hurdles of both flights, the way was clear for his pursuers in the OGP table to make inroads into his lead.
But while fourth placed Roland Herrera has leapfrogged Jerry Limb, second placed Simon Hughes gained a mere fifteen points after a discard, and has closed to within 80 points of Ian.
Steve Morris would move above Roland if he were to win the outstanding final.
11/10/12: Alex moves clear in IGP ......
The presence of four intermediates in Thursday's tournament was gratifying, as this equalled the best intermediate turnout for one of these events this year.
Alex Hodge, who took the IGP lead last week, has now moved 105 points ahead of second placed John Sprague after a win with bonus points last night.
And Gary Plant, who only entered the IGP table last week, is now just five points behind John in third place.
This is the first year when Premier Status qualification via the IGP comes with the proviso of a 200 points plus haul, and Alex has now breached that mark.
This is largely academic in his case, however, as he had already made the cut via the Premier Status Race totting up procedure.
11/10/12: Rollover to November guaranteed ......
Only four of last night's contestants bothered with the Winner Takes All pool, and the elimination of Alex Hodge in the semis was the trigger for a £40 rollover to the November tournament.
Meanwhile, qualification for the 2013 Bristol Masters may or may not become clearer after the final of last night's event, when it is played.
Roland Herrera has already qualified, so a win for him would benefit someone else, but it's more clear cut for Steve Morris, for whom a win will do the trick.
10/10/12: Alex wins Intermediates Trophy
The held over final of last Thursday's Intermediates Trophy was played out at the BCSC this evening.
And Alex Hodge took the title, defeating Gary Plant 7-2.
For both players this was the last opportunity to win this title, as they will be Premier Status players come January 1st.
And Alex now leads the IGP by 60 points from second placed John Sprague.
09/10/12: Cecilia keeps up the pressure
There were eight players in action at the BCSC last night -- six of them contesting the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, while two played out a Premier Two Blue match.
The league match featured Alan Parfitt and Cecilia Sparke, Cecilia eventually prevailing 11-7.
The defeat has rendered Alan's promotion chances dependent on a variety of extremely unlikely circumstances, while Cecilia remains on track to fight it out with James Lintell-Smith and Phil Charlton for the two promotion slots.
Steve Morris, who has finished his programme, could also figure, but he needs two of the three to falter badly.
Meanwhile the 3-point round robin featured a welcome debut for Andy Boysan, who acquitted himself very well, winning three of his five matches.
The honours, however, were shared between Roland Herrera and Alex Hodge, who has extended his AGP lead over second placed Ian Tarr to 78 points.
05/10/12: ALL THE NEWS FROM INTERMEDIATES TROPHY NIGHT ......
Twenty players visited the BCSC on the evening of the Intermediates Trophy, thirteen of them to contest the main event -- the second highest turnout in the history of the event, just two short of the fifteen who made the 2003 event.
There were also a couple of Premier One matches played.
05/10/12: Gary and Alex to contest the Intermediates Trophy final ......
At a time when activity in the Conference League looks like exceeding that of all previous seasons bar 2007, last night's Intermediates Trophy tournament emphasised the increasing divide between the league and tournament scenes.
The thirteen who entered last night's annual intermediate-fest surprisingly included only five of those currently contesting the intermediates' high profile league, which has seen more than 100 matches played so far this year.
Gary Plant fought his way through the long part of the draw, defeating Andy Brown, Peter Thistlewood and Stephen Thomas to secure his place in the final.
There he will meet Alex Hodge, the recipient of a first round bye who had to wait quite a while for his first taste of action.
In the quarter-finals he met Mikko Laihon in what was a very high quality match, from which he just emerged unscathed.
He then defeated Shadow Hamilton in the semis, in what was also the match which decided the fate of the optional side pool.
Alex and Gary will be meeting soon to decide the destiny of the title.
05/10/12: Alex moves into IGP lead ......
John Sprague has visited the BCSC only once this season, when he reached the final of the April grand prix tournament.
But even given the fact that intermediates have been staying away from the monthly flagship events in large numbers, it's still a little surprising that that performance has been enough to see him perched at the top of the IGP table ever since.
Until last night, that is.
The Intermediates Trophy is also a rich source of IGP points, and no fewer than ten of last night's thirteen strong field now feature in the IGP table for the first time this year.
One who was already there was Alex Hodge, whose brace of monthly grand prix appearances had already elevated him into second place.
Alex picked up 50 IGP points getting to the final last night, and has now relegated John into second place.
He will extend his lead to 60 points if he can defeat Gary Plant in that final.
A win for Gary, however, would move him into third place, just behind John, and within 30 points of Alex.
05/10/12: Premier One wins for Simonetta and Stuart ......
An emphatic win for Simonetta Herrera over Richard Owsley was just what she needed if she is going to avoid relegation. Unfortunately for Richard, however, his Premier One survival is hanging by a thread, as he will probably need to win three of his last four matches to stand a chance of staying up.
In a similar position is Simon Temme, whose 10-11 defeat at the hands of Stuart Mann leaves him needing a double header success over Gaz Owen to give him a comparable chance.
For Stuart the win ensures that there is still a vestige of hope as he chases league leaders Dave Pym and Gaz.
01/10/12: Pearl goes second
In a Conference match at the BCSC this evening Pearl Foster defeated Haydn Beard 11-10 to move into second place in the league table.
The match was played alongside the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a DMP Tourno.
This was contested by five players who played each other twice.
The pot was shared by Roland Herrera and Alex Hodge who each won six of their eight games.
Alex thus extended his AGP lead over second placed Ian Tarr to 23 points.
There was time for a further DMP Tourno, Alex and Ian sharing the pot this time.
01/10/12: Thirteen penalised at penultimate league checkpoint
Thirteen players have picked up penalties at the midnight September 30th league checkpoint.
Richard Holness in Premier Two Blue and Ed Turner in Premier Two Red failed to claw back penalties incurred at the July checkpoint.
In Richard's case Director Ian Tarr has decided to suspend the firming up of that point, as he was unavailable for play for around five weeks during the two month period in question, due to hospitalisation and recuperation, and has only just returned to action.
Of the eleven other players to be docked points, albeit until they finish the season in a timely manner, four are in Premier One: Richard Owsley and Stuart Mann, with two points each, Gaz Owen and Simonetta Herrera with one point each.
Another four are in Premier Two Red: John Paton and Simon Hughes with two points each, Simon Baker and Paul Watts with one each.
And in Premier Two Blue Alan Parfitt has incurred two penalty points, while Phil Charlton and Sean Hopson have picked up one apiece.
28/09/12: Mike earns another top flight season
Mike Smith is in his second spell in Premier One, and he ended his season today by bettering what he achieved last time -- i.e. assuring himself of another season in the top flight.
His double success against Ian Tarr at the Star and Dove gave him a fifty-fifty record for the season, albeit with an average ponts difference of -0.5, and if that doesn't guarantee him a further season amongst the elite, it would be an unprecedented event.
The same cannot be said for his opponent, who was a title contender five matches ago.
But his run of defeats has put Ian's Premier One survival in jeopardy.
Ian is rumoured to be discounting the Star and Dove as a venue for his own league encounters after suffering six successive distressing defeats there!
27/09/12: Stuart pips Richard
Stuart Mann and Richard Owsley met at the Grain Barge this evening for a Premier One encounter.
Both were in dire need of the points, but for differing reasons.
For Stuart there would remain a slim chance of retaining his league title if he were to win, while Richard -- having won three successive league matches to keep him well in the mix to escape relegation -- needed a bit more breathing space for the battles ahead.
Things went mostly Stuart's way until he got to 10-4 ahead.
Losing the Crawford game, he then found himself on the wrong end of the mandatory 2-cube in the next game.
At 10-7 came another tight game where a gammon for Richard was far from inconceivable, but in the end he had to settle for the single game and it was 10-9.
After Stuart took advantage of the free drop the last game began.
This was also very tense, and could have gone either way, but in the end it was Stuart who came home the 11-10 victor.
27/09/12: Steve can only wait and hope
Steve Morris rounded off his Premier Two Blue season this afternoon at the Kensington Arms, Redland, defeating John Corrado 11-1.
Steve has finished on 33 points, and has a good average points difference.
While the odds are against him, he can still harbour hopes that James Lintell-Smith, Cecilia Sparke and Phil Charlton -- the three favourites for the two promotion slots -- might falter on the run in.
Sean Hopson can now be ruled out of the equation, while the other outsider, Alan Parfitt, can only realistically overhaul Steve by winning all of his five remining matches.
26/09/12: Alex wins again
Alex Hodge maintained his winning habit when he made his Clock Grand Prix tournament debut at the BCSC on Wednesday.
The event, switched from Thursday to accommodate a band function, was attended by only six players -- just insufficient to trigger a consolation flight.
Alex defeated Chrissy Carter, Simon Hughes and Steve Morris to win the tournament -- having had his first ever taste of clock play.
Steve closed on CTGP leader Ian Tarr, whose lead is now just 20 points with one event to come.
Third placed Steffen Nowak, 95 points behind Ian, is the only other player now in a position to challenge, and he would need to play at least four matches in the final event, in November.
A welcome guest for the evening was William Spiers, who lives near Edinburgh, but has been working locally. William is well known on the BIBA circuit.
26/09/12: James and Phil keep up the pressure
The promotion race in Premier Two Blue is becoming more intense by the day.
Monday saw Cecilia Sparke win to move into second place, while Tuesday saw Sean Hopson keeping alive his chance of making the top two.
Now two more results are to hand.
A late result from the Horseshoe, Downend, last night -- the first ever to be registered at that venue -- saw Phil Charlton scoring an 11-9 win over Michael Corbett which keeps him very much at the heart of the race.
And this afternoon leader James Lintell-Smith's 11-10 victory over John Corrado at the Prince of Wales, Westbury-on-Trym, keeps him firmly on track for promotion.
Basically the six players who have currently lost either five, six or seven matches are all still in contention, although James, Cecilia and Phil would appear to have the best chances, while Steve Morris, Alan Parfitt and Sean have to be regarded as the outsiders.
25/09/12: Blaine two giant steps closer to safety
A brace of wins at the Star and Dove this evening have taken Blaine Buchanan to the brink of safety in the top flight.
The double success over Ian Tarr moved him into third place and finally ended any hopes Ian might have had of challenging for the title.
In Premier Two Blue there was a double header at the Beaufort Arms, Hawkesbury Upton.
Here Sean Hopson scored two victories over Richard Holness to keep alive his faint chance of challenging for a top two place.
Meanwhile at the BCSC Ed Turner defeated Mandy Macdonald to rise a couple of places in the Premier Two Red table.
The good news for Director Ian Tarr is that after tonight's results it is now certain there will be no expungements from any division of the Premier League this season, although there are still three players in danger of having penalty points made permanent at the September 30th checkpoint.
24/09/12: League wins for Blaine, Cecilia and Gary
There were eleven players in action on Monday evening, with six involved in league encounters and the other five contesting the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Blaine Buchanan took a step towards safety from relegation from the top flight at the Star and Dove with an 11-4 victory over fellow struggler Simon Temme.
The Shakespeare in Prince Street was the venue when Cecilia Sparke met John Corrado for a Premier Two Blue encounter.
Cecilia scored an emphatic win, and moves into second place, just behind James Lintell-Smith on average points difference.
At the BCSC Gary Plant scored his twenty-seventh victory in thirty-seven Conference matches when he defeated Haydn Beard 11-7.
The AGP event took the form of a five player 3-point round robin, and the pot was shared by Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr, who each won three of their four matches.
Ian moves to within five points of leader Alex Hodge in the AGP table.
20/09/12: Simon the main mover on low key league night
There were seven league matches played on Thursday, while news of another match and a half from yesterday also emerged.
At the BCSC Richard Owsley scored his third league win in a row to maintain his recent Premier One revival.
His 11-9 win gives him a realistic chance to escape the drop, while dragging his opponent, Steffen Nowak, towards the danger area.
Stuart Mann also won 11-9, against Mike Smith at the Grain Barge, keeping alive his tenuous hopes of retaining the title.
And at the Star and Dove Blaine Buchanan's 11-6 win over Simon Temme means that there are now six players trying to escape the three remaining relegation slots, having won two matches fewer than they have lost.
On Wednesday at the BCSC, Andrew Cobb defeated Malcolm Patterson 11-3, but is 4-9 in arrears in the adjourned return encounter.
Malcolm was in action again today, but suffered a pair of defeats to Red Division championship favourite Simon Baker, who has ousted Chas Perry from the top spot.
Premier Two Blue saw a double header between Steve Morris and Michael Corbett.
Steve won the opener 11-5, but Michael struck back to take the second 11-9.
Steve is now second with just one match to play. Unless he wins that one, his chances of staying in the top two are slim indeed.
18/09/12: Gary extends lead to 38 points
In a local derby encounter at Brookhouse Farm, Swindon, this afternoon Gary Plant defeated Fred North 11-5 to extend his lead at the top of the Conference League to a hefty 38 points.
18/09/12: Chas a step closer to Premier One
For the second successive Monday, Ed Turner and Chas Perry met at the BCSC to play out a Premier Two Red encounter.
Ed won last week, but this time Chas turned the tables to win 11-6 and enhance his already strong chances of promotion.
Meanwhile nine players contested the advertised event, the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
This was a Tric Trac Tourno, and the winner was Bahman Salahshour, whose 9.5 points were just enough to hold off joint second placed Pearl Foster, Alex Hodge and Ian Tarr, who were each half a point behind.
Pearl had the distinction of winning every one of her eight games, but unfortunately for her only one was a gammon, and in Tric Trac Tournos that is not usually a recipe for success.
Alex thus extends his AGP lead, thanks to the absence of his closest challenger Haydn Beard.
Ian is now second, with Pearl third.
16/09/12: Jerry wins Lesters final
The held over final of Thursday's tournament took place at Henbury on Friday.
Jerry Limb made the most of home advantage to take the title with an 11-7 win over James Lintell-Smith.
That means no rollover in the Winner Takes All pool, and Jerry also becomes the eighth of this year's qualifiers for the 2013 Bristol Masters.
The 40 points Jerry accrued for winning the final also take him into third place in the OGP.
16/09/12: LESTERS 84 ROUND-UP ......
Just thirteen players contested the September Bristol Grand Prix tournament (a k a Lesters 84) at the BCSC on Thursday night. Amongst the field was Thursday debutant James Kirwin, a neighbour of Miles Farren.
Two others were in Conference action at the club earlier.
16/09/12: Jerry and James make Lesters final ......
Jerry Limb defeated Simon Hughes, Derek Clew and Steve Morris, while James Lintell-Smith was getting past James Kirwin, Simonetta Herrera and Cecilia Sparke to set up a final meeting.
The hour was late, so the pair agreed to play on Friday at Jerry's Henbury residence.
16/09/12: Ian wins consolation flight ......
Defeated by in the main flight, Ian Tarr then took the consolation flight with wins over Miles Farren, Simon Hughes and Simonetta Herrera.
16/09/12: Ian's OGP lead extended ......
OGP leader Ian Tarr made a quick exit in the main flight, but his consolation flight win saw him adding 46 points to his overall tally, although, he had to discard a 20 points score.
His consolation semi-final win over Simon Hughes was crucial in keeping Simon at bay in second place.
Jerry Limb will go third overall if he wins the outstanding main flight final.
September is the month where the slow play staistics kick in.
Players whose initial tournament match takes over 90 minutes are logged, and those who have played at least five tournaments are eligible for penalty points based on these loggings.
Of those players Roland Herrera currently has the largest proportion of loggings, so is the current recipient of 50 penalty points. And as things stand at the moment, Derek Clew (30 points) and Steve Morris (10) are also in this particular frame.
16/09/12: Alex closes slowly on John in IGP ......
Alex Hodge's impact in seven short weeks has been considerable, but Thursday was not one of his best nights.
He failed to win in either flight, so he will have to wait at least next month to overhaul IGP leader John Sprague.
His basic 10 points for entering moved him to within 25 points of the lead.
16/09/12: WTA rollover depends on James ......
The £80 Winner Takes All pool rollover from August tempted nine of the thirteen entrants into increasing their investment, giving Thursday's tournament a handsome £170 side pot.
But neutrals were left hoping for a James Lintell-Smith victory over Jerry Limb in the outstanding final, as Jerry was in the pool, while James wasn't.
Meanwhile, apart from the cash on offer, the finalists also have something of significance to play for, given that the winner will become the eighth qualifier for the 2013 Bristol Masters.
16/09/12: Gary sets new Conference records ......
On Friday afternoon at the BCSC Gary Plant established two new Conference records, which are likely to be stretched even further over the final two and a half months of the season.
Playing a double header with Peter Crispin, Gary won the opening encounter 11-2 to clock up his twenty-fifth Conference win of the season, a record he had previously shared with Marcus Wrinch.
He also finally overhauled Peter Edwards and Todd Toung, who had held the record for Conference matches played in a season.
And his 34th match was succeeded by his 35th, as Peter gained revenge, registering his maiden league win by an 11-4 margin.
Gary is now 34 points ahead of his nearest challenger in the league.
13/09/12: News of Thursday's action
Apologies to all readers, but a full report of Thursday's action will not appear here until late on Sunday.
But the main flight final -- between Jerry Limb and James Lintell-Smith -- will be played on Friday evening.
10/09/12: Ed defeats Chas in Red Division
There were eleven players in action at the BCSC on Monday evening.
Nine of those contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, while two others played out a tense league match.
The AGP event consisted of two 3-point round robins, with Alex Hodge and Paul Lamdin sharing one pot while Ian Tarr took the other.
Paul was making a welcome return appearance after a gap of 28 months!
Alex's 55 points tally took him to the top of the AGP table, 24 points ahead of previous leader Haydn Beard.
The league match was a Premier Two Red encounter between league leader Chas Perry and back marker Ed Turner.
Ed scored an 11-9 victory, simultaneously denting Chas's promotion aspirations and hauling himself off the bottom of the league at Malcolm Patterson's expense.
07/09/12: Alex qualifies for Premier League in just six weeks!
On July 26th Alex Hodge turned up at the BCSC for his first taste of Bristol Backgammon action.
That evening, given the benefit of the generous 4-handicap afforded to all newbies with no detectable track record, Alex won the fourth of this year's series of six Handicap Trophy events.
Last night -- six weeks later, and with a still generous 2-handicap because there is not yet quite enough data for him to get an automatic handicap based on his playing record -- Alex did it again, defeating zero handicapped players Steffen Nowak, Ian Tarr and Simonetta Herrera to put himself within 5 points of Handicap Trophy leader Ian Preston.
He has been almost an ever present at our events since that first evening in July, and has now become the first player to qualify for the following season's Premier League via the Race to the Premier League system first introduced last season to ensure that players not quite doing enough to attain Premier Status via the customary routes (the Conference League and the IGP) had the opportunity to have their overall performances recognised.
Alex's impact in the short time he has been with us has been reflected in the fact that he has already clocked up the requisite 50 points in the Race to the Premier League.
Steffen took the consolation flight last night, defeating Lily Owsley in the final.
03/09/12: Haydn back with a vengeance
Haydn Beard, who last graced a Bristol Backgammon session in December 2010, returned to the fray at the BCSC and won the five player DMP Tourno.
As this was the opening Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix session, Haydn is the first leader of that league table.
And the other good news is that Haydn has signed up for the Conference, with almost three months of action available to him.
30/08/12: Kevin and Roland share clock blitz pot
A seven player Clock Blitz Grand Prix round robin was the order of the day on Thursday evening at the BCSC.
Amongst the field were Kevin Carter, from the Reading area, who was making his first Bristol Backgammon appearance since November 2007, and welcome debut player Marcus Evans.
Four hours of frenetic action later, the pot was shared by Kevin and Roland Herrera, who each won four of their six matches.
Ian Tarr maintained his 30 points lead over second placed Simon Hughes in the CBGP table, both players winning three matches on the night.
29/08/12: Gaz closes on leader Dave
While one or two others cannot be ruled out, the race for this year's Premier League title has more and more of the appearance of a two horse race.
Dave Pym is setting a formidable target, but this afternoon Gaz Owen moved to within three points of the lead with two hard earned victories over Simonetta Herrera at his Kingswood home.
Gaz has two matches in hand over Dave, and at the moment has a superior average points difference.
The double blow means Simonetta still has work to do to avoid the drop.
22/08/12: Alex wins Nackgammon event
It was Wednesday night and it was Nackgammon, so no real surprise that the total turnout was just six, not quite enough to trigger a consolation flight.
Alex Hodge continued to make an impact, and defeated Cynthia Roberts, Ian Tarr and Steve Morris to claim the main prize.
Steve, who got the benefit of a bye to the semis, beat Nick Barham there, and has extended his overall Nackgammon Grand Prix lead to 35 points.
With just one tournament remaining in the series, Nick, Alex and Simon Hughes are now the only players in with a realistic chance of beating Steve to the title.
20/08/12: Derek and Alex share Monday pot
Six players lined up for the final session of this year's Monday Club Summer Grand Prix.
It took the form of a Nackgammon Tourno, and the spoils were shared by Derek Clew and Alex Hodge, who each scored six points.
So the final SGP table shows Ian Tarr as the winner, with Roland Herrera in second place.
Chrissy Carter, in third place overall, grabbed the top intermediate award, while Alex -- in fourth place -- can only reflect on what might have been, had he appeared on the scene earlier than just under a month ago.
17/08/12: Great night for Dave at the BCSC
Last night's session at the BCSC went some way towards deciding the destiny of this year's Premier League title.
If Dave Pym could have pre-arranged the results of the four top flight matches played, it would have been exactly as what actually transpired.
Dave himself played two matches -- defeating Ian Tarr 11-5 and Steffen Nowak 11-10 -- while the other two matches were a double header between Tim Line and Simon Temme.
Here Simon grabbed six priceless points towards his Premier One survival battle with 11-7 and 11-8 victories.
The effects of the four results were these: Dave's challenge was firmly cemented to the extent that he and Gaz Owen are now the likeliest champions; Ian, one of the others with a good chance of challenging, suffered an important setback; Tim, who had played himself into contention last month, now has no chance of taking the title; and the number of challengers is now limited to those who have lost no more than eight matches -- Dave, Gaz, Ian, Stuart Mann and Simonetta Herrera.
Meanwhile Simon's double success means that only Dave and Gaz can be totally sure of not joining Richard Biddle in the relegation places.
Not a great deal happened in the other three leagues, except that Phil Charlton kept himself well in the mix for promotion from Premier Two Blue with a hard fought win over Richard Holness.
The only other action was in the Conference, where Gary Plant staved off a stirring fight-back from Jonathan Loukes to record his 24th win of the season, equalling Marcus Wrinch's 2007 Conference record.
The other Conference record Gary equalled was the number of matches played in a season -- Peter Edwards and Todd Young's 33, also dating from 2007.
15/08/12: Blaine and Richard share spoils; two more league wins for Alex
Richard Biddle completed his maiden Premier One season this evening with a double header at the Star and Dove against Blaine Buchanan.
Richard, already relegated, won the opening encounter 11-9, but Blaine -- with relegation worries of his own -- struck back to win the return 11-4.
Meanwhile, back at the BCSC, Alex Hodge won two more Conference matches, and is now only eight points from assuring himself of Premier League backgammon next year, having only emerged onto the Bristol Backgammon scene twenty days ago!
His victim tonight -- suffering a pair of emphatic defeats -- was Andy Brown.
14/08/12: Alex and Steve share Monday pot
There were ten players in Monday action, eight at the BCSC, and two at The Windmill, Windmill Hill.
The latter venue saw a Premier Two Red encounter between John Paton and Mandy Macdonald, from which Mandy emerged the 11-8 winner.
Pat Meek and Pearl Foster played a Conference match at the BCSC, Pat registering her fifth win in six matches to move to ten points -- half way to the 20 points promotion threshold.
That left six players to contest the penultimate session of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a three point round robin.
This resulted in Alex Hodge and Steve Morris sharing the pot with four victories apiece.
With just next week's session to come, leader Ian Tarr has an unassailable lead in the SGP table, while Chrissy Carter, in third overall, cannot be caught in the race to be the competition's top intermediate.
13/08/12: Playboy London Million cancelled
November's Playboy London Million tournament has been cancelled.
The event had failed to attract enough interest to appear viable, and rather than incurring further costs, Stephen Pearson -- Director of Player Events Limited -- was left with little alternative but to pull the plug.
What this means closer to home is that Richard Biddle's strenuous efforts to promote the event by gaining the support of various UK Directors have come to nought.
Almost £4,000 of the £6,400 necessary to provide a seat at the big event had already been banked, and will now have to be returned to the various regional seat holders, including the eight players who were ready to contest our own Bristol and West regional qualifier.
Unless anyone comes up with an alternative, their £100 prizes/investments will be returned to them very soon.
Despite the failure of Richard's venture -- through no fault of his own -- the mechanism to provide low cost entry to big events remains a valid one, and several other UK Directors, including Bristol's Ian Tarr, have pledged their support for future projects, albeit in conjunction with tried and tested events like the Nordic Open.
10/08/12: AUGUST GRAND PRIX NEWS ......
Fourteen players contested the August Bristol Grand Prix tournament at the BCSC last night.
10/08/12: Derek takes August title ......
Derek Clew's burgeoning young family has made it tough to play as much as in previous years, but he went some way to making up for lost time by winning the main flight of the August Bristol Grand Prix event.
Wins over Roland Herrera, Jason Champion and Ian Tarr took him through to the final, where he defeated Alex Hodge 11-2.
Alex, having received a bye in the first round, beat Miles Farren and Cecilia Sparke to reach the final of his debut monthly grand prix event.
10/08/12: Simonetta beats Miles in consolation final ......
Simonetta Herrera took the honours in Thursday's consolation flight, beating Richard Owsley and Roland Herrera before despatching Miles Farren in the final.
10/08/12: Ian extends OGP lead ......
Ian Tarr was the only player in the top six of the OGP to win matches last night, so even with discards starting to bite, his lead over second placed Simon Hughes moved out from 65 to 85 points.
Flight winners Derek Clew and Simonetta Herrera moved into sixth and seventh in the table.
10/08/12: Alex states IGP intentions ......
As the only intermediate present at last night's tournament, Alex Hodge took advantage of his first ever monthly grand prix appearance to notch 70 points, bringing him into joint second place in the IGP table.
Given that Alex appears to have an insatiable appetite for backgammon action, it's difficult to imagine that he won't overhaul leader John Sprague very soon.
10/08/12: Double rollover to boost September tournament ......
There was a tiny £20 rollover in the Winner Takes All pool from July, which at least convinced six players to go for it this time.
Of those six Alex Hodge did best, but his final defeat to Derek Clew ensured that there will be £80 already sitting in the pot come the September tournament.
10/08/12: Derek ensures Masters qualification ......
Winning the tournament confirmed Derek Clew as the seventh of the sixteen qualifiers for next year's Bristol Masters.
10/08/12: Marcus wins at BIBA
Marcus Wrinch finished top of twenty entrants at BIBA's SAC Trophy Swiss Format event last weekend.
This was Marcus's third high profile victory this year.
06/08/12: Playboy Bristol and West draw done
The draw for the Playboy London Million Bristol Qualifier took place at the BCSC after this evening's action.
It was performed by Gary Plant and Andy Brown.
The full draw -- in grid order -- reads:
Matt Reekie-Black versus Steve Morris; Jason Champion versus Ian Tarr; Tony Walters versus Marcus Wrinch; Simon Hughes versus Stuart Mann.
Agreement on when the matches will be played has yet to be reached.
06/08/12: Gary extends Conference lead
There were just six players present for the latest Monday session at the BCSC.
Gary Plant and Andy Brown fought out their fourth and final meeting in this year's Conference, and it was Gary who won, extending his league lead to 29 points.
The other four players played out a double Tric Trac Tourno, where Alex Hodge took the honours.
A further, unofficial, Tric Trac Tourno saw Pat Meek beat Ian Tarr on countback to win it, but unfortunately for her -- and fortunately for Ian -- Pat had taken the zero payment option, so had to forsake the pot.
06/08/12: Two date changes to take note of
Two upcoming Thursday sessions have been brought forward by a day to accommodate other functions at the BCSC.
The Nackgammon Grand Prix event originally scheduled for August 23rd is now on Wednesday 22nd, and the Clock Grand Prix Tournament on September 27th is now on the 26th.
03/08/12: AUGUST DOUBLES EVENING ROUND-UP ......
Question: When is a doubles evening not a doubles evening? Answer: When not enough players want to play doubles.
There were ten players at the BCSC on Thursday evening, but with six there to play league matches, that left just four willing and able to contest the doubles event. And four just isn't enough.
03/08/12: Dave back on top of Premier One ......
Dave Pym took another step towards regaining the Premier One title when he defeated Simon Temme 11-9.
The win leapfrogs him over Gaz Owen to the top of the league.
03/08/12: Conference wins for Gary and Andy ......
There were wins for Gary Plant and Andy Brown when two pairs met for Conference matches.
Andy scored an 11-5 win over fellow title contender Fred North, although to call them title contenders might not be entirely apt.
That's because Gary is now 26 points ahead at the top of the league after finally tracking down Lotte Ryan, who played her first league match for nearly two years.
It was a close run thing, though, as he won a gammon from 9-10 Crawford down.
03/08/12: Doubles to be discontinued in 2013 ......
When people vote with their feet it's a good idea to take notice.
So the fact that, for the second doubles tournament running, there were insufficient competitors to make the holding of the event viable sends out a message that change is needed.
There is one more doubles event scheduled for October 25th, so with a title still at stake it would be nice to think that there will be enough players that evening.
The message has been received loud and clear by Director Ian Tarr, however, and the decision has been made to scrap the Consulting Doubles Grand Prix from next year -- possibly with a single annual doubles tournament replacing it.
This does, of course, free up a handful of dates in next year's calendar, and thought will be given as to how to use these.
The CDGP should not be regarded as dead, however -- merely resting.
It could come back in some future year if there appears to be a demand for it.
03/08/12: Nick and Ian share round robin honours ......
So there had to be something to keep the four unfulfilled doubles players happy.
The answer was a 3-point round robin with two matches against each opponent, giving a total of six matches.
Nick Barham and Ian Tarr did best, each winning four of their six matches to share the pot.
01/08/12: Five penalised at July 31st checkpoint
The latest Premier League checkpoint passed at midnight and five players picked up initial penalty points, which they can claw back by complying with the terms of the September 30th checkpoint.
Blaine Buchanan (2), Ian Tarr and Simon Temme picked up penalties in Premier One, while Richard Holness and Ed Turner -- in Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red respectively -- incurred a point apiece.
The good news is that nobody who incurred penalties on May 31st failed to claw them back, and nobody came close to being expunged.
31/07/12: Simon goes second
In a Premier Two Red double header at the BCSC this evening Paul Watts met Simon Baker, both players having aspirations to return to the top flight.
Paul won the first match 11-7, Simon the second 11-2, so Simon has moved into the top two while Paul can certainly not be ruled out in fourth place.
31/07/12: A win apiece for Pat and Matt
Pat Meek and Matt Walder met yesterday evening at the Cross Hands, Staple Hill, for a Conference double header.
Pat whitewashed Matt in the first encounter, but Matt bounced back to wi the return 11-4.
31/07/12: Bristol's Playboy line-up confirmed
The eight places in the Bristol and West Playboy Million Qualifier are now filled.
The next step is to find a mutually acceptable date or dates to stage the event, to ensure that all eight are able to compete.
The list of qualifiers and buy ins is here.
30/07/12: Cecilia's campaign hits a snag
In the latest Premier Two Blue match, at the BCSC this evening, Cecilia Sparke suffered defeat at the hands of Alan Parfitt after establishing a big lead early on.
The 11-9 result is a blow to Cecilia's promotion hopes, although a winning run in should still see her elevated to the top flight.
Alan, meanwhile, could also figure with a strong finish to the season.
There were also no fewer than five Conference matches played at the regular venue, with the emergence of new player Alex Hodge and the sudden welcome activity of Peter Crispin giving the competition fresh impetus.
Alex started his maiden league campaign with victories over leader Gary Plant and Peter, while Pearl Foster cemented her new found reputation for successful comebacks, also at Peter's expense, after trailing 4-9.
She has now won ten of her last thirteen league matches.
The other results came via a double header by Andy Brown and Julia Griifith, who scored a win apiece.
Director Ian Tarr remains optimistic that as many as five more players can join the top four in next year's Premier League.
The advertised event in the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix was a six player 3-point round robin, which saw the pot shared by Lotte Ryan and Chrissy Carter, who each scored four wins.
SGP leader Ian Tarr failed to add to his overall points tally because of discards so his lead over Roland Herrera remains just short of 100.
The addition of 65 points to Chrissy Carter's tally makes it extremely unlikely that anyone will overhaul her as the competition's leading intermediate.
29/07/12: Cecilia and Steve win one apiece at the Merchants Arms
In a Premier Two Blue promotion race double header this evening the honours were even.
The scene was the Merchants Arms, Hotwells, and Cecilia Sparke beat Steve Morris in the opening encounter 11-8.
Steve needed to win the second match to maintain his challenge, and duly delivered with an 11-6 success.
Cecilia clawed back the penalty points incurred at the end of May, and has moved into third, extremely well placed to overtake second placed Neil Young, whose season finished some time ago, and while she and James Lintell-Smith look the best bets for promotion at the moment, it would be foolish to write off the chances of Steve or Phil Charlton.
27/07/12: Richard wins at the Three Tuns
Richard Owsley defeated Mike Smith at the Three Tuns early this evening, and Richard won the Premier One encounter 11-1 to move himself up to fourth from the bottom of the league.
27/07/12: Ten in Thursday action
There were ten players in action at the BCSC on Thursday -- eight in the advertised Handicap Trophy event, and two in the Conference.
An eleventh player -- Mandy Macdonald -- would have joined in the knock-out, had she arrived on time.
Before the start of the tournament, Richard Owsley and Cynthia Roberts fought out the final of the recent Clock GP Tournament -- Cynthia winning to move into fifth place in the CTGP table.
The eight players toeing the start line in the Handicap Trophy tournament included welcome debut player Alex Hodge from Weston.
Alex's introductory handicap of 4 was to prove over generous!
He overcame Richard (handicap 1), Ian Preston (2), and then Ian Tarr (0) in the final to take the title on his first Bristol Backgammon appearance.
Steve Morris took the consolation flight, defeating Chrissy Carter in the final.
Ian Preston still leads the HT standings, but second placed Ian Tarr has reduced his lead to 40 points.
In the Conference Fred North defeated Matt Walder 11-8.
Fred is now a clear second, but his win:loss ratio is superior to that of leader Gary Plant, so if he gets the matches in, he could well threaten the lead.
The evening's other good news was that Alex became the fifteenth player to sign up for the Conference.
Based on last night's evidence, Alex has plenty of time to breach the 20 points threshold which would gain him access to next year's Premier League.
25/07/12: Honours even in Fishponds
Michael Corbett played host to Sean Hopson in Fishponds this evening, and the pair shared the spoils of their Premier Two Blue double header.
24/07/12: Pearl wins in the sunshine
Pearl Foster scored an 11-3 Conference win in the garden at Julia Griffith's home this afternoon.
24/07/12: Pat's impressive double
Two more results are in from last night, giving a total of seventeen players in action on Monday.
Tom Koeller and Pat Meek met in a Conference double header at the Beehive, and Pat scored two victories for the loss of only two points.
Having now won three in a row, there's still plenty of time for Pat to threaten the 20 points promotion threshold.
23/07/12: Simon suffers double setback
There were fifteen players in action on Monday evening, thirteen at the BCSC, and two more at Michael Corbett's house in Fishponds.
A Premier Two Red double header saw Andrew Cobb scoring an emphatic double over Simon Hughes, leapfrogging him into fifth place in that league.
The results confirm Chas Perry and Simon Baker as favourites to fill the two Red Division promotion berths.
In the Blue Division Michael once again made home advantage pay against John Corrado, with his efforts to avoid finishing bottom now gathering pace.
The Swindon boys were down for some Conference action, with Fred North taking on Pearl Foster, and leader Gary Plant hoping to get in a double header with Andy Brown.
Both pairings produced gruelling encounters, with Pearl scoring an 11-10 victory despite trailing for much of the match, and Gary winning the DMP race, but far too late to think about starting a second match.
Gary has played a lot more matches than anyone else in the division, but his lead -- now stretched to an impressive 26 points -- may still be tough to peg back.
Pearl has moved into third place, and the second, third and fourth placed players are now covered by just five points.
The evening's advertised event in the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix was a DMP Tourno, contested by six players.
Roland Herrera scored four wins out of five to take the pot and reduce Ian Tarr's SGP lead to double figures.
Chrissy Carter did well enough to pull further ahead in the race to finish this competition as Top Intermediate, and it's tough to imagine her being overhauled over the remaining four weeks of the competition.
There was also plenty of time for a non-SGP DMP Tourno, which saw rare visitor John Lewis doing enough to take this pot.
20/07/12: Gaz's double relegates Richard
Richard Biddle's valiant attempt to resurrect his season after the most disastrous of starts has finally resulted in failure in the shape of relegation from Premier One.
After losing eleven of his first twelve matches, it was always going to be extremely tough to salvage top flight survival, and sure enough the final nails were duly hammered into the coffin lid at Gaz Owen's home in Kingswood today.
Gaz won 11-7 and 11-6, and Richard can no longer escape the bottom four.
For the victor, however, the story could scarcely provide a more emphatic contrast.
Gaz's wins, coupled with the clawing back of the two penalty points incurred at the May 31st checkpoint, have moved Gaz up from mid table to the very top, ahead of Dave Pym on average points difference with a match in hand.
20/07/12: More Thursday league action
Here's news of four more league matches played last night.
A double header at the Foresters, Downend, saw James Lintell-Smith overtake Neil Young at the top of Premier Two Blue.
His 11-6 victory over Phil Charlton was followed by a 9-11 defeat.
Neil, who completed his whole league season in the space of 39 days back in February and March, will have known that his tenure at the top was to come to an end, and James, level on points with Neil but with three matches in hand, has an average points difference which guarantees that he will finish above Neil.
Phil, also in contention, will be looking for a strong run in to press his claim for promotion.
In Fishponds Michael Corbett played host to John Corrado, and scored a much needed win to give him a chance of finishing off the bottom of the same division.
Meanwhile, at the Cross Hands, Staple Hill, Pearl Foster beat Matt Walder in the Conference.
And the good news for Director Ian Tarr is that there will be no expungements from any of the three Premier League divisions at the July 31st checkpoint.
19/07/12: A win apiece for Stuart and Richard
Current league champion Stuart Mann played his third and fourth Premier One matches in two days when he met Richard Biddle at the Grain Barge.
The pair each badly needed two wins -- Stuart to get his championship defence back on track, and Richard to maintain his revival and give himself a realistic chance of staying in the top flight.
Something had to give, however, and both players fell short of their target -- Stuart winning the opener 11-2, before Richard scored an 11-8 success in the return.
18/07/12: Stuart's title defence hits trouble
With league night brought forward a day, there will inevitably be a plethora of results surfacing from various locations over both Wednesday and Thursday.
At the time of writing, there is news of nine players in action on Wednesday -- all of them at the BCSC, where the evening session proceeded alongside a meeting of the Visually Impaired group, with the Go group relocated upstairs.
Unusually the first match was at lunch-time, when Peter Crispin made his long awaited league debut, taking on Conference leader Gary Plant, who modestly assures this writer that the 11-4 result in his favour was not a fair reflection of the match.
Unjust or not, Gary now has a 22 points lead over second placed Fred North, although Gary is worried that he is fast running out of opponents.
The evening saw four Premier One matches played, and one in Premier Two Red.
In the top flight reigning league champion Stuart Mann was looking to push on towards the top echelons of the league, when he took on Richard Owsley and Ian Tarr.
Richard, however, scored a very much needed 11-6 victory, and leapfrogs Richard Biddle at the bottom of the table.
So Stuart really needed something from his second match. But trailing 2-4 after three games, a sixteen cube materialised in the next game, and Ian came out on top, moving into third place and keeping his own title ambitions alive.
Mike Smith and Steffen Nowak started the session with virtually identical records, each with eight wins from sixteen matches, although Mike held the average points difference advantage.
In their double header Mike edged the first match 11-9, but was whitewashed in the second, so now the pair have nine wins from eighteen matches, but with Steffen moving ahead on points difference.
The Red Division match was a meeting of the bottom two, and a gruelling encounter went the way of Mandy Macdonald, who moves up two places.
Expect more match reports here tomorrow.
17/07/12: Simon beaten by reviving John
John Paton is shrugging off a less than happy start to his Premier Two Red campaign.
He scored his third successive win in the competition when he met Simon Hughes at the Hare on the Hill.
The 8-11 defeat is a setback to Simon, who is nevertheless still in the promotion mix.
16/07/12: Cecilia's Cornubia double moves her up to fourth
There were eleven players in action on Monday, six in league matches, and five others in the advertised Monday Club event.
With all due respect to the others playing, the evening's highlight was a Premier Two Blue double header at the Cornubia.
Neither Cecilia Sparke nor Phil Charlton currently appear in the promotion placings in their division, but with matches in hand there could be no doubt as to their promotion credentials.
Both matches ended 11-10, and both were won by Cecilia, who is now in fourth place, and very handily placed to press on into the top two.
The double defeat is a blow to Phil, but on past performance few would bet against him figuring in the promotion shakedown.
In the Conference leader Gary Plant picked up three more points with a hard fought 11-9 win over Jonathan Loukes at the BCSC, while at the Cross Hands, Staple Hill Road, Andy Brown defeated Pearl Foster 11-8.
In the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix this week's featured event was a SuperNackgammon Tourno, which saw SGP leader Ian Tarr take the pot.
Ian's lead in the table thus increased to 125 points, while Chrissy Carter's joint second placing saw her consolidating third place and the leading intermediate spot.
13/07/12: JULY GRAND PRIX DAY ROUND-UP ......
There were just eleven players in action on July grand prix day, with holidays taking their toll on attendance figures.
Four of those players were playing league matches, leaving just seven to contest the monthly Bristol Grand Prix event -- an all time low.
13/07/12: Disappointment for Michi is prelude to tournament ......
The main event was delayed by a few minutes while a small gaggle of players huddled around the club PC.
The reason for this unusual state of affairs was interest in the live streaming of the World Championship final from Monte Carlo, with our friend Michihito Kageyama vying for the ultimate backgammon title.
When first tuning in, the great news was that Michi was 21-14 ahead in the first to 25 encounter.
His opponent, Denmark's Nevzat Dogan, was not to be dismissed lightly, however, and began making up the difference.
At 21-17, however, with the cube on four, Nevzat needed to roll a one to hit, otherwise it was all over.
He rolled it, eventually closing Michi out, and levelled the scores.
Sadly Michi was never to score another point, and had to settle for the runner-up spot.
Better luck next time, Michi!
13/07/12: Tim wins July tournament; Derek takes the consolation ......
As you might expect, a tournament with just seven players didn't take too long to complete.
It might have been different if Director Ian Tarr had followed the event's own rules, which state that when there are between four and seven players a round robin should be the order of the day.
Unknown to the field, Ian decided to waive the rule and stick to the usual two flight knock-out format.
Tim Line was the main flight winner, defeating Richard Owsley, Derek Clew and Steve Morris.
Steve had defeated Andy Brown and Tony Walters to get to the final.
In the four player consolation flight Derek beat Ian in the final.
13/07/12: Ian and John still lead OGP and IGP respectively ......
With so few players present, the OGP and IGP tables don't look too dissimilar to the way they looked beforehand.
Ian Tarr's OGP lead is extended to 65 points, but that knowledge will be tempered by the fact that discards will start biting for him before it does for all the other major contenders.
Tournament winner Tim Line is up to fifth place.
John Sprague is also still the IGP leader, since the only intermediate to enter -- Andy Brown -- scored the bare minimum 10 points on his first monthly grand prix appearance.
13/07/12: No Playboy action, WTA rolls over, and no closer to knowing our Masters qualifiers ......
Director Ian Tarr was hoping that another seat at the Bristol Playboy Million qualifier would be won.
Given the size of the field, however, it was no surprise that not even a half seat was at stake.
Indeed Ian was the only taker, so took back his £12.50.
There are three other players waiting in the wings to buy in at £100 each, and the final field of eight players will be announced shortly.
With just two players going for the Winner Takes All pool, and each failing to reach the final, there will be a whopping (not) £20 rollover to tempt the August tournament entrants into parting with their £10 notes.
Tim Line was happy to have qualified for the 2013 Bristol Masters, but actually he didn't!
He had already done so by winning this year's equivalent event.
So now his dual qualification means an extra place will be freed up for a Premier One high finisher.
13/07/12: Mike's busy but mixed day ......
Most active on the league front on Thursday was Mike Smith.
He got in no fewer than four Premier One matches, suffering mixed fortunes.
A double header at his St Werburghs home saw him losing twice to Tim Line.
But a brace of wins of his own ensued when he faced Simon Temme twice at the BCSC.
The upshot of those results is that Tim can now be considered among the five main contenders for the title, while Simon's relegation fears have deepened.
Meanwhile, at the Foresters, Downend, there was a Premier Two Blue match played.
Here Phil Charlton kept his bid for an immediate return to the top flight on track with an 11-7 win over Michael Corbett.
11/07/12: Important win for Simon; Gary and Pat share the spoils
Simon Temme edged to an 11-10 Premier One win over Steffen Nowak this evening at the Star and Dove.
While Simon stays in the bottom four, he is now only there courtesy of a small average points difference disadvantage compared to Mike Smith.
Steffen's defeat -- his third in a row -- is a further blow to his title chances.
Meanwhile, in a Conference double header at the Beehive, Gary Plant extended his league lead to sixteen points when he defeated Pat Meek 11-3, although Pat struck back with an 11-7 win of her own in the return.
11/07/12: Michi makes the final!
In a gripping match in Monte Carlo today, Japan's Michihito Kageyama defeated Norway's Victor Petersen 23-21 to reach the World Championship final.
Michi was behind for much of the match, but levelled at 21-all in the first to 23 points match.
The cube was soon in play, of course, and a tense finale ensued where Michi eventually had one of Victor's men behind a six point prime.
He successfully rolled the prime into a shut-out situation, and had five men borne off before Victor eventually came on. The job was done.
Michi now meets Nevzat Dogan of Denmark in the final, where he will surely carry the best wishes of his many Bristol friends.
10/07/12: Michi justifies top four ranking
Occasional, very welcome, visitor to Bristol Michi Kageyama has today reached the semi-finals of the World Backgammon Championships in Monte Carlo.
En route to the last four, Michi has defeated Moshe Tissona (Israel), Matt Cohn Geier (USA), Jon Kristian Royset (Norway), Matvey "Falafel" Natanzon (Israel), and today Alan Grunwald (USA).
He will meet Victor Petersen (Norway) in the semis, and hopefully either Michel Serrero (France) or Nevzat Dogan (Denmark) in the final.
Michi stands at number 4 in the current list of World Backgammon Giants, behind Falafel, Masayuki Mochizuki (Japan) and Neil Kazaross (USA).
10/07/12: John off the bottom
Mandy Macdonald and John Paton met at the Hare on the Hill yesterday evening for a Premier Two Red encounter.
And John emerged the victor, 11-8, to haul himself off the bottom of the league table at Mandy's expense.
09/07/12: League win for Julia; round robin pot shared
There were seven players at the BCSC on Thursday evening -- two playing a Conference match, while the other five contested a three point round robin.
Julia Griffith defeated Pearl Foster 11-2 in the league match.
The round robin, which was the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, saw Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr scoring three wins apiece to share the pot.
That maintained the status quo at the top of the SGP table, with Ian still 60 points ahead of Roland.
Chrissy Carter, in third place overall, is still the event's leading intermediate.
08/07/12: John wins at the Victoria
Another venue had its Bristol Backgammon baptism today when John Corrado and Sean Hopson met for a Premier Two Blue encounter.
John inflicted Sean's second 2-11 reverse in three days, and apparently the lamb was very good.
07/07/12: Congratulations to Lily
Conference player Lily Owsley turned to one of her other fields of endeavour this weekend -- live on Sky Sports.
Representing Avon at the English Schools Athletics Championships in Gateshead, Lily made it to the final of the Senior Girls 800 metres.
And she got the silver medal after leading for much of the race.
06/07/12: Cecilia keeps up the pressure
The Shakespeare in Prince Street was the latest venue for a Bristol Premier League match this evening, when Cecilia Sparke met Sean Hopson.
Cecilia won 11-2 to stay right in the Premier Two Blue promotion mix.
06/07/12: Gaz goes second
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday -- twelve contesting the latest instalment of the Clock Tournament Grand Prix at the BCSC, and two others fighting out a Premier One double header at the Star and Dove.
The double header saw Gaz Owen scoring his sixth successive league win when he defeated Blaine Buchanan 11-1, but Blaine struck back to win the return 11-4.
Gaz is now second in the league.
In the clock tournament Richard Owsley and Cynthia Roberts fought their way through to the main final, which will be played at a later date.
Cynthia came through the long side of the draw, defeating Simon Temme, Tony Walters and Roland Herrera, while Richard accounted for Simonetta Herrera and Steve Morris.
Steve's run to the semi-finals was enough to give him a half seat at the Bristol Playboy Million qualifier. Adding this to the half seat he won in May, Steve is now a fully fledged qualifier.
Steffen Nowak took the consolation flight, defeating Nick Barham in the final.
CTGP leader Ian Tarr remains 45 points ahead of second placed Steve.
02/07/12: Double Premier One success for Gaz
The Star and Dove, Totterdown, saw a Premier One double header between Steffen Nowak and Gaz Owen.
And it was Gaz who scored a pair of victories which propel him right into the thick of the championship race.
Meanwhile, back at the BCSC, leader Gary Plant and Julia Griffith fought out a Conference encounter, which Gary won 11-6 to extend his lead over second placed Fred North to fourteen points.
The advertised event, a Tric Trac Tourno, attracted just four entries, which triggered a rule amendment brought in a couple of weeks ago, meaning that players met each other twice rather than the customary once.
Maria Finlayson, making her competitive debut, took the non-paying option.
Ian Tarr took the pot despite winning only three of his six matches -- they were all gammons, though.
This extended his Monday Club Summer Grand Prix to 60 points, while Chrissy Carter's leading margin as SGP leading intermediate increased to 40 points.
There was also time for a five player DMP Tourno, where Julia and Ian shared the pot.
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