There was still time for a five player DMP Tourno, where Manesh and Simon shared the pot.
10/05/13: Simonetta closing on Steffen
A double header at the Wellington this afternoon saw Simonetta Herrera scoring a brace of 11-7 victories over Mike Smith.This leaves her three points behind Premier One leader Steffen Nowak with two matches in hand.
10/05/13: MAY GRAND PRIX NIGHT NEWS ......
There were nineteen players in action at the BCSC on the May grand prix evening.Two players played out a league match, while seventeen others contested the main event.
And two or three loose ends from previous tournaments were tidied up.
10/05/13: Alexi makes another final ......
Alexi Solomou has not been around for long, but he's certainly making his mark.Last night saw him entering his third Thursday tournament in successive weeks, and the worst he has done so far was his semi-final exit in last week's Clock Grand Prix tournament!
And a final appearance in the latest GP30 tournament (see report below about loose ends), has now been matched by a similar journey.
Victories last night over Chrissy Carter, Nick Barham and Simonetta Herrera propelled him there, but he will have to wait to find out who his final opponent will be.
Tim Line and Simon Hughes will very soon be vying for the honour of meeting him.
10/05/13: Tony and Roland to contest consolation final ......
The consolation flight of last night's event saw runs to the final for Tony Walters -- victor over Steffen Nowak and Andy Boysan -- and Roland Herrera, who defeated Ian Tarr and Ed Turner.The final is yet to be scheduled.
10/05/13: Ed's OGP lead narrowed ......
OGP leader Ed Turner may have only mustered 15 points from his efforts at Thursday's tournament, but second placed Ian Tarr only managed 25 himself, so Ed's lead is cut from 45 to 35 points.10/05/13: Chrissy has an IGP challenger ......
Chrissy Carter has had things pretty much her own way in the IGP so far this year, but yesterday evening all of that changed.Alexi Solomou -- making his monthly grand prix debut -- made it all the way to the final, gathering 95 points in the process -- including bonus point victories over Nick Barham and Simonetta Herrera.
And should he win the final, the further 55 points gained would see him overhaul Chrissy by 25 points.
10/05/13: Rollover hopes rest with Alexi ......
Alexi Solomou didn't bother with the Winner Takes All pool last night, so neutrals will be wishing him every success in the final, as he would ensure a £90 rollover to the June event.Meanwhile, whoever wins that final will also be assured of a place in the 2014 Bristol Masters.
10/05/13: Mandy scores Blue Division win ......
Neil Young and Mandy Macdonald fought out a Premier Two Blue match at the BCSC alongside the main event, and it was Mandy -- who led from the start -- who scored a much needed 11-7 win.10/05/13: Jason and Roland complete tournament wins ......
A couple of important loose ends were tied up yesterday.The final of last week's Clock Grand Prix tournament, between Nick Barham and Jason Champion, was played before the main event, and it was Jason who prevailed, with Nick failing to register a point.
Jason moves into third place in the CTGP table.
Later both matches outstanding from the GP30 event a fortnight ago were finished.
Originally adjourned with Roland Herrera 5-3 ahead of Tim Line, there was one continuation between other matches which moved the score on to 8-5 Crawford, and a further continuation which wrapped things up for Roland.
Later still, Roland met Alexi Solomou in the final, Roland eventually coming home 9-6, to move into second place in the GP30 table.
07/05/13: Nick and Richard share the spoils
Tonight's league double header was in Premier Two Red at the BCSC.Nick Barham defeated Richard Holness 11-8, before succumbing 9-11 in the return.
The win was enough to elevate Nick into the top two.
06/05/13: One apiece for Mandy and Ed
At the Windmill this evening, a Premier Two Blue double header between Mandy Macdonald and Ed Turner finished with honours virtually even.Mandy stormed to an 11-2 win in the opener, before Ed replied with an 11-5 victory to consolidate his third place.
06/05/13: Gaz in international online action
Bristol Premier League champion Gaz Owen is currently representing the UK in an online international team event.The eighteen nations event can be followed here.
Matches are played Davis Cup style, with teams of five, and the UK team, which also includes Simon Barget, Rick Janowski, Raj Jansari and Peter Bennet, is one of the four to make it through to the semi-finals after emerging from the group stage.
Croatia have defeated Armenia to make it through to the final, while the UK match against Greece currently stands at 1-1.
The remaining three matches, including Gaz's, have to be played by this Friday.
03/05/13: Nick and Jason to contest Clock Tournament final
Fourteen players were in BCSC action on Thursday, including thirteen in the third of this year's six Clock Grand Prix tournaments.In the main flight Jason Champion came through the long part of the draw with wins over James Newman, Simonetta Herrera and Alexi Solomou, while Nick Barham defeated Richard Owsley and Roland Herrera en route to the final.
Alex Hodge won the consolation flight with victories over Ian Tarr, Chrissy Carter and Richard.
In the CTGP table Roland's haul of 40 points has moved him 80 ahead of the field.
Before the tournament Richard had fought out a Premier Two Blue match with Neil Young, Neil winning 11-10.
02/05/13: Alex went top again on Tuesday
Email problems have obscured the fact that Alex Hodge moved back to the top of Premier Two Blue on Tuesday evening.His emphatic double victory over Mandy Macdonald at the Windmill has moved him ahead of Chas Perry and still on track for a serious promotion push.
01/05/13: Cecilia takes first recovery steps
After her extremely disappointing start to the league season, Cecilia Sparke took her first two steps towards recovery with a brace of victories over John Paton at the Cornubia.Her 11-4 and 11-2 wins move her off the bottom of the Premier Two Red table at Richard Holness's expense.
30/04/13: Double header wins for Phil and Nick
Two league double headers were played this evening.At the Portcullis, Staple Hill, Phil Charlton scored 11-6 and 11-2 victories over James Lintell-Smith in Premier One.
And there was an identical pair of scorelines at the BCSC, where Nick Barham prevailed twice over John Paton in Premier Two Red.
30/04/13: Ian wins April grand prix tournament
In the held over final from the April Bristol Grand Prix tournament at the Cornubia this evening Ian Tarr defeated Steffen Nowak 11-8.Aided in no small measure by a double backgammon which transformed the score from 0-3 to 6-3, Ian was never headed, and is now just 45 points adrift of OGP leader Ed Turner.
He also becomes the third qualifier for the 2014 Bristol Masters.
29/04/13: Alex loses league match but wins Spring Grand Prix
Alex Hodge has won the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.The three contenders for the title -- leader Alex, second placed Ed Turner and third placed Ian Tarr -- each failed to beat their discard score at the final event of the series, thus maintaining the status quo.
The event comprised two 3-point round robins -- one of five players, the other of six.
In the six player group the honours were shared between Jason Champion, Manesh and Matt Walder, who missed out on a share of the prize money because he had gone for the zero entry option. The three each won three out of five matches.
The five player group saw Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour sharing the spoils, again with three wins apiece.
So Alex takes his second Monday Club grand prix title, while the absent Chrissy Carter -- as announced last week -- won the top intermediate prize.
Alex had earlier met Sean Hopson in a Premier Two Blue match -- Sean ending Alex's recent winning run with an 11-5 victory.
26/04/13: Alexi shines on Thursday debut
Bristol University student Alexi Solomou was the headline grabber on his Bristol Backgammon Thursday debut.Partially subsidised by the ongoing Gaz Owen sponsorship, Alexi defeated Steve Morris, Ian Tarr and Tony Walters to reach the final of the second of this year's new GP30 series.
In the final he will meet either Roland Herrera or Tim Line, whose semi-final was adjourned early with Roland 5-3 ahead, as Tim needed to catch a train.
Eleven of the fifteen players in action at the BCSC -- two others played out a league double header at the Wellington -- took part in the main event, where the consolation flight was won by Stuart Mann, who defeated Steve Morris in that final.
Nick Barham's GP30 lead of 35 points was cut to 20 by Andy Boysan, but Alexi could halve that margin by winning the final when it takes place.
Tim and Steffen Nowak took the opportunity to finish off a Premier One match which had been adjourned a while ago with Tim 9-7 ahead. Tim duly won the last two points for a much needed win.
But the bulk of the league action was in Premier Two Blue, where five matches were completed.
Neil Young and Chas Perry met at the Wellington, where the spoils were shared. That was enough to move Chas back into pole position, ahead of Alex Hodge on average points difference.
Four others gathered at the BCSC, where Simon Temme continued his recovery by beating Richard Owsley, while Sean Hopson defeated Andy Brown.
Richard and Andy stayed on to play a further match, which Andy won.
There was also progress in the April Grand Prix tournament, which had uncharacteristically failed to yield even one main flight finalist on the original night two weeks previously.
Both semis were completed, Steffen edging out Nick 7-5 before the start of the GP30 event, while Ian Tarr and his dice later blew away Roland in the other.
24/04/13: Alex tops Blue Division
In one of two league matches played yesterday Alex Hodge moved to the top of Premier Two Blue with an 11-10 win over Malcolm Patterson at the BCSC.The other match, at the Port O' Call, Clifton, was a Conference match between leader Neil Edwards and Matt Walder.
Matt won 11-7.
23/04/13: Chrissy attains Premier League qualification
On an evening where seventeen players were in action at the BCSC -- including a welcome debut for Alexi Solomou -- Chrissy Carter stepped into the limelight on two fronts.First of all she finished top of the pile in the advertised event, a DMP Tourno contested by eleven players, winning seven out of ten games.
And while this (coupled with receipt of the £51 pot) was an eminently satisfactory outcome for her, of greater significance was the fact that she cannot now be caught in the race to be top intermediate in this year's Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
It is a little known fact that two similar achievements -- Chrissy was also top intermediate in last year's Monday Club Summer Grand Prix -- qualify the player for Premier Status.
This means that Chrissy will be getting an invitation to compete in every future Premier League campaign, and although she is still an intermediate for the remainder of 2013, she will cease to be regarded as such for the remainder of the Monday Club year.
Only three players can now win the overall SGP title.
Alex Hodge has now edged fractionally further ahead of second placed Ed Turner, with Ian Tarr nineteen points off the pace.
With discards biting hard, however, any of the three contenders will need to do very well at next week's final SGP event if they want to bring about meaningful changes in the table.
Three league matches were also completed at the BCSC.
In Premier Two Blue Simon Temme gained revenge for last week's defeat at the hands of Neil Young.
John Paton defeated Pearl Foster 11-4 in Premier Two Red.
And in The Conference Peter Thistlewood won a hard fought tussle with James Newman 11-8 to edge into second place in the table, just ahead of Adrian Barnes.
19/04/13: Fifteen in Thursday action
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday, including eleven in the advertised event -- the second instalment of our Clock Blitz Grand Prix.This was split into two groups, one of six and one of five.
The five player group saw a clean sweep by Simonetta Herrera, where the final match in the round robin was fittingly a group decider -- both Simonetta and Andy Boysan had won three out of three up to that point.
The six player group -- latecomer James Newman was placed in this after a coin flip -- was a closer affair, four players ultimately sharing the pot with three wins apiece.
Nick Barham retains his fifteen points lead in the CBGP table, with five players within thirty points of him.
Simon Temme and Neil Young opted out of the Blitz to play a Premier Two Blue match, with both players needing victory to turn their campaigns around.
It was Neil who just prevailed, 11-10.
At the Nova Scotia there was another Blue Division match -- Richard Owsley staying on course for a promotion campaign with an 11-8 victory over Sean Hopson.
17/04/13: Congratulations due to Alex
They said it would never happen.Well actually he said it would never happen.
But sometimes if you want something to happen, you have to grab the bull by the horns and "make it so".
In the absence of Director Ian Tarr -- who was taking advantage of some supreme hospitality at Bristol Backgammon's West of Ireland branch -- it was understood that someone present would need to run the Monday event.
Due to a miscommunication, the document case containing everything needed for the task could not be located.
But in any case this was no obstacle to the small group of players who turned up, and with a little improvisation there was a complete five player three point round robin, the last but two event in this year's Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
Many thanks are due to our latest TD Alex Hodge.
The field included debut player Steve Broadmeadow, who opted for the no pay option available on Mondays, and may have regretted that after sharing the honours with Ed Turner with three wins apiece from their four matches.
Ed, of course, took the cash prize, but Steve was evidently happy enough with his evening's efforts to be committing himself to a return visit next Monday.
In the SGP table Ed has closed to within 2.5 points of leader Alex, so it looks as though the outcome of the Spring Grand Prix title will be in doubt right up to the final event.
There was also some league action on Monday, with James Newman completing his maiden Conference victory, 11-6 over Tom Koeller.
And on Tuesday a Premier Two Red match and a half took place, also at the BCSC.
This was the meeting of Nick Barham and Paul Watts.
Nick won the opening match 11-9, but was 3-7 in arrears when an adjournment was needed.
12/04/13: APRIL GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
There were twenty-three players in action at the BCSC on April grand prix evening.And included amongst the main event field of twenty-one were two welcome debut players -- Alan David and Marisa Thornton-Wood.
12/04/13: Semi-finals deferred for another day ......
It's been a long time since the main flight of a Bristol tournament got no further than deciding the semi-final line-up, but that was the case on Thursday at the BCSC.Ian Tarr will meet Roland Herrera in one, while the other will feature Nick Barham and Steffen Nowak.
Click here to see all last night's results.
12/04/13: Alex wins consolation flight ......
If the main flight is still to reach its climax, the consolation was completed.Alex Hodge won it, defeating James Newman and Andy Boysan before despatching Ed Turner in the final.
Ed had beaten Tim Line, Jason Champion and Tony Walters en route.
12/04/13: Ed's OGP cushion reduced ......
Ed Turner's 99 points OGP lead was cut to 89 last night, but will be further reduced unless Steffen Nowak should go on to win Thursday's tournament.A Roland Herrera win would cut it to 29, while Ian Tarr and Nick Barham would be 45 and 80 points in arrears respectively.
12/04/13: Marisa goes second in the IGP ......
Marisa Thornton-Wood and Alan David jumped right in at the deep end when making their Bristol Backgammon debuts last night.And along with James Newman there are three new names in the IGP table.
Marisa was the only one of the three to win a match -- Tim Line was her main flight victim -- and the twenty bonus points gained for defeating a Premier One player gave her a total haul of 45 points.
With few intermediates entering monthly grand prix tournaments these days, this was enough to move her straight up to second in the IGP, 70 points behind leader Chrissy Carter.
12/04/13: No rollover to May ......
With a tempting £270 in the Winner Takes All pool -- £120 of it rolled over from March, and £150 added on the night -- the chances of a further rollover were looking slim.And that's how it proved, when four pool entrants completed the semi-final line-up.
Meanwhile, there is a place in the 2014 Bristol Masters up for grabs, although if Roland Herrera, who has already qualified, wins the tournament there will be an additional place allotted to a Premier One high finisher.
12/04/13: Malcolm scores Premier Two Blue win ......
There were one and a bit league matches played at the BCSC last night.Tim Line and Premier One leader Steffen Nowak attempted to fit in a match before last night's tournament, and didn't quite manage it -- Tim 9-7 ahead when it was adjourned.
And Neil Young met Malcolm Patterson in a Premier Two Blue match, Malcolm continuing his improved form with an 11-10 victory.
08/04/13: John extends Red Division lead
The Alma Tavern was the venue when John Corrado extended his Premier Two Red lead this evening with an 11-10 victory over John Paton.It was his third successive 11-10 win, and half of his ten matches have ended in this scoreline -- four for and one against.
Back at the BCSC there was more league action.
11-10 was again the scoreline as Malcolm Patterson defeated Andy Brown in Premier Two Blue, while latest Conference signing James Newman made his league debut, going down 3-11 to leader Neil Edwards, who now stands just four points away from becoming the first player this year to attain Premier Status.
The advertised event was the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix -- a Nackgammon Tourno contested by six players.
Roland Herrera took the pot here with a tally of six points, while Alex Hodge in equal second did enough to move fifteen points into the SGP lead, ahead of Ed Turner.
There was time for a DMP Tourno, which could have resulted in money back for all five players.
With one result to come, a win for James over Simonetta Herrera would have left everyone with two wins.
Simonetta won an absorbing encounter, however, to take the pot.
04/04/13: John edges promotion clashes
John Corrado took on Richard Biddle at the Wellington this afternoon in a Premier Two Red double header.Richard had won seven of his eleven matches to top the league, while John had won six of his seven in second place.
Both matches went right to the wire, and both went John's way, propelling him to the top of the league after seven successive victories.
After last year's Premier League debut campaign, where little went right -- John won just four of his eighteen matches -- it's fair to say that not many would have named John as a prime promotion contender.
But he certainly appears to be this time around.
Eleven players turned up in the evening at the BCSC for the second of the new Round Robin Grand Prix series.
And just like the first time, the players were split into groups of six and five, either side of the cut off between 3-point and 5-point matches.
In the six player group everyone won at least two of their five matches, but it was Simonetta Herrera who won four to take the pot, while new Conference entrant James Newman took the honours in the five player group.
Alex Hodge, who came second in that group, has taken over the RRGP lead, with Richard Owsley in second place, twenty points behind.
02/04/13: Alex goes second
A double success against Simon Temme at the Ship, Park Row, yesterday, has propelled Alex Hodge into second place in Premier Two Blue.01/04/13: Penalty points for ten Premier League players
The first Premier League checkpoint of the season passed at midnight, and ten players have incurred penalty points for falling behind the schedule.These can all be clawed back by compliance with the terms of the next checkpoint on May 31st.
In Premier One Phil Charlton has incurred three penalty points, while Simon Hughes and Stuart Mann have incurred one apiece.
The figures for Premier Two Blue are Simon Temme three points, Sean Hopson and Neil Young one each, while in Premier Two Red it's two apiece for John Paton and Cecilia Sparke, and one each for Richard Holness and Paul Watts.
29/03/13: Double success for Richard
Richard Owsley scored two Premier Two Blue victories at the BCSC this afternoon.His double header victim was Andrew Cobb.
28/03/13: Steve wins Handicap event
Sixteen players contested the second of this year's six Handicap Trophy events at the BCSC on Thursday.And it was Steve Morris who came through to win the main flight, defeating Cynthia Roberts, Ed Turner and James Newman, before beating Marcus Evans in the final.
Marcus, making just his second visit to a Bristol Backgammon event, made the most of his 4 handicap by eliminating Richard Owsley, Simonetta Herrera and Ian Preston en route to the final.
The consolation flight saw Steffen Nowak and Roland Herrera reaching the final, which was adjourned for another time.
Steve's tournament win moves him to the head of the Handicap Trophy table, fifteen points ahead of previous leader Ian Tarr.
Meanwhile -- at what is rapidly becoming Bristol Backgammon's number two venue, the Star and Dove -- Blaine Buchanan was moving into third place in Premier One by scoring a brace of victories over Dave Pym.
27/03/13: £120 rollover for April monthly grand prix tournament
Two side effects of Ed Turner's defeat of Miles Farren yesterday concern Bristol Masters qualification and an added interest in the next monthly grand prix tournament.Ed had already qualified for the 2014 Bristol Masters by winning the February event, so now his dual qualification means that all monthly grand prix winners will qualify, as opposed the situation at the start of the year, when all but one would have qualified.
Meanwhile the fact that Ed didn't go for the Winner Takes All pool means that there will be a handsome rollover of £120 in the pot even before entries are taken for the April 11th event.
26/03/13: Dave and Steffen win one apiece
Steffen Nowak's flurry of league activity continues unabated.This evening Dave Pym was the visitor at the Star and Dove, and he began by gaining a much needed first Premier One victory of the season.
His 11-9 win, however, was followed by a 3-11 defeat.
That's eleven league matches in eight days for Steffen, and most of them wins.
26/03/13: Ed builds impressive OGP lead
The final of Lesters 86, held over from the week before last, was played at the BCSC this evening.Miles Farren led most of the way, and got to 10-6 Crawford.
He made it no further, however, as Ed Turner pegged him back to win 11-10.
The win leaves Ed with a 99 points lead in the OGP.
25/03/13: Sixteen in Monday action
At four venues there were sixteen players in action on Monday in various competitions.Eight Premier League matches were completed, and the BCSC hosted a six player 3-point round robin plus a seven player DMP Tourno.
The Star and Dove, having seen a great deal of action lately, was the scene of a Premier One double header between league leader Steffen Nowak and Blaine Buchanan.
Steffen edged the first match 11-9, but Blaine won the second 11-4.
The Ram in Bath hosted a Premier Two Blue double header which saw Ed Turner extend his winning league sequence to six at Andrew Cobb's expense, while later at the BCSC Andy Brown and Malcolm Patterson met in the same division -- Malcolm coming through 11-5.
John Corrado was another to maintain a winning league run, defeating Alan Parfitt at the White Lion, Frenchay, for his fifth successive Premier Two Red success.
Andy Boysan and John Paton played out a double header at the BCSC in the same division, and after Andy comprehensively took the first match, John hit back with an eight point coup de grace to gain his revenge.
The round robin saw Alex Hodge taking the pot, and in so doing moving into second place in the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
Leader Ed, second placed Alex, and third place Ian Tarr are covered by just three points with four sessions to go.
Chrissy Carter scored well in the round robin to supplant Adrian Barnes as the leading intermediate in the SGP table.
The DMP Tourno saw a clean sweep for Andy Boysan.
23/03/13: Alex wins GP5 event
The held over final of the main flight of Thursday's GP5 tournament was played at the BCSC today.And Alex Hodge took the title with a 7-1 win over Ian Tarr.
Alex moves into second place in the GP5 table, 30 points behind leader Andy Boysan.
22/03/13: GP5 NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-five players played a total of thirty matches in three locations in various competitions on the evening of the second GP5 tournament.22/03/13: Steve ends Steffen's run ......
The big news on Thursday was the ending of Steffen Nowak's outstanding run of Premier One wins.Including the last two matches of last season Steffen had racked up nine successive wins -- a run only exceeded three times in the history of the top flight.
After winning double headers at the Star and Dove on three successive evenings, the superstitious amongst us would have considered it a risk for Steffen to play a single match at a different venue.
And sure enough, his match against Steve Morris -- started before yesterday's tournament, and finished during waiting time between rounds -- ended in a 6-11 defeat.
Steffen remains top, while there were wins for James Lintell-Smith, Gaz Owen and Phil Charlton.
James and Gaz played out a double header at the Ship, Park Row -- James winning the first 11-5 before succumbing to a whitewash -- while Phil consolidated on his useful start to the season with an 11-7 win over Dave Pym.
22/03/13: Blue Division wins for Alex and Sean ......
Alex Hodge and Sean Hopson were the winners in the two Premier Two Blue matches played yesterday evening.Both scored 11-9 wins -- Alex recovering from 2-9 down to beat Neil Young, while Sean won a marathon against Malcolm Patterson.
22/03/13: Richard extends Red Divison lead ......
Richard Biddle got in another double header yesterday, meeting Fred North at the Wellington, Horfield.Fred won the opener 11-8, but Richard struck back with an 11-5 victory to extend his Premier Two Red lead.
Back at the BCSC Richard Holness and Alan Parfitt played out a double header.
Alan won both matches 11-8.
22/03/13: Alex and Ian to contest GP5 main flight final ......
The evening's centrepiece -- the second of the new GP5 series -- was contested by fifteen players, with ten of those entering the £5 optional side pool.Alex Hodge fought his way through to the final, with wins over Tony Walters, Roland Herrera and Neil Young, who he had defeated earlier in the evening in a league match.
In the final he will meet Ian Tarr who made his way there via wins over Steve Morris, Thursday debutant James Newman and Steffen Nowak.
The final will no doubt be played very soon.
22/03/13: Andy wins consolation flight ......
Andy Boysan won Thursday's consolation flight, defeating Tony Walters, Cynthia Roberts and Ed Turner.22/03/13: Andy extends GP5 lead -- for now ......
Andy Boysan's tally of 40 points for winning the consolation flight extended his GP5 lead from 35 points to 45.This will be reduced after the final, though, as a win for Alex would reduce the margin to 30, while an Ian win would move him to within 15 points.
20/03/13: Steffen tops league with two more wins
A further visit to the Star and Dove yielded more good results for Steffen Nowak.Three successive evenings at that hostelry have seen Steffen grab league doubles -- first over Mike Smith, then over Stuart Mann, and now James Lintell-Smith, who succumbed 11-3 and 11-8.
Steffen is now top of Premier One with seven wins out of seven.
20/03/13: Premier Two wins for Ed, John and Richard
In a Premier Two Blue match at the BCSC tonight Ed Turner finally defeated Malcolm Patterson 11-10, after no fewer than seventeen games, during which Malcolm had led 9-2.Meanwhile, at the Hare on the Hill, there was a Premier Two Red double header between John Paton and Richard Biddle.
John got his season started with an 11-9 win, but Richard won the return 11-7 and moves to the top of the league.
20/03/13: Two out of three for Simon
Simon Baker has had a busy backgammon day.First he visited league leader Simonetta Herrera at her Kellaway Avenue home today and inflicted an 11-8 Premier One defeat on her.
And next came a double header with Simon Hughes at the Pump House.
Simon H opened with an 11-5 win, but Simon B replied in kind.
19/03/13: Four wins in two days for Steffen
Steffen Nowak has paid visits to the Star and Dove on successive days for Premier One matches.And Last night's brace of wins over Mike Smith was followed by a similar performance against Stuart Mann tonight.
This time, though, Steffen had the "luxury" of an 11-8 win in the opener against Stuart, but it was back to the familiar 11-10 scoreline for the return match.
Steffen has started his season late, but with five matches now under his belt, and every one a victory, he moves into second place in the league, behind Simonetta Herrera.
19/03/13: Wins for Neil and John
The Tinto Lounge in Horfield today became the latest venue to stage a Bristol Backgammon match.Neil Young and Sean Hopson played out a Premier Two Blue match there, and Neil was the 11-7 victor.
And at the Compass Inn, Tormarton, there was a Premier Two Red match between Pearl Foster and John Corrado.
John won 11-3 and goes to the top of the league.
19/03/13: Make that "fourteen in Monday action"
A further result from yesterday evening has come to hand -- see the article immediately below this one -- so it was actually fourteen in action in four locations.Chrissy Carter met Neil Edwards at the Port o' Call in Clifton, and Neil's 11-4 Conference victory moves him further ahead in the table, to thirteen points -- just seven away from the target for assuring himself of Premier Status from next year.
18/03/13: Twelve in Monday action
There were twelve players in action in three locations on Monday.Six contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, while six others played league matches.
The Star and Dove, Totterdown, was the venue for a Premier One double header between Steffen Nowak and Mike Smith.
In the opener Mike recovered from 5-10 to DMP before succumbing, while in the second he built a 10-0 lead, before Steffen -- not for the first time in his league career -- fought back to pip Mike again!
At Brookhouse Farm, Swindon, Premier Two Blue leader Chas Perry met second placed Gary Plant for a double header.
Gary won the first 11-2, but Chas got his revenge with an 11-8 victory.
In the same division Simon Temme and Sean Hopson met at the BCSC, and Sean scored an 11-4 win.
In the Tric Trac Tourno which was the latest phase of the SGP, Ed Turner topped the pile and moves above Ian Tarr in the SGP table by three points.
There was also time for a DMP Tourno, contested by five players, and here Andy Boysan took the pot.
17/03/13: Mike's double the pick of the weekend league action
Four Premier League matches have been played this weekend -- two in Premier One, and two in Premier Two Red.Saturday saw action at the Lion, Cliftonwood, for the first time since Blaine Buchanan and Richard Owsley played there in 2007.
This time it was the turn of Andy Boysan and John Corrado, and John continued his run of very close matches with an 11-10 victory.
That's four out of five wins now for John, in complete contrast to the frustration of his 2012 campaign, when he only managed four wins all season.
Meanwhile, at the White Cross, Richmond, London, Richard Biddle met Cecilia Sparke and won 11-3.
Richard leapfrogs Andy into second place in the Red Division, while Cecilia -- one of the season's favourites for promotion -- will need to start winning soon if she doesn't want a lot of ground to make up.
Today in the top flight Gaz Owen entertained Mike Smith at his Kingswood home, but it was Mike who won both matches to go second in the league.
Gaz's title defence could not yet be said to be derailed, but he, too, needs to turn a corner.
15/03/13: Coincidence at the King Billy
What are the odds?Two pairs of Bristol Backgammon players turn up at the same hostelry at the same time to play league matches.
That's what happened this evening at the King William Ale House, when Blaine Buchanan met Gaz Owen, and Nick Barham met John Corrado.
Gaz and Blaine got through a Premier One double header, Gaz winning the opener 11-6, Blaine striking back with an 11-8 victory.
Meanwhile Nick and John played out a very close match, where John eventually prevailed to continue his encuraging start to the Premier Two Red.
15/03/13: ALL THE NEWS FROM LESTERS 86 ......
Thirteen players contested the 86th Lesters Trophy tournament at the BCSC on Thursday, and a further seven were in league action.15/03/13: Ed and Miles to contest the March final ......
Miles Farren made his first BCSC appearance of the season, and made the most of the opportunity -- reaching the event's main final by defeating Chrissy Carter, Alex Hodge and Ian Tarr.The final was held over, with Ed Turner continuing his fine run of recent form, scoring victories over Roland Herrera and Steve Morris to secure his final berth.
15/03/13: Simonetta wins consolation flight ......
Simonetta Herrera won her second monthly grand prix consolation flight of the season, beating Chrissy Carter, Roland Herrera and Tim Line in the process.15/03/13: Ed building healthy OGP lead ......
When Ed Turner meets Miles Farren in the held over final of Thursday's tournament, he has the opportunity to extend his OGP lead to 99 points, having already won the February tournament.Even as things stand, a 59 points lead is a healthy one this early in the year.
Roland Herrera, Simonetta Herrera and Steve Morris head the pursuing pack, but Miles can move into fifth place by defeating Ed.
15/03/13: Taking part enough to extend Chrissy's IGP lead ......
If fortune favours the brave, Chrissy Carter's IGP campaign could be said to exemplify this.For some reason it seems to be tough to tempt intermediates into contesting monthly grand prix tournaments, as the carrot of Premier Status for any player making it to 200 points in this competition is evidently not juicy enough.
For the record Chrissy has played in all three of these events thus far, and has already amassed 115 points, despite merely picking up the 10 for entering last night.
Nobody else has more than 20.
15/03/13: Rollover hopes depend on Ed ......
There was a £50 Winner Takes All pool rollover from February to tempt investors at last night's tournament, and eight of the thirteen players took the plunge.Miles Farren was one of those, while his final adversary Ed Turner wasn't, so there are no prizes for guessing who the majority of players will be rooting for when the match is played.
The winner will also qualify for the 2014 Bristol Masters, although if Ed wins, this would be his second qualification, opening the way for guaranteeing all twelve monthly grand prix winners a Masters place.
15/03/13: Blue Division wins for Malcolm and Richard ......
There were Premier Two Blue wins for Malcolm Patterson and Richard Owsley at the BCSC last night -- Neil Young and Simon Temme being the respective victims.15/03/13: Chrissy, Neil and Adrian make Conference progress ......
There are three Conference results to report -- one from Wednesday when Chrissy Carter defeated Tom Koeller at the BCSC, and two from Peter Thistlewood's home in Henbury.Peter's hospitality extended to losing to Neil Edwards, who later succumbed to Adrian Barnes.
Neil is tackling his Conference campaign with gusto, having already racked up ten matches.
With 10 points amassed, he is precisely half way towards securing his place in next year's Premier League.
Adrian is in second place, having played just four matches, but is on eight points, as he has won three of his encounters.
14/03/13: A victory apiece for Phil and Simon
The Portcullis in Staple Hill was the latest new venue for Bristol Backgammon matches last night, when Simon Baker and Phil Charlton fought out a Premier One double header.Normally one would expect these two to meet at the Foresters, Downend, scene of many encounters in the past, but that establishment is apparently closed down.
Phil won the opener 11-10, but Simon bounced back to take the return match 11-4.
13/03/13: Wins for Pearl and John
Ian Tarr's winning start to the Premier Two Red season was stopped in its tracks today at the White Lion, Frenchay.Pearl Foster inflicted an 11-9 defeat on Ian, and moves up to fourth in the league.
Later at the BCSC John Corrado defeated Paul Watts 11-7.
13/03/13: League wins for James, Simon and Mandy
Yesterday saw league action at the Pump House and the Windmill.Simon Baker got his Premier One campaign under way with a double header against James Lintell-Smith at the Pump House.
James took the first match 11-9, but the return was a tad less complex.
Simon was 4-0 up when the match was decided by a sixteen cube, giving Simon the whitewash!
And Mandy Macdonald's recovery from a losing start to the Premier Two Blue season continued with an 11-10 nail-biter of a win over Andy Brown at the Windmill.
12/03/13: Seventeen in Monday action
Seventeen players were in action on Monday, fifteen of them at the BCSC, and two at the Compass Inn, Tormarton.At the Compass in the afternoon there was a Premier Two Red match between Fred North and Pearl Foster, which Pearl won 11-6.
And in the evening six more players played league matches, while the other nine fought out the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of three point round robins.
The other league action featured a Red Division double header between Nick Barham and Alan Parfitt, a single Premier Two Blue encounter featuring Gary Plant and Malcolm Patterson, and a Conference double header between Tom Koeller and Neil Edwards.
Nick and Alan shared the spoils, Nick winning the opener 11-6, before Alan's 11-9 reply; Malcolm defeated Gary 11-6; and Neil went to the top of his league after scoring an emphatic double.
In the round robins, there was a Bristol Backgammon debut for James Newman.
Roland Herrera won the five player group outright, while the spoils of the four player group were shared between Simonetta Herrera and Ed Turner.
Ed has now moved to within three points of SGP leader Ian Tarr
Meanwhile another new player, Alex Solomon, dropped in for some friendly action, and appears keen enough to come back.
10/03/13: Triumph at the third attempt for Bristol "A"
The third annual UK Clubs Championship saw victory for the Bristol "A" team at the Moseley All Services Club in Birmingham on Saturday.
This excellent event, staged by Phil Tutchings of the BFCE (Backgammon Federation of Central England), has deservedly forged its own niche in the UK backgammon calendar, as a well run and unique event -- the team element setting it apart from almost all other tournaments.
Thirteen teams of five players were arranged into groups (two of four teams, one of five) similar to football World Cup groups, where the top teams would progress to the four team knock-out phase, while the other nine teams fought out a consolation knock-out.
Three of these teams were from Bristol -- Bristol "A", Bristol "B" and Bristol "C", and the group draw kept them all apart.
The very strong Bristol "A" team got the good end of the draw, being in the five team group, whence two teams would progress to the semis.
The "B" and "C" teams also contained many players from the higher echelons of the Bristol Rankings, and were also hopeful of progressing.
The latter two teams hopes were dashed, however, as they both finished bottom of their groups.
This wasn't quite as bad as it sounded as far as the "C" team was concerned, as the finishing positions were ultimately entirely dependent on the final round of matches in their group.
All four teams were dead level after two matches each, having won one match each by identical 3-2 margins.
Meanwhile the "A" team were sailing through their group, winning all four matches.
The "B" and "C" teams then sat down to play the only preliminary round match in the consolation flight, fighting it out for a place in the last eight (of nine!), and the "C" team were victorious by a 4-1 margin.
That's as far as they got, though, as they suffered a 3-2 defeat to Ealing.
The "A" team faced the holders and pre-event favourites of the London Players League in the semis, and triumphed 3-1 with the fifth match declared a dead rubber, although the Bristol player was ahead at the time.
So on to the final, where their opponents were 2011 champions St Albans "A", and after a close run affair, the Bristol team triumphed (see Simonetta Herrera's photo, which captures (left to right) Roland Herrera, Marcus Wrinch, Paul Gilbertson, Gaz Owen and Julian Fetterlein at the moment of presentation).
Just for the record, the line-ups from the other Bristol teams were:
"B" team: Andy Boysan, , Simonetta, Blaine Buchanan, Tim Line and Nick Barham;
"C" team: Stuart Mann, Neil Edwards, Ian Tarr, Richard Owsley and Alex Hodge.
10/03/13: Tim wins clock consolation
Alex Hodge and Tim Line made the most of a lull in proceedings at the UK Clubs Championship on Saturday to tidy up a Bristol Backgammon loose end.This was the consolation final of Thursday's Clock Grand Prix tournament, which Tim ended up winning.
08/03/13: Red Division wins for Richard and Ian
Three Premier Two Red matches were played today.There was an unusual morning start for Pearl Foster and Richard Biddle, who fought out their return encounter at a new Bristol Backgammon venue -- the Three Brooks in Bradley Stoke.
And just like their Thursday meeting, this was a close one -- Richard gaining the upper hand this time to move into third place in the league.
Later at the BCSC there was a double header between Richard Holness and Ian Tarr.
Ian took the opener 11-4, but was extremely fortunate to win the return 11-10.
The wins took Ian to the top of the table.
08/03/13: Nineteen in Thursday action
Nineteen players were in action on Thursday, in a variety of competitions at a variety of locations.Eleven contested the second of six Clock Grand Prix tournaments at the BCSC, where Andy Boysan defeated Roland Herrera in the main flight final.
Andy had beaten Alex Hodge and Simon Hughes en route to the final, while Roland was defeating Simonetta Herrera and Ed Turner.
The consolation final between Tim Line and Alex was held over for another time.
Roland's CTGP lead has been cut to 40 points, with Andy in second place.
Six league matches were also completed.
Blaine Buchanan got his Premier One season under way with an 11-8 win over Tim pre-tournament.
Also at the BCSC Chas Perry snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when he won his Premier Two Blue match with Malcolm Patterson 11-10 to move six points clear at the top.
Further Premier Two Blue action occurred at Brookhouse Farm in Swindon, where Andy Brown set about ending his miserable start to life in Premier Two with an 11-8 victory over Gary Plant.
And the other venue was the White Lion in Frenchay, where Richard Biddle completed three Premier Two Red matches.
After a 9-11 reverse against Pearl Foster, Richard grabbed a brace of wins at the expense of Alan Parfitt.
06/03/13: Ed up to fourth
Ed Turner defeated Malcolm Patterson 11-6 at the BCSC this evening to move into fourth place in Premier Two Blue.05/03/13: Mandy and Chas share the spoils at the Windmill
Chas Perry visited Mandy Macdonald's home territory for a Premier Two Blue double header at the Windmill this evening.Chas seemed poised for victory at 10-6 in the opener, but Mandy won the Crawford game and grabbed the win with a double gammon.
Things swung back Chas's way in the return encounter, however, and Chas scored his third 11-2 victory in two days to extend his league lead.
05/03/13: Ian and Gary go second
Ian Tarr scored his second DMP victory in three league encounters this afternoon at The Grapes in Clifton Village.His victim this time was John Corrado, and the win puts Ian second in Premier Two Red.
And in bath Andrew Cobb played host to Gary Plant in Premier Two Blue.
Gary moves to second place in that division.
One of those matches was the 4,444th in the history of Bristol Backgammon leagues.
04/03/13: Chas tops Blue Division
Sixteen players sampled action of one kind or another at the BCSC on Monday evening.In Premier Two Blue Chas Perry and Andy Brown fought out a double header, with Chas winning both matches emphatically to move to the top of the league table.
There was also some fleeting action in Premier Two Red, when Pearl Foster met Nick Barham to finish of their adjourned match, where Pearl had led 8-7.
A dropped cube brought the scores level, and the next game saw the cube raised to four. A tense game moved into a race so close that Nick had to avoid rolling a one to edge to the victory he won.
The advertised event in the Monday Club was an eleven player DMP Tourno, which changed to a ten player event when one player bizarrely decided he had to go and do some work with half of his matches played.
Director Ian Tarr decided to expunge his matches from the record, and warned him not to attempt such a feat again.
Andy Boysan won seven out of nine games to take the pot, while Ian took second place with six wins -- a result which was enough to preserve his Spring Grand Prix lead, although after the first discards of the competition Ed Turner has now edged to within eleven points of the lead.
The absent Adrian Barnes remains the leading intermediate in this competition, but Chrissy Carter is ready to challenge, just fourteen points behind.
There was also time for a seven player DMP Tourno, and Ed took the pot here with five wins out of six.
03/03/13: Ian starts with a double
Ian Tarr got his Premier Two Red season off to a belated start at the King William Ale House in King Street this afternoon.And he came out on top of a double header with Cecilia Sparke, edging a titanic tussle 11-10 before getting much more of the rub of the green in the return encounter with an 11-5 win.
Including the tail end of last season, Cecilia is now on her worst ever run in Premier Two, having now lost five in a row.
01/03/13: John starts with a win
At the Victoria, Westbury-on-Trym, this afternoon John Corrado opened his Premier Two Red campaign with an 11-8 victory over Fred North.01/03/13: Andrew lengthens winning sequence
A result from yesterday, reported late, has just come to hand.It was a Premier Two Blue encounter at the Rose and Crown, Bath, between Gary Plant and Andrew Cobb.
And Andrew came from behind to win 11-10, thus maintaining his outstanding sequence of Premier Two wins, which now stretches to nine in a row, including the final six matches of last season.
This is a sequence which has only been exceeded twice in Premier Two history.
28/02/13: Mike off the mark at Beerd
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday -- four in league matches, while the other eleven fought out the inaugural Round Robin Grand Prix event.Beerd was the venue for the battle of the Smiths this afternoon, when Mike Smith met James Lintell-Smith for a Premier One double header.
James started well, but Mike fought back to take the opening encounter 11-9, and then Mike had things much more his own way, winning the return 11-3.
At the BCSC there was a Conference double header between Neil Edwards and Matt Walder.
Both matches ended 11-2 -- Neil winning the first before Matt gained his revenge.
The first ever Round Robin Grand Prix event raised an eyebrow or two when it was announced that the two groups -- one of six players, the other of five -- would play matches of different lengths.
This was because the rules are mindful of the likely elapsed time involved when groups have different sizes, with groups of four or five players playing 5-point matches, while six- seven- or eight-player groups would contest 3-point matches.
This proved to work quite well, with the six player group finishing while the final two matches in the five player group were well under way.
Each group finished as a triple tie -- Steve Morris, Richard Owsley and Ian Tarr sharing the honours and the pot in the six player group with four victories each -- while Nick Barham, Andy Boysan and Alex Hodge did likewise with three wins each in the five player group.
This latter trio thus share the lead in the first ever RRGP table, each player 5 points better of than the winners of the other group.
26/02/13: League wins for Ed, Gary and Sean
Having defeated Alex Hodge on Monday evening at the BCSC, Ed Turner repeated the dose at the same venue this evening to complete a Premier Two Blue double.Alex still heads the table, but his record is now reduced to fifty-fifty, while Ed moves into fourth place.
Earlier at the Beaufort Arms, Hawkesbury Upton, Gary Plant and Sean Hopson fought out a double header in the same division.
Here the spoils were shared, and Gary moves into second place.
25/02/13: Ed takes OGP lead
Ed Turner had most to be pleased about at the Monday Bristol Backgammon session.He began by defeating Tony Walters 11-9 in the held over final of the February Bristol Grand Prix tournament, a result that ensured a Winner Takes All pool rollover to the March event.
And Ed takes over the OGP lead from Roland Herrera, as well as being almost sure of a spot in the 2014 Bristol Masters.
And after the advertised Monday Club event, Ed won a Premier Two Blue encounter with Alex Hodge by 11-3.
The remaining league action was in Premier Two Red, where Alan Parfitt beat Cecilia Sparke, and Nick Barham picked up an adjourned match with Pearl Foster to score his first league win of the season.
Pearl and Nick then started the return match, which was also adjourned with Pearl 8-7 ahead.
The Monday Club competition consisted of two four-player 3-point round robins.
Ian Tarr won one of these outright, while the other ended with a three way split between Alex, Ed and Bahman Salahshour.
Ian edged a little further ahead of Ed in the SGP table, and while the absent Adrian Barnes is still the leading intermediate in this competition, Chrissy Carter's 30 points haul moved her closer to Adrian's tally.
There was still time for a seven player DMP Tourno, which saw Andy Brown and Neil Young win five matches apiece.
Neil took the pot, however, after Andy had opted for the non-paying option.
24/02/13: UKCC draw done
Thirteen five-player teams will contest the third UK Clubs Championship at Birmingham on March 9th, including three from Bristol.Teams have been drawn into three groups -- one of five teams, and two of four -- and the five team group contains Bristol "A".
That group has an advantage, in that two teams will progress into the four team semi-final stage.
The full draw can be found here.
21/02/13: Eighteen in Thursday action
There were eighteen players in action at the BCSC on Thursday evening.While four concentrated on their league campaigns, the other fourteen were there for the advertised event -- the first of six clock blitz evenings in this year's calendar.
The blitz event saw the field split into two groups of seven, giving each player six matches in a crowded and pulsating evening of backgammon.
Star of the show was Nick Barham, who won his group with a clean sweep of six victories, while the other group saw a three way split at the top, with Jason Champion, Roland Herrera and Neil Young sharing the pot.
So Nick is the year's first leader of the Clock Blitz Grand Prix.
Meanwhile Simonetta Herrera was extending her lead in Premier One by coming out on top of both matches in her double header with Steve Morris.
And Gary Plant made light of an early deficit against Richard Owsley to win their Premier Two Blue encounter.
A Conference result from Wednesday was also reported -- Adrian Barnes's 11-7 win over Chrissy Carter moving him to within a point of leader Peter Thistlewood.
19/02/13: Narrow league wins for Phil and Mandy
Two Premier League matches were played this evening, and both of them ended 11-10.Phil Charlton brought Stuart Mann's winning sequence in Premier One to an end at the Cornubia after trailing 6-10.
And in Premier Two Blue Mandy Macdonald edged home against Gary Plant at the Windmill, gaining revenge for a 10-11 defeat earlier in the season.
18/02/13: Three way tie in Trac Trac Tourno; Chas scores league win
There were ten players in action at the BCSC on Monday evening.They all took part in the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, which was a modified Tric Trac Tourno.
And on an evening when gammons were few and far between, there was a triple tie for the pot, with Alex Hodge, Ian Tarr and Ed Turner taking the honours on 9.5 points apiece.
This maintained the status quo in the SGP table, with Ian holding on to his very narrow lead over Ed, with Alex still in third place.
And despite his absence on the night Adrian Barnes is still the leading intermediate in this competition.
After the conclusion of the advertised event Ed sat down with Chas Perry to play a Premier Two Blue match, which Chas won after recovering from 0-4 down.
15/02/13: Fred scores first win of the season
The Steam Railway Co in Swindon was the venue this evening when Andy Boysan met Fred North for a Premier Two Red encounter.Fred came through 11-6 to score his first league win of the season.
14/02/13: Mike opens with three defeats
Mike Smith began his 2013 Premier One campaign today with a match at Steve Morris's house in Redland.It was not an auspicious beginning, as Steve scored his third successive league win by 11-3.
And later, at the Adam and Eve, Mike suffered a brace of defeats at the hands of Stuart Mann.
Together with his end of season run, Stuart has now won ten successive top flight matches -- the third longest sequence on record.
Stuart also holds the record -- fourteen wins in 2003 -- plus four of the six best Premier One sequences ever.
14/02/13: Tony and Ed reach February GP final
With our regular backgammon session brought forward a day to Wednesday, there were twenty-one players in action at two locations.While three fought out league matches in Henbury, eighteen -- including welcome returns to action after a break of over a year and a half for the Ferrers -- lined up for the February grand prix tournament at the BCSC.
And Ed Turner emerged from the long part of the draw via victories over Derek Clew, Ian Tarr, Blaine Buchanan and Simonetta Herrera to make the final, where he will meet Tony Walters, conqueror of Juanita Ferrer, Neil Young and Nick Barham.
Cecilia Sparke won the consolation flight with wins over Steve Ferrer, Cynthia Roberts, Alex Hodge and Juanita.
January winner Roland Herrera was indisposed, but will no doubt be happy to read that he still holds the OGP lead, although Ed can overhaul him by winning the outstanding final.
Only two intermediates contested the tournament, and once again Chrissy Carter was the only intermediate match winner.
Her IGP lead extends to 85 points over second placed Pete Wright.
The Winner Takes All pool, containing just £40, will roll over to March if Ed wins the final, otherwise Tony will take the pot.
And Roland is now guaranteed a spot in the 2014 Bristol Masters as the turnout for the January event was greater than this month's.
In Henbury, chez Peter Thistlewood, there were two Conference matches played. Neil Edwards was the victim of 11-4 defeats in both -- Adrian Barnes and Peter being the victors.
Peter now heads the league table.
11/02/13: Sixteen at Monday session
There were sixteen players present at the latest Monday Club session at the BCSC.Twelve fought out the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, two more played out a Premier Two Red double header, while Ben and Nicky Cowdery popped in for their first visit on a fact finding mission.
The league action revolved around Red Division leader Andy Boysan and Paul Watts, Paul winning the opening encounter, with Andy gaining revenge.
A Conference result from Sunday also came to hand -- Peter Thistlewood and Adrian Barnes having made their league debuts at Peter's Henbury home -- Peter having won emphatically to take an early league lead.
On Thursday Director Ian Tarr had declared the remainder of February "TD Training Month", and as he took a deliberate back seat several players sought a concensus in running the 3-point round robins.
The buck then seemed to stop with Nick Barham, who did a fine job.
Both six player 3-point round robins saw the pot and the top points shared by a pair of players -- Jason Champion and Ed Turner in one group, Alex Hodge and Ian in the other.
Ian thus maintained his very narrow lead over Ed in the SGP table, with Alex moving into third.
Adrian is still the leading intermediate in this event.
08/02/13: Another memorable awards night, with lots of league action
On Thursday at the BCSC it was Annual Awards Night, with all that entails.Many made use of the opportunity to progress their 2013 league campaigns, and there were ten results to consider.
There was the usual free buffet to help get people into the party mood, before Director Ian Tarr delivered his Bristol Backgammon Review of 2012.
This was punctuated with prize presentations, and photo opportunities thanks to both Roland and Simonetta Herrera.
The fruits of their combined efforts are already online, capturing the atmosphere very well, and can be found here.
Of the 79 prizes scheduled for distribution many were, of course, reflecting the outcome of our immense variety of competitions, and therefore easily anticipated by the recipients.
But there are, of course, other prizes which come as a surprise, which was emphasised for Ian when speaking to Steffen Nowak before the ceremony.
Steffen knew he was there to collect the fourth place prize in Premier One, but was completely unaware that during 2012 he had become the seventh player to clock up a career century of Premier League match wins, for which he received a memento, of course.
The other "surprise" awards went to Andy Boysan (Rookie of the Year), Steve Morris (Most Improved Player and Sports Person of the Year), Alex Hodge (Rankings Jump Award), and Pearl Foster (Ladies Prize).
There were five top flight league matches played, producing five different winners. Tim Line and Gaz Owen shared the spoils of a double header, while Tim later suffered defeat at the hands of Steffen.
Steve won narrowly over Simon Hughes, while Stuart Mann won emphatically against James Lintell-Smith earlier at Colston Yard, although the return match is adjourned with James leading 5-1.
In Premier Two Red there was a double header between Richard Biddle and Andy, where Richard prevailed narrowly in the opener, before losing the return 11-1.
Meanwhile in the Blue Division, there were wins for Richard Owsley and Simon Temme.
And in the Conference League Neil Edwards came from a long way behind to gain a revenge victory over Chrissy Carter -- Neil's maiden league victory.
07/02/13: Richard's good start
The Wheatsheaf in Swindon was the venue yesterday evening when Richard Holness opened his Premier Two Red campaign with an all-Swindon clash against Fred North.Richard, whose return to Premier Two from the top flight last year had been a torrid one, at least saw things looking up when he won the final three fixtures of his season, and he has built on that with his opening 11-3 victory over Fred.
05/02/13: Alex loses a league match!
In the first half of a double header at the BCSC this evening Alex Hodge experienced something new.Having won all six of his Conference matches last season, plus his first three in Premier Two Blue this season, Chas Perry inflicted a league defeat on him -- emphatically, by 11-4.
However, Alex won the return, and despite his setback, he is still setting a furious pace in his first Premier League campaign.
05/02/13: Paul starts with a double
Paul Watts opened his Premier Two Red campaign by defeating Fred North twice at the BCSC.Alongside this double header seven players contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
This was a DMP Tourno, and Andy Boysan scored a clean sweep to take the pot.
Ian Tarr's SGP lead has almost evaporated, with Ed Turner very close behind in second place.
Adrian Barnes -- the competition's leading intermediate -- is now in third place.
For those that remained there was time for a further DMP Tourno, but with the five players each winning two matches, everyone got their money back!
04/02/13: Simonetta extends lead
Simonetta Herrera defeated James Lintell-Smith 11-7 in a Premier One encounter at Kellaway Avenue yesterday evening.It was her fourth successive league win, and she now leads the table by four points.
For James this was a first defeat in the top flight.
01/02/13: Thursday action round up
There were fifteen players in action in five different competitions on Thursday.Simonetta Herrera took steps to move her Premier One campaign back on track, coming out of a double header with Dave Pym with a brace of victories at the BCSC.
Meanwhile in Premier Two Blue Mandy Macdonald suffered another narrow defeat at the Windmill, where visiting Gary Plant was the 11-10 victor in his Premier League debut.
And before Thursday's advertised event got under way, two loose ends were tidied up.
The consolation flight from the inaugural GP5 event saw Richard Owsley defeat Neil Young, while last week's GP30 event also had its consolation flight wrapped up, when Steve Morris defeated Ian Tarr.
Ten players then contested the first of this year's Handicap Trophy tournaments.
The hope was that the reduction of entry fee to £5 would stimulate a higher entry than usual, but not so on this occasion.
Ian Tarr ended up taking the main flight, pegging back deficits three times to defeat Alex Hodge, Nick Barham and Ed Turner.
Ed had overcome Neil Edwards and Derek Clew to reach the final.
Alex -- who had won each of three previous Handicap Trophy main flights he had previously contested -- had to make do with winning the consolation flight this time, accounting for the Owsley family representation -- Lily and Richard -- in the process.
30/01/13: Eleven in Monday BCSC action
There were two four player 3-point robins and two league matches played at the BCSC on Monday night.In Premier Two Blue Alex Hodge extended his lead by inflicting an 11-2 defeat on Andy Brown.
And the Conference season got off to a belated start when both Chrissy Carter and Neil Edwards made their league debuts, Chrissy edging home 11-8.
More players are expected to sign up for the Conference very soon.
The round robins, the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, saw Adrian Barnes win one group outright, while the other saw a three way tie between Alex, Ian Tarr and Peter Thistlewood.
Ian has moved into the lead in the SGP table, while Adrian is now in pole position for the leading intermediate prize.
26/01/13: Andy and Nick share honours in two competitions
Andy Boysan and Nick Barham met at two different venues in two different competitions this evening.First port of call was the Rose of Denmark, where the pair played out their held over main flight final from Thursday's inaugural GP30 tournament.
Nick won this 9-8, whereupon they adjourned to the Adam and Eve for a Premier Two Red match.
Here Andy turned the tables, winning this one 11-9.
25/01/13: Andrew picks up where he left off
A couple of late results from Premier Two Blue have come to hand.Yesterday at the Knights Templar Andrew Cobb made an eminently successful start to his 2013 league campaign when he scored a brace of wins at Mandy Macdonald's expense.
Andrew very narrowly missed out on a place in the top flight last year, ending his season with six straight wins, a sequence which has now increased to eight, and has only been bettered four times in the entire history of Premier Two.
25/01/13: Pleasing turnout for inaugural GP30 event
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr declared himself very content with the turnout for the first of the new series of GP30 tournaments, where there was a prize total of almost £500 up for grabs.With a significant number of players reluctantly absent for various entirely valid reasons, there were still thirteen toeing the start line for an event which, for Ian, constituted a risk.
And with four others playing league matches alongside the tournament, there was a good atmosphere at the BCSC.
Given the format of the tournament -- nine point matches in the main flight and seven in the consolation -- it wasn't a total surprise that both finals have been held over.
In the main flight Andy Boysan continued to make an impact, just as he has consistently in the few short months since he arrived, and took the scalps of Roland Herrera, Derek Clew and Gaz Owen to make the final, where he will meet Nick Barham.
Nick defeated Tim Line, Ian Tarr and Tony Walters en route to the final.
So Andy and Nick will vie for the honour of winning the inaugural GP30 event.
The side pool for furthest progression saw semi-finalist Gaz taking the pot.
And in the consolation flight final Steve Morris will meet Ian.
The league action started in the afternoon, with Tim getting in three Premier One matches, sharing the honours in a double header with Steve, before losing to Simon Hughes.
But Simon later suffered a defeat to Simonetta Herrera in a post tournament encounter.
Tim regains the lead in the league, but then again he has contested five of the nine matches in the competition thus far.
There were also two Premier Two Blue matches played.
Neil Young opened his account for the season with a win over Andy Brown, while Malcolm Patterson did likewise against Richard Owsley.
22/01/13: James goes top at the Tobacco Factory
In a Premier One clash at the Tobacco factory this afternoon, James Lintell-Smith built on his maiden top flight match victory with another.His victim, Steve Morris, is having the opposite experience to that of James, having now lost his first two matches in his debut Premier One season.
The win, emphatically at 11-1, is enough to see James perched at the very top of the league.
21/01/13: Fourteen in Monday action at the BCSC
Despite the inclement weather, there were fourteen players in various kinds of action at the latest Monday session at the BCSC.Highlight was a gruelling monthly grand prix tournament main final, held over from Wednesday January 9th, where Roland Herrera and Steve Morris fought their way to 10-all before Roland edged it, taking a 50 points OGP lead.
Andy Boysan and Alan Parfitt fitted in a Premier Two Red match before the advertised event, and again there was an 11-10 scoreline, this time in Andy's favour.
The third phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix consisted of two Nackgammon Tournos, one of five players, the other of six.
Simonetta Herrera won the five player group outright, while there was a three way tie in the other group.
Neil Edwards, however, had opted for the free entry option available on Mondays, so Adrian Barnes and Ian Tarr shared the pot.
There was still plenty of time for a six player DMP Tourno, and here Ian took the pot outright.
17/01/13: Roland scores second tournament win of the year
The first of this year's Clock Tournament Grand Prix events took place at the BCSC on Thursday, with twelve players toeing the start line.And Roland Herrera came through the long half of the draw to win his first tournament of the year in his second final.
He defeated Steffen Nowak, Andy Boysan, Tim Line and Steve Morris to open up a 50 points lead in the first CTGP table.
Ed Turner beat Alex Hodge, Richard Owsley and Steffen to take the consolation flight.
And there was a Premier One match sandwiching the tournament -- Simon Hughes opening his top flight campaign with a win over Steve.
14/01/13: Twelve in action at Monday session
There were twelve players in action in a variety of competitions at the BCSC on Monday evening.Two Premier Two matches took place.
Alex Hodge maintained his 100% career league record, although Neil Young led for much of the match before succumbing 7-11 in their Premier Two Blue clash.
And Pearl Foster stopped Andy Boysan in his tracks, marking her debut Premier Two Red result with an 11-4 triumph.
In the advertised event, there were a pair of five player 3-point round robins, which made up the second phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
Alex followed his league win by winning three of his four round robin matches -- enough to take the pot in his group -- while Simonetta Herrera made it a clean sweep in the other group with four straight victories.
Ed Turner did enough to extend his SGP lead from 10 to 16 points, with Alex now in second place.
After the main event, there was time for Nick Barham and Roland Herrera to play their held over semi-final from Thursday's monthly grand prix tournament.
Roland emerged a 7-3 winner, and will now meet Steve Morris in the final.
11/01/13: Another day, another Merchants Arms win for Andy
Andy Boysan seems to be making the Merchants Arms a real home from home.For the second day running he went there to win a backgammon match, and today it was his Premier Two Red debut match against Nick Barham.
Andy prevailed 11-4 to become the first leader in the division this season.
10/01/13: Andy is inaugural GP5 winner
Andy Boysan brought Steve Morris's fine run to an end with a 7-0 whitewash in the held over final of the first GP5 event at the Merchants Arms this evening.This gives Andy a handy 35 points lead going into the next in the series, which is on March 21st.
10/01/13: JANUARY BRISTOL GRAND PRIX ROUND-UP ......
Nineteen players contested the opening monthly grand prix tournament of the year at the BCSC on Wednesday.It would appear that the switch to Wednesday did not unduly affect the turnout.
10/01/13: Steve awaits final opponent ......
Steve Morris -- newly promoted to Premier One -- has started the year very well.Having made the final of the inaugural GP5 event last week, he repeated the feat in yesterday's monthly grand prix event.
His victims were Tony Walters, Ian Tarr and Chrissy Carter.
No opponent has yet emerged from the other half of the draw, where Nick Barham and Roland Herrera will contest the outstanding semi-final some time soon.
10/01/13: Simonetta takes consolation flight ......
Simonetta Herrera won her second successive monthly grand prix consolation flight at the BCSC yesterday evening.Defeats of Richard Owsley, Tony Walters, Tim Line and Blaine Buchanan did the job for her.
10/01/13: Steve is early OGP leader ......
With two matches still to play in the main flight of the January tournament, it's obviously too early to say who will top the OGP table after the event is completed.But finalist Steve Morris currently holds that honour, closely followed by Roland Herrera.
Whoever wins the flight -- one of these two, or Nick Barham -- will be the leader.
10/01/13: Chrissy leads IGP by 60 points ......
A gratifying intermediate presence of four players graced Thursday's tournament, but only one of them managed to register a win.Chrissy Carter's main flight victories over Richard Owsley and Steffen Nowak gained her a total of 70 IGP points, including 30 bonus points for despatching Premier Status opponents.
The other three -- Zuber Azad, Neil Edwards and Pete Wright -- each have the bare 10 points for entering, but with eleven more monthly grand prix events plus the Intermediates Trophy contributing to this table, there is a lot more backgammon to be played yet.
10/01/13: Rollover hopes will rest with Steve ......
The purely optional Winner Takes All pool, which these days applies only to monthly grand prix events, always sparks a little interest whenever there is a rollover.Only £40 was carried forward from December's tournament, but this was enough to tempt ten players to bolster the kitty to a handsome £140 last night.
It became apparent quite early in the piece that one side of the draw would not contribute a pool entrant as a finalist, while the other half of the draw was the opposite as early as the quarter-final line-up became known.
So neutrals will be hoping Steve Morris can prevail in the final, no matter who his opponent might be.
Meanwhile the above average turnout means that whoever wins the event will almost certainly qualify for the 2014 Bristol Masters.
08/01/13: James starts with a win
James Lintell-Smith marked his arrival in the top flight of the Premier League with an 11-10 victory over Dave Pym at the Hen and Chicken this evening.07/01/13: Ten at opening Monday session
There was a mixture of activity at the opening Monday session at the BCSC.Four players started their Premier Two campaigns, and three of them joined another six in the Tric Trac Tourno which formed the first phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
Alex Hodge is the early leader in Premier Two Blue after recovering from a 2-4 deficit to defeat Andy Brown 11-4.
Pearl Foster was also making her Premier Two debut, but her match against Nick Barham was adjourned at 8-2 in Nick's favour to allow both players to contest the Tric Trac Tourno.
This was won by Ed Turner on an evening where gammons and backgammons -- the main objective in these events -- were few and far between in the early stages.
Ed accumulated four gammons, however, and this was just enough to stave off the late challenges of Ian Tarr and Pearl.
Ed is thus the initial leader of the SGP.
04/01/13: Twenty at first event of the year
The change of emphasis in Bristol Backgammon this year is a little bit of a leap in the dark for Director Ian Tarr.Offering a variety of entry fees throughout the calendar of Thursday knock-out and round robin events is a response to declining Thursday attendance figures over the past few years.
Participants in Thursday events at the BCSC have fallen from an average of 21.8 in 2008, through 19.4 in 2009, 16.4 in 2010, and 13.7 in 2011, to last year's low of 12.0.
Culling poorly attended league nights and the least popular varieties of knock-out was he first step in the change.
Filling those vacant dates with other options was the second.
Only time will tell whether or not the new programme will achieve the desired upturn in attendances, but after twenty players turned out for the inaugural GP5 event, there may be grounds for cautious optimism.
The return of £5 entry events may have been the reason for the increase, or it may just have been that the backgammon players of Bristol were eager to resume competition after the festive fortnight break.
Whatever the reason, the BCSC was buzzing again, and there was even the first debut appearance of the year, with Bristol University student Zuber Azad acquitting himself pretty well in defeating Alex Hodge in his opening match.
He succumbed to Simonetta Herrera in his second match, but we will be seeing more of Zuber, who is keen enough to be attempting to set up a Backgammon Society at Uni.
In the main flight Andy Boysan defeated Ed Turner, Andy Brown and Steffen Nowak to make the final, where he will meet Steve Morris, conqueror of Richard Owsley, Ian Tarr and Nick Barham.
This will be played some time soon, as will the consolation final between Richard and Neil Young.
02/01/13: New events will contribute to 1000 to 1 awards
The introduction of two of the new grand prix series will be further marked by their inclusion in the events which will contribute to the 1000 to 1 Awards, currently sponsored by Roland Herrera.Because they will include matches to at least 5 points, the GP5 and GP30 grand prix series will form a part of the data for the awards, which commemorate a player's achievement in winning ten or more consecutive matches.
The GP5 makes its debut tomorrow evening.
02/01/13: Conference recruitment drive starts here
Last season's bumper crop of Conference League players may take some emulating.Fifteen players participated during a season which was the second busiest in the history of the competition.
Six of those players have now moved on to compete in this year's Premier League, but Director Ian Tarr is hopeful that the majority of the remainder will take up the challenge this time around.
The early signings include Matt Walder, who competed last year, plus newcomers Chrissy Carter and Neil Edwards.
Ian is targetting a league of at least ten players, and hopefully more.
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