News items from 2013 (second half)
28/12/13: Draw completes Premier Two line-up
The five vacant slots in the 2014 Premier Two Blue and Red Divisions have been filled today, in a draw performed by Roland Herrera.
The complete line-ups now read:
Premier Two Blue: Alex Hodge, Cecilia Sparke, Neil Young, Pearl Foster, Gary Plant, Malcolm Patterson, Simon Temme, Andrew Cobb, Mandy Macdonald, Peter Thistlewood, James Newman, Chrissy Carter;
Premier Two Red: Nick Barham, Simon Baker, Richard Owsley, James Lintell-Smith, Dave Pym, Andy Boysan, Sean Hopson, Paul Watts, Fred North, Andy Brown, Eamonn Reay, Miles Farren.
23/12/13: Familiar format for the 2014 Premier League
Entries for the 2014 Bristol Premier League closed at midnight on Saturday, with just thirty-seven players signing up.
This number was three short of what would have been needed to trigger a new Premier Three division, leaving the line-up for the new year identical numerically to the 2013 leagues.
All thirteen Premier One qualifiers took up their places, but there are a few personnel changes in the two Premier Two divisions.
Opting out this time, for a variety of reasons, are Blaine Buchanan, Richard Biddle, Alan Parfitt, Richard Holness and John Paton, many of whom will hopefully return in future years, as is their right.
Replacing them are a returning Miles Farren, plus four newly qualified players -- Chrissy Carter, James Newman, Eamonn Reay and Peter Thistlewood.
Two other newly qualified players would have taken up their places, too, but for changes to their circumstances.
The split between Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red is not quite finalised yet, as the five newcomers need to be randomly drawn -- in front of witnesses -- into the last few places, but the line-ups, apart from those final details, will be:
Premier One: Phil Charlton, John Corrado, Simonetta Herrera, Simon Hughes, Tim Line, Stuart Mann, Steve Morris, Steffen Nowak, Gaz Owen, Chas Perry, Mike Smith, Ian Tarr, Ed Turner;
Premier Two Blue: Alex Hodge, Cecilia Sparke, Neil Young, Pearl Foster, Gary Plant, Malcolm Patterson, Simon Temme, Andrew Cobb, Mandy Macdonald, and three others;
Premier Two Red: Nick Barham, Simon Baker, Richard Owsley, James Lintell-Smith, Dave Pym, Andy Boysan, Sean Hopson, Paul Watts, Fred North, Andy Brown, and two others.
20/12/13: Starter for 10 sponsorship ends after three successful years
One of Bristol Backgammon's most innovative sponsorships has run its course after three successful years.
The Starter for 10 scheme, sponsored by Gaz Owen smoothed the way into Thursday backgammon events for thirty-eight players at a total cost to Gaz of £360.
On behalf of all of those players Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr hereby publicly thanks Gaz for his generosity.
19/12/13: James stars in season finale
James Newman capped a fine maiden Bristol Backgammon season by sweeping all before him at the season's grand finale, Steve's Christmas Fizz Tournament.
With twenty-two players present -- including welcome debut player Rob Brito -- for the annual event which many now look forward to, we were assured of a fitting send off for 2013.
Ultimately eight players scooped a total of nine cash prizes and four fizzy bottles donated by sponsor Steve Morris.
The theme of the whole evening was first-to-3-points matches, and the format which kept the players busy for most of the evening saw no fewer than 58 matches played.
The opening phase saw the entrants drawn into five round robin groups -- two of five players, three of four.
The individual group winners each scooped a handy £15 bonus, and the top half of the group finishers progressed into the main knock-out flight, with the remainder contesting the consolation flight.
Group winners were James, Tim Line, Simonetta Herrera, Andy Boysan and Tom Chapman, who was making his first appearance for two years.
James had been the only player in the groups with a 100% record, and he continued in that vein, eventually defeating Derek Clew in the final.
The consolation flight saw Marcus Evans defeat John Chester in the final.
16/12/13: Eight at year's final Monday session
Eight players turned out for the final phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Three point round robins were the order of the day, so that meant two groups of four players.
One group ended in a three way tie between John Chester, Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour, while the other has a two way finish.
In that group Ian Tarr benefitted as joint winner Pat Meek had chosen the zero entry option.
Pat missed out on prize money for the second week running.
In the AGP table not a lot changed, especially as Roland had already been confirmed as AGP champion, with the absent Kia Tandeseh also assured of taking the top intermediate prize.
Five stayed on for a DMP Tourno, which was won by Roland.
15/12/13: New Premier Three still in the balance
With just under a week remaining for players to sign up to the 2014 Premier League, it is still far from clear whether or not there will be enough entries (i.e. more than thirty-nine) to trigger a new Premier Three.
Thirty-five have so far indicated their consent, while decisions are still awaited from four existing Premier League players and three newly qualified players.
There are, of course, many others qualified to enter the league, but apart from Miles Farren there is no sign yet of a positive response from any others in that category.
As well as Miles, the league will be graced by at least four newly qualified players -- Chrissy Carter, James Newman, Eamonn Reay and Peter Thistlewood.
Set against that are those who have decided not to continue for their various reasons -- Richard Biddle, Alan Parfitt and Richard Holness.
13/12/13: Ed pips Ian to take second OGP title, as Steve wins Lesters 89
Fourteen players contested the 89th Lesters Trophy tournament, which doubled as the twelfth and final instalment of the Bristol monthly grand prix series.
One other player unfortunately turned up just too late to be included in the draw.
At stake were a number of things: the Open Grand Prix title, the Intermediate Grand Prix title, a place in the 2014 Bristol Masters, and a year's tenure of the John Chidgey Cup, not to mention prize money for the finalists of both flights.
The main point of interest was arguably the destiny of the OGP title.
Going into the tournament, the leader was reigning champion Ian Tarr, and with discards playing their customary end of season part, it was clear that any pursuer would need to do very well to usurp him.
Apart from Ian, four players had the mathematical opportunity to win the title.
For Roland Herrera nothing less than a tournament win after starting in the last 32 plus the possible clawing back of his provisional 10 points slow play penalty would do; for Tim Line a tournament win from either the last 16 or last 32 was the minimum requirement.
Third placed Derek Clew needed a combination of clawing back 30 slow play points plus scoring at least two main flight wins.
And second placed Ed Turner needed a minimum of three main flight match wins.
And of course, if Ian were to add to his own tally, every pursuer's task would become even tougher.
Roland fell by the wayside as a no show, then Tim's chance disappeared with a first round defeat by Steve Morris.
Both Derek and Ian were logged for slow play in their initial matches, which made no difference to Ian, but meant that Derek, whose points scoring chances had been restricted by his first round bye, now needed to win the tournament.
Ian edged past Colin Sara -- who had left it late for his first appearance of the year -- and his tally moved up five points after taking into account his discard.
Meanwhile Ed was progressing nicely, by getting past Andy Boysan and Peter Thistlewood to earn a crack at Derek in the semis.
Ian also appeared in good shape at 6-0 ahead of Steve. But then his wheels came off, and Steve roared back to win.
Ian's grasp of the title was now looking a little tenuous.
One of Ed or Derek would get 30 points for a semi-final win. Ian's chances rested with Derek, who he also needed to lose in the final!
But Ed was the semi-final victor, meaning he was now dead level on points with Ian.
This, however, guaranteed him the title -- which he also won in 2004 -- on the second level of tie-break, having contested only eleven tournaments to Ian's twelve.
The first to 11 points final remained, and Ed started well, moving out to a 6-1 lead.
But Steve, who had just reached his first ever Lesters final at the 30th attempt, once again recovered, eventually winning 11-7, gaining a Masters place and the John Chidgey Cup in the process.
Meanwhile Tim had won the consolation flight, defeating Simon Hughes and Eamonn Reay before meeting Nick Barham in the final.
With Tim short of time because of his last train back to Wiltshire, Nick sportingly allowed the match to be played out at break-neck speed.
Tim won 5-4 and still got his train, thanks to a chauffeur.
With five intermediates in the field, the resolution of the IGP honours was surprisingly anti-climactic.
The absence of second placed James Newman contributed to this, but leader Chrissy Carter was in no mood to relinquish pole position, having been there from day one.
Victories over John Chester and Richard Owsley, before succumbing to Steve, brought her overall IGP lead to over 100, more than enough for a convincing title triumph.
James finished second, while Peter -- possibly wondering what might have happened had he started his IGP campaign a little earlier than November -- in third.
Finally, a word about the optional Winner Takes All pool. After a tiny rollover from the November tournament, this pool was augmented by a mere tenner, and rolls over to January with just £30 in the kitty.
09/12/13: John and Ian share Monday DMP pot
There were just six players present for action on Monday night, where the order of the day was a DMP Tourno, the penultimate phase of this year's Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix competition.
It was already mathematically impossible for anyone to catch AGP leader Roland Herrera, but at least second placed Ian Tarr got a little closer by sharing the event's pot with John Chester, whose first taste of prize money this was.
Indeed the round robin was so closely fought that there would have been a three way split had Pat Meek not elected to take the free entry option.
There was plenty of time left, and five players contested a further DMP Tourno -- this time with two meetings against each other player.
The destiny of this pot came down to the very last match to be played -- between Ian and Simonetta Herrera.
It was a seesaw affair with Simonetta eventually coming out on top.
07/12/13: Premier League entries hit thirty
With a fortnight still to go before the deadline for receipt of Premier League entries, the total of entrants has already hit thirty.
Director Ian Tarr estimates that it will be touch and go whether or not a Premier Three division will be triggered.
It will take a total entry of forty to do that.
06/12/13: Roland completes clock double
Just seven players contested the final instalment of the 2013 Clock Blitz Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
John Chester made his Thursday debut, and was quite possibly the last recipient of the Starter for 10 free entry deal sponsored by Gaz Owen, as this deal ends this month after three remarkable years.
The destiny of the CBGP title was always likely to rest with the top to in the table, Simon Hughes and Roland Herrera.
Simon had a 15 points lead, but his next available discard was 15 more than Roland's, which effectively evened out the situation, except for the fact that if neither player did well the status quo would see Simon prevailing.
Both players were in contention throughout, however, which effectively meant that the player gaining the most points on the night would take the title.
Roland had his nose in front when the two faced their final opponents -- John for Roland and James Newman for Simon.
Both contenders won, so it was Roland who took the title.
This says that Roland Bristol's "Clock Supremo" for 2013, having also won the Clock Tournament Grand Prix last week -- a double achievement to match that of Ian Tarr last year.
03/12/13: Geoff Henderson
Bristol Backgammon has just learned of the sad passing of Geoff Henderson.
Geoff, who visited us from his home near Swindon a few times between July and September, finally lost his long, hard fight against oesophageal cancer on Wednesday.
He came across as a gentleman in the true sense of the word, and it is a great shame that we will not have the opportunity to know him better.
Geoff leaves a wife, Lorraine, and a daughter, Abigail, who herself has played the game a little under her father's tutelage.
03/12/13: Roland extends Autumn Grand Prix lead
Seven players were present on Monday -- the wrong number when it comes to containing a three point round robin within the normal bounds of a Monday session.
So Director Ian Tarr sat this one out, leaving the other six to contest a six player group.
The pot was shared between Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour, who each won four out of five matches, and Roland's Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix lead has now been extended to an apparently insuperable margin of 95 points.
The evening featured a welcome debut for John Chester, who plans to return on Thursday.
02/12/13: 2014 Premier League entries flooding in
Invitations went out over the weekend for the 2014 Bristol Premier League, and the responses are coming in fast.
As at noon today nineteen acceptances have been received, including one new player -- Eamonn Reay -- and one returning player -- Miles Farren.
One who will not be continuing is Chesham based Richard Biddle, whose commitment to Bristol league backgammon over the past four years has been an outstanding effort.
That experience prompted him to start the London Players League, which is proving extremely successful.
01/12/13: Conference League season ends quietly
There were rumours of last ditch Conference League action, but in the end none materialised before the season officially ended at midnight on Saturday.
So Eamonn Reay's incredible season sees him rewarded with the Conference championship, as had seemed probable for some time now.
The word "incredible" is used advisedly, as the effort Eamonn put in to ensure that he would gain a Premier League place has been nothing short of remarkable.
Who of the rest of us would even countenance travelling abroad several times a year to get some regular backgammon action?
While Eamonn is champion, further plaudits go to Neil Edwards, Chrissy Carter, Adrian Barnes and Peter Thistlewood, who have finished second, third, fourth and fifth -- all doing enough to earn the right to take up their places in the 2014 Premier League.
And it's not necessarily over yet for other intermediates to follow suit in terms of Premier League qualification.
James Newman and Alexi Solomou have also done enough to qualify via the other routes available, and there is still time for others to stake their own claims in the few remaining weeks of the year.
29/11/13: Premier League season ends at the Cornubia
The 420th and last of this year's Premier League results was posted today at the Cornubia.
Andrew Cobb and Simon Temme did battle there, and it was Andrew who came away with an 11-4 Premier Two Blue victory.
That concludes another successful year of Premier League backgammon in Bristol -- the fourteenth -- with every match completed, and only three players (all in Premier Two Red) falling slightly foul of the penalty system, which actually had little impact on finishing positions.
This now paves the way for Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr to set about the not inconsiderable task on populating next year's Premier League.
Invitations will be hitting inboxes very soon.
The only possible further league action this year would be in the Conference League, where at least two players were planning to get in some more action before tomorrow's midnight deadline.
29/11/13: Stuart wins clock tournament
There were thirteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, including the eleven who contested the sixth and final instalment of the Clock Tournament Grand Prix.
This was won by Stuart Mann, who was making his first appearance of the year in this particular series.
Stuart defeated James Newman and Richard Owsley before despatching Simonetta Herrera in the final.
Simonetta had beaten Ed Turner and Roland Herrera en route.
Ed went on to win the consolation flight with wins over Simon Hughes, Drew Caudwell and Ian Tarr, a performance which was more than enough to consolidate his second place finish in the CTGP table.
The title had long since been decided by Roland Herrera's extraordinary sequence of results, where he had won three of the five previous tournaments.
Roland also had time to tie up a loose end from the November Grand Prix event, where the consolation final was held over.
Here he succumbed to Richard Owsley.
Also present were Peter Thistlewood and Matt Walder, who played their fourth and final Conference League match, which Matt won 11-5.
28/11/13: Malcolm finishes with a flourish
The results are in from last night's double header at the Windmill.
And it was a good night for Malcolm Patterson, who finished off his adjourned match with Mandy Macdonald by winning 11-7, before also succeeding in the return match, which finished 11-10.
Malcolm fnishes seventh in Premier Two Blue, while Mandy will be either tenth or eleventh whe the final Premier League match of the season -- between Andrew Cobb and Simon Temme -- is played, hopefully on Friday.
27/11/13: Neil stakes a claim for runner-up spot
On day 331 of the 334 day league season, there were at least three, and possibly five matches played.
At the Bristol County Sports Club Alan David was back in action after a lull, playing Neil Edwards.
Neil won a gruelling Conference affair 11-8 to put some daylight between himself in second place and Chrissy Carter in third.
Someone will need at least two victories to dislodge Neil.
The Compass, Tormarton -- a regular half way house for Bristol versus Swindon encounters -- saw Richard Holness and John Paton fight out a double header which not only completed their league campaigns, but also completed the entire Premier Two Red season.
Richard won the opener 11-10, but John hit back to win the return 11-9.
The upshot of this was that Richard rose out of the bottom three slots, where the incumbents are at risk of being a part of a new Premier Three division next year.
Meanwhile in Premier Two Blue there was rumoured to be a meeting between Mandy Macdonald and Malcolm Patterson, who are in need of playing their final one and a half matches.
Maybe there will be some news of this in the morning......
25/11/13: Bahman and Roland share Nackgammon pot
There were thirteen players in action on Monday.
League matches were played at the Bristol County Sports Club and at Peter Thistlewood's home.
At the club it was Sean Hopson's final Premier Two Blue match of a season which at one time promised so much, but later failed to deliver.
And Sean ended the season with his seventh successive reverse -- Simon Temme defeating him 11-4.
At Peter's home it was a close encounter between the host and Neil Edwards, who professes to have offered an injudicious cube at 9-7 ahead.
It came straight back to him, and Peter's subsequent gammon was superfluous.
While Drew Caudwell and Alex Griffiths played some friendly games, seven players contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a Nackgammon Tourno.
The pot was shared between Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour, and Roland's AGP lead is extended to a more than healthy 72 points.
A six player DMP Tourno followed, and the joint beneficiaries this time were Simon and Simonetta Herrera.
25/11/13: Late Conference surge by Matt
Peter Thistlewood played host to Matt Walder yesterday and was repaid with two Conference defeats.
Peter is already qualified for next year's Premier League, but Matt still has a lot of work to do.
The six points gained yesterday will help, but it is a race against time for him.
22/11/13: Ian defies tradition to take title
At the climax of the sixth year of having a split Premier Two, Ian Tarr this afternoon broke with tradition to become the first champion of Premier Two Red to go on and win the outright Premier Two title.
Blue Division champion Chas Perry had no answer to some spectacular dice which enabled Ian to win the play-off match 11-3 at the Fire Engine, Redfield.
Previous winners of the equivalent match were Peter Edwards (2008), Simon Hughes (2009), Derek Clew (2010), Simon Temme (2011) and Phil Charlton (2012).
22/11/13: Blaine down; Nick, Ann and Ian cash; Ian wins Round Robin Grand Prix
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday evening -- twelve at the Bristol County Sports Club.
The advertised event was the sixth and last instalment of the inaugural Round Robin Grand Prix, and ten players participated in this.
Meanwhile, with just a few days of the league season remaining, six others were engaged in the final throes of their campaigns in three separate divisions.
Arguably the most important of these meetings was a double header involving Blaine Buchanan and James Lintell-Smith at the Star and Dove.
These two matches brought the Premier One season to a close, and resolved the final crucial issue.
Who would join James, Dave Pym and Simon Baker in the relegation bracket?
For Blaine the equation was a simple one -- the task less so -- two victories over James and he would be safe at Mike Smith's expense.
He was well on track when he won the first 11-1, but James fought back to win the return 11-5, condemning Blaine to the dreaded drop.
Back at the main venue, the double header involved Malcolm Patterson and Simon Temme.
Here the issue was less clear cut, in terms of what needed to be achieved.
Finishing outside the bottom three of Premier Two Blue was the objective of both players, but after honours were shared the situation is yet to be resolved as each player still has two matches remaining.
The bottom three, it should be emphasised at this point, will be those players at risk of becoming a part of a new Premier Three division, should overall league entries next year exceed thirty-nine.
And the lower in the bottom three you are, the more at risk you are, although nothing can be assumed until all league entries are finalised on December 21st.
Two others who will be a part of either Premier Two or Premier Three next year are Neil Edwards and Peter Thistlewood.
They played out an epic 11-10 Conference League encounter at the Port o' Call, Clifton, Neil eventually prevailing.
The win moved Neil up to second place, although he and Peter are just two of four players with a realistic chance of affecting the prize money situation over the last nine days of the competition.
Among the ten round robin starters was former British Open champion Ann Pocknell -- now a resident of Norfolk, but formerly a Bristol regular.
Ann -- in town for a conference -- was gracing her first Bristol session for more than four years, and soon made her presence felt in one of the five player groups.
There was plenty of action for all, as each player contested four first-to-five-points matches.
Nick Barham and Simonetta Herrera dominated one group, going into their final encounter with perfect three win records.
Nick prevailed to take the pot outright.
The other group saw Ann and Ian Tarr share the pot with three wins each, and Ian's final match success against Roland Herrera owed a great deal to spectacular dice rolling in the final game.
This little streak of luck was significant, not only in financial terms, but also in terms of the final outcome of the RRGP title, as the fifteen points won via this match were enough to secure Ian the inaugural title, pushing long time leader Alex Hodge into second place.
20/11/13: Tim safe, but puts Simon down
Simon Baker visited Tim Line's home in Trowbridge today for their final two Premier One matches, with both players looking to preserve their top flight status.
And it was Tim who came out on top twice, with 11-7 and 11-10 victories.
The first win was enough to ensure Tim's safety, but the second actually moved him up to a personal best fourth place, and into the prize money bracket.
For Simon, the contrast could scarcely be starker.
Seven matches ago he still had title aspirations, but his disastrous winless streak has now condemned him to a bottom four place, where he has become only the third player in Premier One history -- after Tim Jefferies in 2004 and Phil Charlton in 2007 -- to suffer relegation while having a positive points difference.
The only remaining top flight matches are those between Blaine Buchanan and James Lintell-Smith.
Blaine will survive in Premier One at Mike Smith's expense if he can win twice, while James, already relegated, can at least rise from bottom place by winning at least one of the encounters.
There was also some Premier Two Blue action yesterday, but the match between Mandy Macdonald and Malcolm Patterson had to be adjourned due to other commitments, with Malcolm 9-6 ahead.
This and the return match are scheduled for November 27th.
18/11/13: Nick grabs grand prix title
The held over main final of Thursday's monthly grand prix tournament took centre stage at the Bristol County Sports Club this evening.
And Nick Barham scored an 11-8 victory over Simonetta Herrera to move into sixth place in the OGP table.
Possibly of more significance, though, was the fact that he has now qualified for the 2014 Bristol Masters.
Meanwhile four players contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a three point round robin -- which only took place after Drew Caudwell was persuaded to take part in order to make the event "quoreate".
Roland Herrera took the honours by winning all three of his matches, and now leads the AGP table by nearly 42 points.
There was also a welcome for debut player Alex Griffiths, who played a couple of 5-point friendly matches with Ian Tarr, who declared Alex ready for competition when he next visits.
17/11/13: Eamonn ends season with a win
Eamonn Reay's latest visit from Galway saw his final Bristol Backgammon action of 2013 this evening, when he scored an 11-4 Conference victory over Neil Edwards at the Port o' Call.
There is little doubt that Eamonn will end up as Conference champion, since he currently holds a 23 points lead over second placed Chrissy Carter with just thirteen days of the season remaining.
One of his objectives was left unfulfilled, however.
Looking to hit the 18 points Brunel Trophy qualifying target, Eamonn fell tantalisingly one point short when an arranged Sunday double header unavoidably fell through.
15/11/13: Ian clinches Red Division title
Ian Tarr is the Premier Two Red champion after defeating Fred North at the Bristol County Sports Club this afternoon.
Needing anything better than a 0-11 defeat, the title was always likely to go his way.
But there was a distant sound of alarm bells after an epic thirty minute opening game ended in a double gammon to Fred.
The title was sewn up in the next game, however, and Ian came back to win 11-6.
He will face Chas Perry in the inter-divisional Premier Two championship play-off.
15/11/13: NOVEMBER GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, with thirteen contesting the eleventh of this year's monthly grand prix events, while another played a league match prior to the tournament.
15/11/13: Breakthrough for both Nick and Simonetta ......
Nick Barham and Simonetta Herrera have not been without their successes in recent times, but in reaching the main flight final of Thursday's event they both made minor breakthroughs.
New league champion Simonetta contests most monthly grand prix tournaments, but you have to go back "yonks" (Simonetta's own word for it) to find the last time she made a final -- to March 2012 in fact.
For Nick it was satisfaction of a different kind, having been consistent enough to make the main flight semis for the sixth time this year, he went one step further at last.
Simonetta defeated Roland Herrera, Derek Clew and Eamonn Reay to make the final, while Nick was beating Richard Owsley, Ed Turner and Gaz Owen.
The final will be played some time soon.
15/11/13: Roland and Richard to contest consolation final ......
The consolation final of Thursday's event will be contested by Roland Herrera and Richard Owsley.
15/11/13: Ian still has the OGP lead ......
Ian Tarr still has a 50 points OGP lead, as he goes into the final tournament of the series next month.
Neither he nor second placed Ed Turner did enough to add to their respective points tallies, and while third placed Derek Clew at least won a main flight match, this was negated by his second logging of the season in the "slow play" penalty system.
With both of Thursday's finals to be decided, plus next month's final event, there are seven players in all who still have at least a theoretical chance to take the title.
15/11/13: Absent Chrissy one tournament from IGP title ......
Three intermediates contested Thursday's tournament, and while Eamonn Reay and Peter Thistlewood collected useful points tallies, second placed James Newman missed a chance to put pressure on IGP leader Chrissy Carter.
It was not for want of trying, though, as he fought out a very close match against Derek Clew before succumbing.
Chrissy, absent from the event, now leads James by 51 points going into the final event.
15/11/13: Tiny rollover for December tournament ......
Only two players bothered with the Winner Takes All pool on Thursday, and neither got further than the semis.
So there will be a minute £20 rollover to next month.
Meanwhile Nick Barham will be hoping to qualify for the 2014 Bristol Masters by winning Thursday's held over main final.
If Simonetta Herrera wins, the place will go to a further Premier One high finisher, as Simonetta has already qualified.
15/11/13: League wins for Gaz and Neil ......
Gaz Owen clinched third place in Premier One when he defeated Simon Hughes 11-10 in their final match, with their encounter split into two sessions -- before and during the tournament.
Eamonn Reay and Neil Edwards also managed to fit in a Conference match, which Neil won 11-9 to move into third place in the table.
14/11/13: Ed promoted after close shave
Ed Turner and Neil Young met at the V Shed today to play out their crucial final Premier Two Blue match of the season.
Ed needed a win to gain promotion at Alex Hodge's expense, while Neil still harboured romantic hopes of a whitewash victory to grab third place in the league, as well as notching a ninth successive league win to put him one victory away from a 1000 to 1 award.
Things started well for Ed as he built an 8-3 lead, but Neil clawed it back to 9-10 post-Crawford to set up a tense final game.
The race was close, but Neil had the advantage of four opponent pieces on his five point to contain as he bore in.
With Neil's ten point open, however, Ed rolled the perfect double five to set up the escape for the racing victory which ensued.
So Ed accompanies divisional champion Chas Perry in Premier One next year.
Alex, whose record is superior to that of Red Division third placer Nick Barham, is first in line should there be any top flight vacancies when entries close on December 21st.
12/11/13: Phil ensures safety and may cash
Phil Charlton defeated Steve Morris 11-10 at the Portcullis this evening, and has ensured his top flight safety for another season.
He had his opponent to thank, though, as Steve would not accept Phil's concession, advising him to try and save a gammon, which he actually did.
The closeness of the match meant that Phil had already banished the last vestiges of relegation fear, but by winning Phil has moved into the fourth and final prize money slot in the Premier One table.
There are still three players who can edge him out of that, however.
The two remaining relegation slots -- to accompany Dave Pym and James Lintell-Smith -- now rest between Mike Smith, Tim Line, Simon Baker and Blaine Buchanan.
12/11/13: Neil still eyeing third place
Neil Young registered his eighth successive Premier Two Blue victory this afternoon at the Tinto Lounge, Horfield.
And his 11-3 win over Sean Hopson still gives him a chance of third place, albeit a slim one.
The single remaining match at the top end of the league is Neil's last one, against Ed Turner, and there's a lot at stake.
Neil is assured of fourth place, no matter what, but an unlikely 11-0 win in that final match would edge him into third, which would give him just a chance of a back door entry to next season's top flight.
And a ninth successive win would put Neil just one away from a Roland Herrera sponsored 1000 to 1 award.
For Ed the equation is a simple one.
Victory would gain him automatic promotion at Alex Hodge's expense, while any defeat bar 0-11 would see him finish third.
Meanwhile, the disappointment did not end there for Sean, who fell to a 4-11 defeat at the hands of Malcolm Patterson at the Bristol County Sports Club this evening.
11/11/13: Peter joins Premier League qualifiers
Just a day after Adrian Barnes attained Premier Status at Peter Thistlewood's house, Peter himself achieved the same distinction at the Bristol County Sports Club.
His brace of Conference victories over Chrissy Carter not only brought him to the crucial 20 points mark in that competition, but also brought him simultaneously above the 50 points mark in the Premier Status Race totting up procedure.
The recent flurry of activity in the Conference has activated an interesting chase for the prize money slots.
Eamonn Reay is hot favourite for the top prize, but the second and third slots are now wide open and there for the taking.
There was further league action at our regular venue, with Pearl Foster completing her maiden season in Premier Two by scoring an 11-5 win over John Paton.
Meanwhile there were seven other players doing battle in the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, which was a Tric Trac Tourno.
Roland Herrera won this, and has taken over the leader's mantle in the AGP table, heading previous leader Ian Tarr by nearly 7 points.
There was also time for six players to stay on and contest an impromptu DMP Tourno, where Ian took the pot.
11/11/13: Adrian is latest Premier League qualifier
Three Conference matches were played at Peter Thistlewood's home yesterday.
Matt Walder narrowly lost out to Peter, before embarking on a double header with Adrian Barnes.
And Adrian scored two emphatic victories to bring himself above the all important 20 points threshold, which delineates Premier Status attainment.
He becomes the fourth player this year to qualify for the Premier League via the Conference, while two others have qualified via alternative routes.
10/11/13: Simonetta finishes nine points clear
Simonetta Herrera, having already clinched her second Premier League championship, finished her season in style with a brace of victories when she visited Steffen Nowak's home today.
That means she finishes nine points clear of runner-up Stuart Mann, and she has set a record for the highest percentage of wins in a 22- or 24-match top flight season.
For Steffen the contrast is a stark one.
From being the early season pace setter, he now finishes with a 50:50 record, and will probably miss out on any prize money.
08/11/13: Steve is inaugural GP5 champion
Steve Morris has been rewarded for his consistency by becoming the first winner of the GP5 title.
Steve reached the final of last night's event at the Bristol County Sports Club, and although he lost there to Simonetta Herrera, the fact that this was his third final appearance in the six events ensured that he had enough points to take the title.
Simonetta had defeated Ian Tarr and Nick Barham, while Steve's victims were Roland Herrera and Richard Owsley.
Richard finished second in the GP5 table.
Simon Hughes won the consolation flight, beating Kia Tandeseh in the final.
There were also five league matches played at the club, three in Premier Two Red, and two in the Conference.
Richard Biddle, Cecilia Sparke and Paul Watts all completed their season's league campaigns.
Richard's visit saw him enhance his league points total by a total of eleven points, clawing back two penalty points incurred in September plus three wins.
His first victim was Cecilia, as they finished a match adjourned some months ago. Resuming 7-8 down, Cecilia drew level before Richard finished things off.
The subsequent double header with Paul Watts also went Richard's way.
He finishes fifth, behind Cecilia on average points difference, and it remains to be seen whether or not this was Richard's final piece of Bristol league action.
After four years of travelling from Buckinghamshire to participate in our leagues, it could be that the outstanding effort involved may have taken its toll to the extent that he may concentrate on playing in the London Players League, which he runs with considerable success.
While we all hope he has another go next year, we would all, surely, understand if he decided against this.
The Conference action was a double header between Chrissy Carter and Peter Thistlewood, where the honours were shared.
Chrissy found a fourth route to Premier League qualification earlier in the week, but Peter still has a little work to do.
While nine more points in the Conference would ensure his elevation, his best bet may be in the Race to the Premier League, where his points in all competitions have now reached 42 of the required 50.
07/11/13: Stuart clinches runner-up spot
Stuart Mann and Dave Pym finished their respective Premier One campaigns this afternoon at the Bristol County Sports Club in a manner which typified both players' seasons.
Stuart's 11-3 and 11-8 victories ensured that he will collect the runner-up prize, while Dave's disastrous run-in, featuring seven successive losses, confirmed that he will finish in one of the bottom two positions.
07/11/13: Chrissy goes second
Chrissy Carter moved into second place in the Conference yesterday evening when she scored a brace of 11-3 wins over Matt Walder.
06/11/13: James closer to Conference prize money
James Newman -- also still in fifth place -- moved three points closer to the prize money in the Conference League when he defeated Neil Edwards 11-6 at the Bristol County Sports Club this evening.
06/11/13: John defeats Paul
A late Tuesday Premier Two Red result from the Bristol County Sports Club has come to hand.
John Paton defeated Paul Watts 11-8.
05/11/13: Dave relegated in Kington Langley
The Plough at Kington Langley, Wiltshire, was the venue this evening for a Premier One match between Phil Charlton and Dave Pym.
Dave needed victory to retain a slim chance of top flight survival, and this looked likely when he led 10-4.
He never got another point, though, and can no longer escape the drop.
The win has all but guaranteed a continuation of Phil's Premier One stay, however, as only an extraordinary set of circumstances would see him slip into the bottom four now.
With Dave joining James Lintell-Smith in the ranks of the condemned, the other two relagation slots will rest between Blaine Buchanan, Simon Baker, Tim Line and Mike Smith, assuming Phil reaches the near inevitability of safety.
05/11/13: Double for Fred in Kingsdown
A Premier Two Red double header at the Hare on the Hill, Kingsdown, last night saw Fred North score a brace of victories over John Paton.
04/11/13: Neil still targeting third place
There were nine players in action on Monday at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Four played Premier League matches, while the other five contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a three point round robin.
In Premier Two Blue Neil Young scored his seventh successive league win when he despatched Andy Brown 11-3.
Neil still harbours ambitions of finishing third in the Blue Division, which might just get him a back door promotion slot.
Alan Parfitt and Pearl Foster met in Premier Two Red, Alan edging home 11-9.
The round robin spoils were shared by Roland Herrera and Simonetta Herrera, who each won three out of four matches.
Roland has closed to within thirteen points of leader Ian Tarr.
01/11/13: Gaz safe, but Dave on the brink
A Premier One double header at Kingswood today saw Gaz Owen defeat Dave Pym twice.
The first match was a resumption, with Dave 6-4 ahead, but the 9-11 defeat and the subsequent 6-11 one have left Dave in a parlous situation at the foot of the table.
Nothing less than three wins out of three will do for him now, and even then he needs to rely on other results going in his favour.
Gaz, who was also short of safety before today's session, has now banished such thoughts, having moved into third place.
01/11/13: Ian wins Handicap Trophy again; a glimmer of hope for Nick
Simonetta Herrera is a winner again.
Just a day after taking the Premier League championship, she won the sixth and final phase of this year's Handicap Trophy, contested by seventeen players.
She defeated Richard Owsley, Steve Morris and Ian Preston before accounting for Nick Barham in the final.
Nick had beaten Roland Herrera, Peter Thistlewood and Chrissy Carter en route to the final.
At the outset of the event three players were in with a chance of taking the Handicap Trophy title.
Ian Preston was in pole position, but Ian Tarr and Steve each had the opportunity to sneak ahead of Ian P.
Ian T fell at the first hurdle against Andy Boysan, with Ian P awaiting the winner after receiving a bye.
He came through that encounter and the next one against James Newman, which meant he had done more than enough to retain top spot, as neither of his pursuers had added enough to their points tallies.
This is Ian P's third Handicap Trophy title win in four years, but he will probably find it tougher next year.
Tournament sponsor Ed Turner has come up with a great suggestion, which will be implemented from next year.
In future any Handicap Trophy title winner will have an automatic zero handicap.
There was also league action in Premier Two Red.
Before the main event Nick and John Corrado played out their final league match of the season.
John was hoping for an emphatic win to give Ian T a tough divisional championship target when he plays his final match, while Nick -- having just missed out on automatic promotion -- was hoping to clinch third place, and a possible pole position for claiming a "back door" top flight vacancy.
The emphatic win went to Nick, though, and Ian T will be Red Division champion if he can do no worse than incurring a 1-11 defeat by Fred North.
The other league match was at The Compass, Tormarton, where Paul Watts defeated Pearl Foster 11-6 to remove Pearl from the third place equation.
30/10/13: Simonetta clinches second league title
Simonetta Herrera is the Premier League Division One champion for the second time.
Her 11-4 victory over Blaine Buchanan at Colston Yard this afternoon means that Stuart Mann -- her only remaining threat -- can no longer catch her.
She last won the title in 2009, but the circumstances are a little different this time.
2009 was an extraordinary season, in that all bar one of the twelve finishers finished within three victories of each other -- the closest Bristol Backgammon season on record.
This time Simonetta's triumph has been a lot more emphatic, despite the fact that her first two matches -- a double header with Tim Line -- resulted in defeat.
Since that inauspicious start, she has been a model of consistency, losing only three times in twenty matches.
The result is a bodyblow for Blaine, who will now be very keen to win his two final matches in an effort to preserve his top flight status.
28/10/13: Roland and Peter share Monday spoils
There were just five players at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday to contest the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
And the double DMP Tourno saw the pot (and the grand prix points) shared by Roland Herrera and Peter Thistlewood, who each won five of their eight matches.
Roland has cut Ian Tarr's AGP lead to just over 40 points.
Meanwhile, there was a Premier Two Blue match played at the Windmill, where Simon Temme defeated Mandy Macdonald 11-1.
28/10/13: Old news, but James cannot escape the drop
One snippet of news which was not reported here at the time was that James Lintell-Smith can no longer escape the drop from Premier One.
This state of affairs actually came to pass as long ago as October 9th.
All of the above assumes, of course, that all penalty points will be reclaimed by the season's end.
27/10/13: Tim scores double success in Horfield
The Inn on the Green, Horfield, was the scene of a Premier One double header this afternoon.
The protagonists -- Tim Line and Mike Smith -- were both in need of a good session in an effort to retain their top flight status.
And it was Tim who scored two victories, by 11-2 and 11-9, to give himself a great chance of survival.
These were Mike's two final matches, and it remains to be seen whether or not he has done enough to stay up.
He has 33 points and an average points difference of -0.917, so he must now wait for other developments to ascertain his fate.
It was written here recently that "conventional wisdom" would indicate twelve wins as a safety mark.
And it is now certain, given who still has to play whom, that this will indeed be the case this year, which will be good news for Steffen Nowak, Simon Hughes and Steve Morris.
24/10/13: Ian wins GP30 event; Stuart is GP30 champion
There were ten players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
While two played a league match, the other eight contested the fourth and final GP30 tournament.
Ian Tarr was the tournament winner, defeating Simon Hughes and Nick Barham before beating Stuart Mann in the final.
Andy Boysan won the consolation flight, with Steve Morris as runner-up.
While Stuart may not have won the tournament, he did enough to make sure of becoming the inaugural GP30 champion, being the only player to make two of the four main flight finals.
Nick finished in second place in the table.
The league action was a Premier Two Blue meeting between Andy Brown and Richard Owsley, Richard rounding off his season with an 11-5 win.
23/10/13: John promoted with a flourish
Premier One will have at least two new faces next year after John Corrado celebrated promotion in convincing style at The Mall, Clifton on Wednesday afternoon.
His 11-3 victory over the already promoted Ian Tarr finally ended the automatic promotion hopes of his two pursuers, Nick Barham and Cecilia Sparke.
With just one match apiece remaining, Ian now holds a slender average points difference lead over John, with the divisional title in the balance.
Whoever comes out on top will then face a play-off with Blue Division champion Chas Perry for the outright Premier Two title.
22/10/13: Chas signs off in style
Two Premier Two Blue double headers were played on Tuesday.
At the Watershed Chas Perry -- already assured of the divisional championship -- rounded off an outstanding season in style with a brace of victories over Sean Hopson.
The points were shared at the Bristol County Sports Club, however, when Andy Brown and Andrew Cobb met.
21/10/13: Steve secures second top flight season
If conventional wisdom is to be believed, Steve Morris has retained his top flight status, after a double header at the Star and Dove on Monday evening.
He reached the twelve victories mark with an 11-4 success in the opener against Blaine Buchanan, although Blaine bounced back to win the return encounter 11-1.
Blaine will almost certainly need to win at least two of his remaining three matches to reach safety.
21/10/13: Ian and Roland share the spoils
There were eight players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday.
Six fought out the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a three point round robin group.
And with four victories each from their five matches it was Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr who shared the pot.
Ian's AGP lead over second placed Simonetta Herrera is extended to over 56 points, with Roland close behnd in third place.
There was also a Premier Two Blue match, where Andy Brown had much the better of the early exchanges against Mandy Macdonald.
Andy's season would have been a lot more productive, though, had the eleventh point been unnecessary, and sure enough, his fifth 10-11 defeat of the season ensued, with Mandy needing -- and getting -- a successful bear off from the five and three points on her last roll.
21/10/13: Peter defeats Adrian
In a Conference match played at Henbury yesterday, Peter Thistlewood beat Adrian Barnes 11-9.
19/10/13: Sean out of the reckoning, so Chas is champion
Sean Hopson's last vestige of promotion hope disappeared at the Adam and Eve on Friday evening.
His Premier Two Blue match with Richard Owsley ended in a 4-11 defeat, so his chance of overhauling the other promotion contenders has finally gone.
This means that Chas Perry can now uncork the champagne to celebrate winning the Blue Division title, even though he still has two matches to play.
The main issue in that division now is the destiny of the second promotion slot, currently occupied by Alex Hodge.
If Ed Turner can win his final match, he will pip Alex.
18/10/13: Chas promoted in his absence
Twelve players were in competitive action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, while a potential new player accompanied by a visiting friend played some friendlies.
Two Premier League matches were completed -- one in Premier One, the other in Premier Two Blue.
The Blue Division match featured Ed Turner, still targeting one of the two promotion slots, and his DMP win over Richard Owsley kept him in contention. He will need victory over Neil Young in his final match to overhaul second placed Alex Hodge, although he would still be catchable by Sean Hopson, who needs emphatic wins in each of his final six matches to sneak an unlikely promotion.
Neil's incentive to win remains, as he still has the chance to finish third himself, which would give him a chance of a "back door" promotion in the event of a vacancy cropping up.
The narrow margin of Ed's win did have the effect of confirming leader Chas Perry's elevation to Premier One for the first time. Chas can now only be caught by Sean, although the odds are massively stacked against this.
The top flight match involved two players still fighting to earn enough points to ensure their safety for another season.
Steve Morris came out on top here, with an 11-3 win which gives him a great chance of a second Premier One season.
Opponent Phil Charlton still has a little more work to do.
The other eight competitors formed a single group in the Clock Blitz Grand Prix, affording someone a chance of a rare 115 points haul.
Simon Hughes took the honours, but not quite with a clean sweep, although his 100 points tally for six wins out of seven has set up what is almost a two horse race for the title, with one tournament remaining.
Realistically, it's tough to see anyone apart from Simon or Roland Herrera winning the fourth incarnation of this event, although Alex Hodge, Ian Tarr and Simonetta Herrera will have tenuous chances only if the group size in December is large enough to afford sufficient points scoring opportunities.
14/10/13: Simonetta wins Monday Tric Trac
Simonetta Herrera was the winner of the latest Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix competition -- a six player Tric Trac Tourno.
The win reduced Ian Tarr's AGP lead to less than 22 points, while Kia Tandeseh moved into third place, and is the competition's leading intermediate.
Four of the six then contested a double DMP Tourno, where Simonetta shared the pot with Kia.
11/10/13: OCTOBER GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, with just eleven contesting the tenth of this year's monthly grand prix events.
11/10/13: Derek takes another grand prix title ......
For the third time in four months Derek Clew won the monthly grand prix main flight at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
He made the most of receiving a bye to the quarter-finals by despatching his three main OGP title rivals, Tim Line, Ed Turner and Ian Tarr.
Ian reached the final via victories over Nick Barham, Simonetta Herrera and Roland Herrera.
An absorbing final saw Derek build an 8-0 lead, then Ian clawed his way back to parity, before Derek completed an 11-8 win.
11/10/13: Nick wins consolation ......
Victories over Steffen Nowak, Tim Line and Simonetta Herrera earned Nick Barham the consolation flight spoils at Thursday's tournament.
11/10/13: Ian extends OGP lead, but Derek is closing fast ......
With two tournaments remaining, Ian Tarr extended his OGP lead to 50 points by reaching the final of Thursday's event.
But his final defeat by Derek Clew may yet have great significance on the run-in.
Ed Turner is still second, but Derek's outstanding run of success has brought him to within five points of Ed, and Derek has still not reached the point where discards are biting.
Fourth and fifth placed Tim Line and Roland Herrera can not yet be ruled out of contention.
11/10/13: No intermediates, so Chrissy's lead remains ......
For only the third time in IGP history, there were no intermediates present to contest the monthly grand prix tournament on Thursday.
So Chrissy Carter's 61 points lead over second placed James Newman remains intact, with just two tournaments remaining.
11/10/13: Masters qualification for ten still up for grabs ......
Multiple grand prix tournament wins have reached an unprecedented level this season.
The first ten monthly tournaments have been won by just five different players, so qualification for the 2014 Bristol Masters tournament veers more and more towards the higher finishers in the leagues.
Apart from the five tournament winners (and Derek Clew has also qualified as reigning Masters champion), only Simonetta Herrera can be sure of a Masters place via her league position.
A lot more will become clearer as the leagues resolve themselves over the next few weeks.
11/10/13: Mike makes up for the previous day ......
Mike Smith's double defeat on Wednesday, which plunged him deep into the dog fight to avoid relegation from Premier One, must have seemed a distant memory when he scored a double success against Simon Baker at the Wellington yesterday.
While not yet out of trouble, Mike's chances of staying up look a lot healthier now.
The same cannot be said of Simon, though, whose run of five successive defeats have transformed his season from being an outside championship contender to one of urgent need of a win in his final two matches.
Nine players are still under threat of filling those four bottom places.
11/10/13: Nick keeps his promotion hopes alive ......
Resuming his adjourned match with Paul Watts 3-7 in arrears, Nick Barham's hopes of promotion from Premier Two Red were looking a tad tenuous.
And when he lost the first point on resumption yesterday evening, this would not have helped.
However he managed to claw his way back, and scored an 11-10 win to stay in contention.
With Ian Tarr already assured of one of the two promotion slots, the other rests between John Corrado, Cecilia Sparke and Nick.
The crucial remaining matches see John meeting Nick and Ian, while Cecilia also has a deficit to overcome -- 5-8 against Richard Biddle.
John will claim the slot if he wins either of his matches, but if he doesn't his difference will not protect him from Nick or Cecilia, who has the best difference of all.
10/10/13: Simon reaches top flight safety
A Premier One double header at the Ship, Park Row, yesterday has seen Simon Hughes reach the safe haven of thirty-six points, having scored a brace of victories against Mike Smith.
The results have, however, put Mike's top flight survival in jeopardy.
07/10/13: Chrissy, Ian and Roland take Monday honours
Nine players turned out to do battle at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, in the sixth phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
This week it was 3-point round robins, with a five player group and four player one.
Honours were shared in the five player group when Chrissy Carter and Ian Tarr each won three of their four matches, while Roland Herrera took the four player group outright with a clean sweep of three wins.
Ian takes over the AGP lead, moving almost 40 points ahead of previous leader Simonetta Herrera, with Roland now in third place, and the competition's leading intermediate Kia Tandeseh in fourth.
There was also time for a six player DMP Tourno, where Roland again took the pot.
06/10/13: Contrasting fortunes in Henbury
Eamonn Reay's final bout of activity on his latest visit to Bristol encompassed five Conference League matches in eleven hours at Peter Thistlewood's home in Henbury -- although that did include a break for lunch.
Adrian Barnes was Eamonn's opponent in the first two matches, and he managed to despatch Eamonn on both occasions -- 11-8 and 11-5.
Peter then took Eamonn on three times, but was right out of luck, losing all three -- two of them by the narrowest possible margin, 10-11, the second of which, by Eamonn's own account, featured a particularly cruel finish.
Eamonn now holds a 25 points lead over second placed Neil Edwards -- currently away on safari -- and will be very difficult to overhaul for the championship.
Meanwhile Peter and Adrian were hoping to move substantially closer to the 20 points threshold which signals lifetime eligibility for the Premier League.
Peter now finds himself fourteen points below that mark, but Adrian has shot up to 17 points, meaning that if he wins his next league match he will achieve the objective.
So to summarise Eamonn's latest four day visit, he had a slightly slacker schedule this time, "only" managing to fit in one tournament and eleven league matches!
05/10/13: Honours even in Yate
James Newman played host to Eamonn Reay in Yate today for their third and fourth Conference matches.
And honours were more or less even after an 11-6 win for James was followed by an 11-8 success for Eamonn.
Eamonn's league lead is extended to eighteen points.
04/10/13: Battles of Richards go one way
A Premier Two Red double header between Richard Biddle and Richard Holness took place at the Crown Inn, Theale, this afternoon.
And it was Richard Biddle who fared the better, winning 11-3 and 11-10.
04/10/13: Eamonn levels the score with Matt
Eamonn Reay and Matt Walder duly played out their fourth and final Conference match at the Bristol County Sports Club this afternoon.
And after Matt had scored two victories out of three yesterday, Eamonn managed to level things with an 11-4 win to move sixteen points clear at the top of the league.
03/10/13: James wins Intermediates trophy; Ian tops OGP
There were ten players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday evening -- eight in the Intermediates Trophy and two in the held over final of Lesters 88.
James Newman became the twelfth winner of the Intermediates Trophy title, defeating Kia Tandeseh, Adrian Barnes and Peter Thistlewood.
Peter had defeated Matt Walder and Eamonn Reay en route to the final.
Matt and Eamonn had spent the afternoon playing three Conference matches -- Eamonn winning the first, and Matt the other two.
The Intermediates Trophy feeds the IGP, and James's 85 points haul has moved him into second place, just 61 points behind leader Chrissy Carter with three tournaments remaining.
Richard Owsley and Ian Tarr fought out the Lesters final, and Ian won 11-5.
The win moves him to the top of the OGP table.
03/10/13: Eamonn's back in town
The Eamonn Reay Roadshow Mark Two is in Bristol this weekend.
Bristol Backgammon's most far flung player is over from Galway, and has at least eleven Conference League matches arranged, as well as lining up for the Intermediates Trophy at the Bristol County Sports Club this evening.
First on the agenda today is a projected quadruple header against Matt Walder at our regular venue.
01/10/13: No expungements from this year's Premier League
To the relief of Director Ian Tarr there will be no expungements from this year's Bristol Premier League.
This is far from an unusual occurrence, but from an organiser's point of view this moment is always a satisfying one.
Two league double headers brought Blaine Buchanan and John Paton to the safety of being able to continue their campaigns.
In Premier One Blaine met Phil Charlton at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, and the results were both 11-10 -- first to Phil, then to Blaine.
Alan Parfitt provided John's Premier Two Red opposition at the Bristol County Sports Club, where John scored a welcome brace of victories.
Expungement avoided, certainly, but the three penalty points John incurred at the July checkpoint have been consolidated, and three more -- which can be clawed back at the end of the season -- have also been incurred.
Several other penalties -- also recoverable by completing the season -- have been incurred through the three divisions.
In the top flight there were three for Mike Smith, two apiece for Blaine and Dave Pym, and one each for Simon Baker, Tim Line and Steve Morris.
In the Blue Division it was Sean Hopson three, Andy Brown, Malcolm Patterson and Simon Temme two, and Mandy Macdonald one.
And apart from John, the Red Division penalties were incurred by Richard Biddle and Paul Watts two each, and Richard Holness one.
30/09/13: Bahman wins Monday DMP Tourno
Six players contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a DMP Tourno -- at the Bristol County Sports Club.
This was won by Bahman Salahshour, who won four of his five games.
Simonetta Herrera still leads the AGP table, but only by a fraction of a point from Ian Tarr.
Kia Tandeseh is still the competition's leading intermediate.
29/09/13: Blaine and John leave it late
Midnight on Monday brings the penultimate Premier League checkpoint.
This is the last point of the season at which it is possible for a player to be expunged from the league for falling too far behind the schedule.
And at this late stage there are still two players flirting with the danger of expungement -- Blaine Buchanan in Premier One, and John Paton in Premier Two Red.
Both players have league double headers arranged for Monday -- Blaine with Phil Charlton and John with Alan Parfitt.
For the sake of all concerned it must be hoped that there are no last minute glitches.
29/09/13: Premier League population criteria revisited
Director Ian Tarr has made some adjustments to the criteria for population of Premier League divisions in readiness for next season.
Because of the likelihood that there will be a Premier Three next season -- this will happen should there be a total of more than 39 entrants for 2014 -- Ian was eager to ensure that the rules for this were fit for purpose, and was even considering coining new guidelines on how that split might be implemented.
But, having tweaked the table for splitting the league to give greater consistency than was previously the case, he is now happy that there is no need for further rules to be added, feeeling that the present guidelines are sufficient.
26/09/13: Roland's clock tournament dominance in evidence again
Before tonight's event -- the fifth of six Clock Grand Prix tournaments -- it was difficult to see how Roland Herrera would not take the CTGP title.
His 160 points lead came via two tournament wins, a losing final, and a losing semi-final.
So when he duly completed his third tournament win in the series -- defeating Richard Owsley, Simon Hughes, Simonetta Herrera and Ed Turner -- this was little more than a rubber-stamping of the title win.
His lead, now up to 180 points, can only be rendered redundant if second placed Ed Turner registers thirteen main flight victories in the final event in November.
And we would need more than 4,096 entrants for that tournament for it to become even a mere possibility!
Steve Morris won the consolation flight, defeating Richard Owsley and Ian Tarr.
And there was also league action at the Bristol County Sports Club.
In the top flight James Lintell-Smith delayed what is almost inevitable by defeating Dave Pym 11-8, a result which also plunges Dave further into relegation peril.
In Premier Two Blue Ed moved a step closer to his goal by recording an 11-4 win over Richard Owsley.
Wins in his final two matches would push Alex Hodge out of the second promotion slot, although Sean Hopson could complicate matters by winning his final six matches.
And Cecilia Sparke continued her move to threaten John Corrado's Premier Two Red promotion push by scoring an impressive double over Richard Holness.
John can clinch promotion by beating either Nick Barham or Ian in his final two matches.
But should he fail to do so, Cecilia will overhaul him by winning her final match against Richard Biddle.
That might not be the simplest task, as it has emerged that Cecilia is 5-8 down in that match after an adjournment.
Coincidentally Nick, who can also catch John, is also in an adjourned deficit scenario against his other outstanding opponent, Paul Watts.
26/09/13: Alan wins in Swindon
Alan Parfitt visited the Sun Inn, Swindon, yesterday, and came away with an 11-8 Premier Two Red victory over Fred North.
24/09/13: Simon out of title race; Ian back in top flight
There were no fewer than eight Premier League matches played on Tuesday, some of them having a great bearing on the important outstanding issues.
In Premier One Simonetta Herrera, who has built an impressive lead in the league table, has been an inactive bystander as one by one her title rivals slip out of contention.
Yesterday it was Steffen Nowak who dipped out.
Today Simonetta would be hoping that the same would happen to her other two threats, Stuart Mann and Simon Baker.
In Simon's case, her wishes were granted, as his double header with Steve Morris at Redland's Kensington Arms ended disastrously for him -- losing 0-11 and 6-11.
Stuart, however, remains in contention, having dealt Simon Hughes a double blow at the Ship, Park Row.
His title aspirations remain tenuous, however, as five results -- two of his own and three of Simonetta's -- each need to go his way for him to secure a sixth title win.
While the championship race becomes a little more clear cut, the same cannot be said for the scrap to avoid relegation.
Steve's wins did him a power of good, while ensuring that Simon Baker still has work to do to pull clear of trouble.
And Simon Hughes's fortunes, so much improved after Monday's results, took a bit of a dive tonight.
Whereas James Lintell-Smith's top flight survival hangs by the flimsiest of threads, the other three relegation slots could go the way of any of nine players, with only the top three able to feel safe for another season.
Meanwhile, there was important action in both divisions of Premier Two.
Red Division promotion contenders John Corrado and Cecilia Sparke fought out a double header at the Naval Volunteer.
The shared spoils -- John winning 11-9, then Cecilia edging home 11-10 -- worked out better for John than Cecilia.
Over at the Hare on the Hill, league leader Ian Tarr -- unaware of the Naval Volunteer session -- was unwittingly clinching promotion back to Premier One with a hard fought 11-8 victory over John Paton.
Only John Corrado can now catch him, but of course second place suffices for promotion, if not for the divisional championship.
John remains strong favourite for the other slot, but his two remaining matches are not the easiest -- Ian and third placed Nick Barham being his opponents.
One win will do it for him, but should he fail to record that he is vulnerable to attack from Nick, Cecilia and Pearl Foster.
Back at the BCSC it was the Blue Division which took centre stage.
Chas Perry's 11-6 win over Malcolm Patterson took him back to the top of the league, and it will now take a miracle to prevent his elevation to the top flight.
The magnitude of that potential miracle can be gauged by an examination of the relative points differences of Chas and the two players who have the chance to overhaul him, Ed Turner and Sean Hopson.
Both must surpass Chas to stop him going up, but not only do nine results all have to go against Chas, most of them need to be extremely emphatic.
Two of those matches are the meetings of Chas and Sean.
Second placed Alex Hodge remains favourite for the second promotion slot, although three wins for Ed would see him pipped, as -- probably -- would six for Sean.
23/09/13: Title eludes Steffen
One of Simonetta Herrera's league title aspiration obstacles was removed this evening at the Star and Dove.
Steffen Nowak's slim hopes of giving effective chase for the Premier One championship were reduced to zero when he was defeated not just once -- which would have been enough -- but twice, by Simon Hughes.
Simon's run of successive league victories -- now up to five -- has given him a better than even chance of avoiding relegation, and has also relieved Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr, as there is now no prospect of Simon getting expunged from the league this season -- although that still remains a possibility for Blaine Buchanan in Premier One and John Paton in Premier Two Red.
Now that Steffen has been removed from the equation, only Stuart Mann and Simon Baker retain the microscopically slim hope of thwarting Simonetta's ambition to win the league for a second time.
Meanwhile in a Red Division encounter at the Bristol County Sports Club Cecilia Sparke kept alive her chance of promotion -- also slim, it has to be said -- by defeating Alan Parfitt.
Six players contested the evening's tournament, a three point round robin, which was the fourth of sixteen phases of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Kia Tandeseh took the honours outright with four wins from his five matches, and he is now the competition's leading intermediate.
The overall lead in the AGP has now passed back to Simonetta Herrera, who heads prevous leader Ian Tarr by nearly 17 points.
Ian had opted out of the evening's competition in order to keep it down to manageable proportions -- i.e. six players rather than the seven who were ready to toe the start line.
19/09/13: Alex will have to wait
Alex Hodge ended a most satisfactory maiden Premier League campaign this evening at the Bristol County Sports Club.
His Premier Two Blue match with Richard Owsley did not go to plan, however.
A victory would have assured Alex of elevation to Premier One, but he never recovered from going 0-7 down, eventually losing 5-11.
Alex is still strongly odds on to gain promotion, however, as although Chas Perry will overhaul him by winning just one of his final three matches, the chances of either Ed Turner or Sean Hopson doing so are a great deal slimmer.
Meanwhile there was a disappointing turnout for the evening's centrepiece, the fifth of six GP5 tournaments.
Only seven players lined up for this, including Richard.
Steve Morris took the honours here after receiving a bye to the semis, with wins over Roland Herrera and Simon Hughes.
Simon had beaten Andy Boysan and Richard to make the final.
Roland took the consolation flight with victories over Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr.
Steve has moved into a 30 points GP5 lead, but five others will fancy their chances of pipping him for the inaugural GP5 title.
19/09/13: Handicaps: the great leveller?
A recent conversation about the merit or otherwise of our unique handicapping system has led this correspondent to do a little research.
The system is an updated one, modelled on the one which used to feature in the old DPS Backgammon days at Rolls-Royce.
That system was based on a statistical evaluation of players' results with a view to making handicap tournaments -- which are unique to Bristol -- a really level playing field, and consequently entirely unpredictable in terms of results.
It has, however, been a while since any measurements have been taken to try and establish whether or not the handicaps do what it says on the tin.
So a quick look at what has happened in this year's five handicap tournaments has provided some interesting data.
Are the events dominated by 4- and 3-handicap players?
Do zero handicapped players stand little or no chance of success?
The answers to those questions appear to be "no" and "no".
The ten flights this year have been won by zero-handicappers (3 times), 1-handicappers (3 times), 2-handicappers (3 times), and 3-handicappers (once).
4-handicappers (in the minority) have won just 4 of 11 matches (36.4%), while the other equivalent figures are:
3-handicappers 17 of 36 matches (47.2%);
2-handicappers 20 of 32 matches (62,5%);
1-handicappers 17 of 34 matches (50.0%); and
0-handicappers 34 of 71 matches (47.9%).
All in all, then, it would appear that the system performs quite well in terms of levelling the playing field, and a downward revision of Handicap Trophy specialist Ian Preston's 2-handicap next year should arguably make things even better!
16/09/13: Simon beats James at the Tobacco Factory
The two players at the foot of Premier One met at the Tobacco factory this evening for a potentially crucial league match.
And it was Simon Hughes who emerged the 11-8 victor over James Lintell-Smith to haul himself up two places, giving himself a great chance to escape relegation.
Meanwhile the same cannot be said of James who, while not mathematically condemned to the drop, appears to have no realistic chance of an escape.
16/09/13: Alex almost there
Alex Hodge defeated Sean Hopson at the Bristol County Sports Club this evening, and stands on the brink of Premier One backgammon for 2014.
The 11-6 victory has moved him above Chas Perry at the top of Premier Two Blue, and if he wins his final match he will be sure of promotion.
The reality of the situation, though, is that he has probably done enough already.
And before the advertised event -- a Nackgammon Tourno, which constituted the third and latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- Chrissy Carter and Ian Preston tied up a loose end from the end of August.
This was the main final of the fifth of six Handicap Trophy tournaments.
A win for handicap specialist Ian would have made him an overwhelming favourite to take the Handicap Trophy title for the third time in four years.
Chrissy, however, had other ideas and won 7-5.
Ian is still in pole position, but the defeat has left the door ajar for second and third placed Ian Tarr and Steve Morris.
The Nackgammon Tourno was contested by six players, and Ian Tarr was a runaway winner.
He takes over the leadership mantle of the AGP from Simonetta Herrera, and later found time to win an impromptu DMP Tourno too.
15/09/13: Eamonn off home after whirlwind visit
Eamonn Reay arrived in Bristol on Thursday, and will return home to Galway tomorrow.
In between those two journeys he has renewed old acquaintances and friendships, and made many new friends.
He has also played some backgammon!
Rounding off the playing side of his visit today, he managed to get in five Conference League matches.
This afternoon he visited Peter Thistlewood's home in Henbury, where he met defeat at the hands of Adrian Barnes before defeating both Peter and Adrian.
And this evening he met up with James Newman at the Shakespeare, Prince Street, where he completed a double success.
So in just four days he has managed to play no fewer than fifteen league matches, plus three more in Thursday's tournament.
His twelve league wins have bought him the very handy cushion of a twelve points lead over second placed Neil Edwards, and yesterday, of course, he ensured that he is a Premier League status player with effect from 2014.
And by a twist of fate, his final match this evening was the thousandth Conference match ever to be played.
Prepare for the Eamonn Roadshow Mark Two next month!
15/09/13: Simonetta close to second league title
James Lintell-Smith visited Simonetta Herrera's Kellaway Avenue home this afternoon for a crucial Premier One match.
The protagonists badly needed a win, but for very different reasons.
It was Simonetta's day, as she won 11-6.
For James, time and matches are fast running out, and he needs a faultless run-in in the shape of four victories from his four remaining matches.
The likelihood is, though, that even that will not be enough to save him from relegation to Premier Two.
Simonetta achieved two objectives, reclaiming the penalty point incurred on July 31st, plus of course the three win points.
And now, in the race for the league title, there is nobody who can surpass Simonetta's total of 48 points.
Stuart Mann and Steffen Nowak can equal that tally by winning all four remaining matches, while Simon Baker can do the same with six wins out of six.
All of that would remain fruitless -- in terms of the title chase at least -- were Simonetta to win just one of her three remaining encounters.
In short, it will take something miraculous to stop a second league title win for Simonetta.
15/09/13: Premier League status assured -- after just three days!
The Eamonn Reay Roadshow moved on like a juggernaut yesterday afternoon, as the man in question scored two more victories over Tom Koeller.
The wins, Eamonn's seventh and eighth from ten Conference matches played in just three days, moved Eamonn beyond the twenty points threshold which guarantees a player Premier League status.
The first -- 11-4 -- moved him above second placed Chrissy Carter, and the second saw him move to the very top of the league ahead of Neil Edwards.
If anyone needed a clear demonstration of what it is possible to achieve in the free format environment of the Conference, this is surely the definitive object lesson.
So that was the first mission accomplished -- Premier Status in the bag.
But Eamonn is not finished yet.
Today he has matches lined up with Peter Thistlewood, Adrian Barnes and James Newman.
On Eamonn's radar are further targets -- winning the Conference title (and with it a place in the 2014 Bristol Masters), and qualification for the inaugural Brunel Trophy.
More news of Eamonn's visit will appear here later today.
14/09/13: Andy signs off with a win
First league action of the day, surprisingly, did not involve Eamonn Reay!
The Pump House was the venue for Andy Boysan's final Premier Two Red match of the season, as he took on second placed John Corrado.
And Andy made sure of a break even record by defeating his adversary 11-5.
13/09/13: Spoils shared at the Port O' Call
Eamonn Reay's latest session comprised a Conference double header with league leader Neil Edwards at the Port O' Call, Clifton.
Neil won the first match 11-6, but Eamonn got his revenge when he won the second 11-2.
Eamonn's points tally is now 16 -- just four points away from attaining Premier Status.
Watch this space for details of his Saturday session(s).
13/09/13: Eamonn keeping busy
Eamonn Reay's extraordinary odyssey continued this afternoon with a Conference triple header at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Chrissy Carter was his opponent, and they played out their second, third and fourth matches.
It was first blood to Chrissy, winning 11-5, but Eamonn struck back to take the other two matches -- by 11-4 and 11-6.
Eamonn is now in third place in the league table, with fourteen points to his name.
Chrissy is second on seventeen points.
Eamonn is not finished for the day, however.
This evening he is playing Neil Edwards at the Port of Call, Clifton.
13/09/13: SEPTEMBER GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were eighteen players in various kinds of action on Thursday, with the Eamonn Reay Roadshow very much to the fore.
13/09/13: Richard and Ian reach final of Lesters 88 ......
Fourteen players contested the eighty-eighth Lesters Trophy event at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
And emerging from the pack were Richard Owsley and Ian Tarr, who have pencilled in the final for Intermediate Trophy night on October 3rd.
Richard's victims were Stuart Mann, James Newman and Derek Clew, while Ian was defeating Eamonn Reay, Simon Hughes and Nick Barham.
13/09/13: Roland wins all-Herrera consolation final ......
Neither Simonetta Herrera nor husband Roland Herrera managed a win in the main flight on Thursday, but they went all the way in the consolation flight, meeting in the final, where Roland was the victor.
13/09/13: Ian can go top of OGP ......
Ian Tarr's run to the final of Thursday's tournament has moved him into second place in the OGP, bringing him to within 20 points of leader Ed Turner, who fell at the second hurdle on Thursday.
Success in the final would move Ian 20 points into the lead.
Tim Line is now third, while Derek Clew -- who will only need to discard one score at most -- looks threatening in fourth place.
13/09/13: Chrissy breaches 200 points mark in IGP ......
Chrissy Carter's IGP lead over Alexi Solomou was extended to a handsome 136 point margin on Thursday, and breaking through the 200 points barrier means Chrissy has so far found three different ways to qualify for next year's Premier League.
James Newman is now just five points off second place.
13/09/13: Rollover hopes threatened by Ian ......
In the end only two players bothered with the Winner Takes All pool on Thursday, making a rollover strongly odds on.
However, even that minute pot may be snapped up, as finalist Ian Tarr was one of the two takers.
13/09/13: Derek's great run comes to an end ......
Derek Clew, the latest player to earn a prize via Roland Herrera's 1000 to 1 sponsorship, finally had his run ended during Thursday's tournament.
Already on a sequence of twelve successive wins in contributing events, Derek had at least one eye on Gaz Owen's all time record Bristol Backgammon sequence of eighteen wins, and things started well last night when he defeated Simonetta Herrera and Ed Turner.
But he finally met his match when Richard Owsley beat him in the semis.
Nevertheless a 16,000 to 1 prize is still a top achievement.
13/09/13: Eamonn well on the way to his target ......
Galway resident Eamonn Reay's four day visit to Bristol features a gruelling schedule.
With sixteen Conference League matches scheduled, plus participation in last night's tournament, Eamonn will be flying home for a well deserved rest on Tuesday.
Yesterday Eamonn began his quest for Premier League status by winning three league matches, a return which propelled him almost half way towards his 20 points target.
Tom Koeller (twice, first at the Cafe Rouge, then at our regular venue) and Chrissy Carter were his victims, while Chrissy also suffered defeat to James Newman later on, when they resumed their adjourned encounter.
There was other league action at different venues.
The Ship in Park Row saw a Premier One double header between Bristol's top two ranked players -- Stuart Mann and Gaz Owen.
Gaz won the opener 11-9, only for Stuart to strike back with an 11-5 success.
Stuart's defeat, however, was good news for Simonetta Herrera, who will definitely win her second league title if she can win just two of her four remaining matches.
Meanwhile Andy Boysan was beating Fred North at the Pump House in a Premier Two Red encounter.
11/09/13: The Eamonn Roadshow hits town!
It is absolutely the most extraordinary effort in the entire history of league backgammon in Bristol, and it begins tomorrow.
Eamonn Reay, who lives in Galway on the west coast of Ireland, tomorrow starts in earnest in his attempt to attain Premier League status.
In the first of two scheduled trips to Bristol this year, Eamonn has arranged to play at least sixteen Conference League matches over the space of five days.
He will take a short break from league action to contest tomorrow's grand prix tournament at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Eamonn graced us with his presence three times in 2010, when he combined visits to us with trips to see his son in Bath.
His son slightly scuppered Eamonn's plans to become a regular visitor when he moved north for his job, but Eamonn was not to be put off by a small thing like that.
Expect to read more of his exploits here over the next few days.
11/09/13: Ian edges ahead
Propelled by some outstanding dice, Ian Tarr defeated John Paton 11-2 at the excellent Hare on the Hill this evening.
He now leads Premier Two Red by three points, although second placed John Corrado has two matches in hand.
10/09/13: Phil and Tim win one apiece
Phil Charlton visited Tim Line's Wiltshire home this evening for a Premier One double header.
It was first blood to Phil with an 11-1 victory, but Tim struck back to win the return 11-5.
Both players remain on the fringes of the relegation dog fight.
09/09/13: Alex and Cecilia in successful league action
The emphasis was very firmly on league action on Monday.
With twelve players in action, only four of those contested the second phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
After her earlier win, things got better for Premier One leader Simonetta Herrera, when two of her possible challengers shared the spoils of a double header.
The Star and Dove was the venue for Steffen Nowak and Gaz Owen, both of whom really needed two victories.
But after Steffen's 11-1 success in the opener, Gaz struck back with an 11-7 result.
Main beneficiaries in the league action were Alex Hodge in Premier Two Blue and Cecilia Sparke in Premier Two Red.
Alex scored a brace of wins over Andrew Cobb to storm back into second place in the Blue Division, and it will now take something extraordinary to dislodge either Chas Perry or Alex from the two automatic promotion slots.
Cecilia's two wins came against different opponents.
Pearl Foster was first to succumb, losing 5-11, while Paul Watts at least got a little closer, eventually falling to an 8-11 defeat.
Andy Boysan won the other Red Division match to be played, defeating Alan Parfitt 11-7.
That match took place early enough for Andy to have a crack at the 3-point round robin, which constituted the second phase of the AGP.
And just as well, too, as the four protagonists there were the bare minimum allowed under the rules.
Honours were even after the first two series of matches, leaving the third and final series to decide which two players would share the meagre pot.
Andy and Simonetta were the winners.
Simonetta now holds a narrow AGP lead over second placed Manesh, who is also the competition's leading intermediate.
09/09/13: Simonetta one step closer
Premier One championship favourite Simonetta Herrera today took an important step closer to clinching her second top flight title.
Simon Baker was the visitor to Simonetta's Kellaway Avenue home today, and Simonetta was the winner, by 11-6.
06/09/13: Clock Blitz pot shared
Just six players contested the latest edition of the Clock Blitz Grand Prix on Thursday, while two others convened for a league match.
The blitz event was well contested, with four players eventually sharing the spoils with three wins apiece out of five.
Seven players are in close contention for the CBGP title -- just 50 points covering them all, with two events to go.
Andy Boysan and Ian Tarr share the lead, but discards will bite them next time, while the other five have a little leeway in that respect.
Meanwhile Premier Two Blue leader Chas Perry was hoping to get one step closer to confirming his elevation to Premier One.
But his match with Richard Owsley resulted in a rare defeat -- the 9-11 reverse being his first defeat in eight league matches.
While this was a setback, Chas remains favourite for the Blue Division title.
03/09/13: Doubles for Gaz and Ian
Andy Boysan and Ian Tarr met for a Premier Two Red double header at the Pump House this afternoon.
Ian won the first match 11-6, and started the second well.
He fell 4-7 behind, but clawed it back to 10-8, before Andy levelled the score.
The see saw DMP game eventually developed into a close race, with Andy holding the slightest of advantages.
A double at the last available opportunity, however, saw Ian home to a victory which moves him top of the league table, his average points difference being ahead of John Corrado's by the tiniest of fractions.
This evening the action switched to the Portcullis, where Gaz Owen inflicted two defeats on Phil CHarlton.
The victories -- 11-5 and 11-9 -- lift Gaz up to sixth in the Premier One table.
02/09/13: Chas a step closer to top flight
There were fourteen players in action at the Monday Bristol County Sports Club session.
Four were in Premier League action, while the rest played the opening phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
A Premier Two Blue promotion clash featured leader Chas Perry and second placed Ed Turner.
Chas won emphatically -- his seventh successive league win -- and now appears odds on to gain a top flight place for the first time, while Ed is still second, but his average points difference lead over third placed Alex Hodge is reduced, while Alex has a match in hand.
In the Red Division it was Andy Boysan taking on Pearl Foster.
And Pearl's march towards the higher echelons continued apace with an 11-7 win.
The advertised event was a Tric Trac Tourno, and nobody else stood a chance when Manesh won no fewer than three backgammons!
He is the first leader of the AGP, with Bahman Salahshour in second place.
There was also time for a seven player DMP Tourno, where the pot was shared between Roland Herrera and Steffen Nowak.
30/08/13: A win apiece for Simonetta and Gaz
A Premier One double header took place today at The Folly, Westerleigh, with league leader Simonetta Herrera and reigning champion Gaz Owen the protagonists.
Simonetta won the opening encounter 11-8, but Gaz struck back to take the return 11-3.
The win extends Simonetta's lead to eight points.
30/08/13: Twenty-two in action at the Bristol County Sports Club
After the lowest Thursday turnout of the year last week, we had almost the highest this time.
There were twenty-two players in action, including twenty contesting the fifth of this year's six Ed Turner sponsored Handicap Trophy tournaments.
James Lintell-Smith had other priorities, and played two Premier One matches.
He suffered defeat in both -- 1-11 to Steve Morris and 10-11 to Simon Hughes -- and has now left himself little margin for error in the battle to avoid relegation.
Meanwhile the twenty strong field for the main event featured returns to action for Tarim -- who made his last appearance in July 2009 -- and George Jakeway -- who was last seen a year after that.
And Monday regular Kia Tandeseh was making his Thursday debut.
The Handicap Trophy title race was looking like developing into a three horse race, and it now almost certainly is.
Handicap specialist Ian Preston -- whose handicap will need to be reviewed by Director Ian Tarr for next year's competition, as his activity in other competitions has lapsed -- took a giant stride towards a third HT title by reaching the final, after wins over Roland Herrera, Steffen Nowak and Derek Clew.
There he will meet the in form Chrissy Carter, who progressed via victories over Simonetta Herrera, Richard Owsley, Ian Tarr and Cynthia Roberts.
Roland won the consolation flight, defeating Mandy Macdonald, Alex Hodge and James Newman.
Ian Preston has moved into the lead in the HT table, 25 points ahead of Ian Tarr, and a further 10 ahead of previous leader Steve.
A final win over Chrissy would add 35 points to his cushion, making him tough to overhaul when the final event takes place in October.
29/08/13: Chrissy threatens Conference lead
A Conference match at the Port of Call, Clifton, yesterday had a distinct bearing on the title race in that league.
A win for leader Neil Edwards over second placed Chrissy Carter would have extended his lead to a very handy 10 points.
The result went the other way, though -- 11-2 to Chrissy, although Neil says it was much closer than that -- and the margin is a mere two points with three months of the season remaining.
27/08/13: Simonetta extends league lead
Premier One leader Simonetta Herrera entertained Phil Charlton today in Kellaway Avenue, where a league double header took place.
Phil took the opener 11-6 to end a run of six successive league victories for Simonetta, but she took her revenge with an 11-10 success in the return encounter.
Simonetta's league lead is now up to five points.
24/08/13: Six in a row for Neil
Neil Young yesterday defeated Mandy Macdonald 11-4 in a Premier Two Blue match at another new venue for Bristol Backgammon, The Stable, on the waterfront.
It was Neil's sixth straight league victory, and provided an indication that his bad form earlier in the season might not necessarily preclude a significant say on the promotion run in.
23/08/13: James takes round robin pot
An eight player 3-point round robin constituted the fifth instalment of the inaugural Round Robin Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
Chrissy Carter and James Newman almost completed a Conference match throughout the evening, but this was eventually adjourned with James 10-8 ahead.
The round robin was a very close run affair, and a six way tie was on the cards when James sat down to play Marcus Evans in the final match of the twenty-eight.
Chrissy, Roland Herrera, Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr had already finished with four wins apiece, James was already on four, and a win for Marcus would have meant all six players finishing on four wins!
James had other ideas, though, and clinched the outright victory.
Ian has moved to within five points of overall RRGP leader Alex Hodge, with Simonetta, Roland and Richard Owsley a few points further back.
What a pity sixth placed James has only contested two of the five events so far.
He has won both, but will need a similar performance in the final instalment to stand a chance of winning the RRGP.
Some good news for James, however, is that under the "catch all" totting up procedure known as the Race to the Premier League James has now clocked up more than 50 points, and is now assured of Premier Status from 2014.
22/08/13: Chrissy wins in Yate
Tom Koeller's home in Yate was the venue yesterday evening for a Conference match.
The visitor, Chrissy Carter, was the victor, whitewashing her host 11-0 to consolidate her second place in the league table.
21/08/13: Victory for Mike in Redland
Mike Smith visited Steve Morris's home in Redland this afternoon and inflicted an 11-10 Premier One defeat on his host.
20/08/13: Tuesday wins for Andy and Ian
Andy Boysan met Cecilia Sparke this evening for a Premier Two Red match at the Pump House.
Andy won 11-9, a result which leaves both players with only a minimal chance of automatic promotion.
Meanwhile at the Kings Head, Whitehall, the held over main final from the July Handicap Trophy tournament was played out.
A two points handicap start for Ian Preston over Ian Tarr proved to be scarcely relevant when Ian P rescued an unpromising race for four points to go 6-1 ahead.
Victory followed in the next game, and the Ians are now joint second in the HT table, each 15 points behind leader Steve Morris.
20/08/13: Neil promoted; Ed goes second; Roland wins Summer Grand Prix
There were ten players in competitive action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, and a couple of new players also featured in an impromptu three-a-side "gang" match at the end of the evening.
Ed Turner and Andy Brown played out a Premier Two Blue double header, with Ed completing a double which had looked unlikely when he was 4-9 down in the first encounter.
The wins have moved him into second place in the league, edging Alex Hodge out of the promotion places.
Also in league action were Neil Edwards and Tom Koeller of the Conference.
They played the fourth of their series of matches, with Neil knowing that a win would see him reach the "holy grail" of 20 points which assures a player of Premier Status.
This he duly managed with an 11-2 success, making him the first player this year to attain elevation through the league route.
There was a strong six player field in the final phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix -- a 3-point round robin.
And Roland Herrera did more than enough to ensure that he took the SGP title by sharing the pot with Alex.
Also present were Tom's sons Laurence and Oliver who were too late for the round robins, but were later able to enjoy the gang match.
And Oliver has become the eleventh player to sign up for the Conference.
16/08/13: Owen brothers take Bristol doubles title
Consulting doubles, reduced in the Bristol Backgammon calendar to a single annual tournament, took centre stage at the Bristol County Sports Club last night.
Six pairs contested the event, and the final had a distinct family feel about it.
The Herreras -- Roland and Simonetta -- made it to the main final via a bye and an agonisingly close victory over Chas Perry and Ian Tarr, while their final opponents were the brothers Gaz and Luke Owen, who scored wins against Miles Farren and Paul Kirwin and Ed Turner and Angie Vick.
This was only Luke's second visit, having previously contested a DMP Tourno in September 2009.
And at DMP it was the brothers who took the title.
Miles and Paul won the consolation flight, defeating Steve Morris and Andy Boysan in the final.
There was also a league match played, and Gary Plant became the first player to finish his 2013 Premier League campaign, with three and a half months to spare.
His 11-5 victory over Richard Owsley ensured that he finishes with a 50:50 record in Premier Two Blue.
13/08/13: Roland takes Summer Grand Prix lead
Ten players were in action at the latest Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club -- eight in the advertised event, two in a league match.
Cecilia Sparke defeated Paul Watts 11-4 in their Premier Two Red match.
The Monday Club Summer Grand Prix session featured a DMP Tourno, and the honours here were shared by Roland Herrera and Chrissy Carter.
With just one event to go, Roland takes the SGP lead, just ahead of Simonetta Herrera and former leader Ian Tarr.
Manesh had an unproductive evening, but is assured of taking the prize for SGP top intermediate.
There was time for a further DMP Tourno, with Bahman Salahshour winning the pot.
09/08/13: Derek on a roll
Derek Clew maintained his fine recent form by taking the August monthly grand prix title at the Bristol County Sports Club last night.
Victories over Ian Tarr, Chrissy Carter, Tim Line and Cynthia Roberts did it for him.
Cynthia defeated Nick Barham and Simon Hughes to reach the final.
Ian took the consolation flight with wins over Roland Herrera and Nick, thus completing an unusual double.
Before the tournament he had won the held over consolation final from the July tournament by overcoming Tim.
Ed Turner's OGP lead over Tim is reduced from 47 points to 32, while Ian is a further 28 points back.
Derek rises to fifth overall, having contested only four tournaments so far.
Once again Chrissy Carter was the only intermediate to contest the event, and her lead over second placed Alexi Solomou is up to exactly 100 after her first round defeat of Roland.
The Winner Takes All pool, with £40 rolled over from July, was boosted to £110, and Derek won it.
Meanwhile qualification for the 2014 Bristol Masters is no closer to resolution.
Derek had already qualified, so a further place will go to a Premier One high finisher.
07/08/13: Peter goes third in Conference
Peter Thistlewood entertained Adrian Barnes at his Henbury home yesterday and scored an 11-8 Conference victory.
The victory moves him into third place in the league table at Adrian's expense.
06/08/13: Herreras share pot and close on SGP lead
Just six players contested the advertised event on Monday, although a few more came along later.
The latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix was a 3-point round robin.
Roland Herrera and Simonetta Herrera shared the honours here, each winning four out of five matches, and both players are threatening the overall lead of Ian Tarr.
They are within 20 points of Ian now, but with smaller discards, that makes the outcome -- with two sessions left -- too close to call.
And Bahman Salahshour is also within striking distance.
There was also time for a DMP Tourno, which was contested by eight players.
Kia Tandeseh arrived late with two potential new players, who declined to enter but may be back, and Graham Ross returned after a gap of nearly eight years, having been a "regular" between May and October 2005.
Bahman won the DMP Tourno pot.
02/08/13: Roland wins GP5 tournament
There were just ten players at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday for the latest GP5 tournament.
Roland Herrera took the honours, defeating Tim Line and Steve Morris before despatching Ian Tarr in the final.
Cynthia Roberts won the consolation flight by beating Simon Hughes, Mandy Macdonald and Simonetta Herrera.
The absent Alex Hodge still leads the GP5 table, but he now has five pursuers within 25 points of him.
01/08/13: Six penalised at July 31st checkpoint
The midnight July 31st Premier League checkpoint has passed, and six players have incurred penalty points.
These can, of course, be clawed back by compliance with the terms of the September checkpoint.
All players in Premier Two Blue were up with the schedule, but four Premier One players and two from Premier Two Red will need to get some action in over the next two months.
Those penalised are: Phil Charlton and Gaz Owen with 3 points each, and Simonetta Herrera and Simon Hughes with 1 point each in the top flight; John Paton and Cecilia Sparke with 3 points each in the Red Division.
26/07/13: Manesh wins Monday Tric Trac
There were fifteen players in action on Monday -- thirteen at the Bristol County Sports Club, with the other two at the Compass, Tormarton.
The league activity centred on Premier Two Red and the Conference.
John Corrado extended his lead in the Red Division by pipping Alan Parfitt 11-10 -- the seventh time he has been involved in an 11-10 scoreline this season (five for and two against)!
At the Compass Richard Holness and Paul Watts played out a double header, and it was Richard who came out on top with 11-9 and 11-4 victories.
In the Conference Chrissy Carter and Alan David locked horns for the second successive week, and it was Alan who scored an 11-6 win.
The advertised event was a Tric Trac Tourno -- the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix.
Nine players contested this, and it was Manesh who took the honours.
Bahman Salahshour and Manesh have moved in to second and third places in the SGP table.
After the Tric Trac, there was time for a seven player DMP Tourno, which saw Kia Tandeseh win the pot.
There was also a welcome Bristol Backgammon debut for Swindon based Geoff Henderson, who declared his visit an enjoyable one.
26/07/13: Eighteen in Thursday action
Thursday saw eighteen players in Bristol Backgammon action -- sixteen of them at the Bristol County Sports Club, the other two at the Portcullis, Staple Hill.
Five league matches were played.
The Premier One double header at the Portcullis featured Mike Smith and Phil Charlton, honours being shared when Mike won the opener 11-9 while Phil replied with an 11-1 victory.
Back at HQ (the Bristol County Sports Club) there was a Premier Two Red double header, Andy Boysan and Richard Holness also sharing the spoils.
And in Premier Two Blue Sean Hopson got his promotion campaign back on track with an 11-7 win over Andy Brown.
Twelve players contested the advertised event -- the fourth of this year's six Handicap Trophy events.
And the main flight final will be contested by Ian Tarr and handicap specialist Ian Preston.
Ian T got past Richard Owsley, John Corrado and Steve Morris, while Ian P defeated Matt Walder and Jason Champion.
Ed Turner won the consolation flight, beating Matt in the final.
Steve's overall lead in the Handicap Trophy table was cut from 40 points to 15 by Ian Tarr, who would move into a 20 points lead with a final victory, while a win for Ian Preston would draw him level with Ian T.
25/07/13: Double for Mike as relegation scrap intensifies
Mike Smith scored a brace of wins over Blaine Buchanan at the Barley Mow, St Philips, last night.
The 11-9 and 11-10 victories have moved Mike several places up the Premier One table, and even Blaine has moved up, having clawed back the three penalty points he incurred back in May.
There are now just six points covering the bottom nine players in the division, which suggest that the fight to avoid the four relegation slots is unlikely to be fully resolved until the last few fixtures are fulfilled.
24/07/13: Red Division win for Richard
Richard Holness this evening scored an 11-6 Premier Two Red victory over Fred North at the Hop Inn, Devizes Road, Swindon.
One important milestone for Richard was that the threat of expungement at the July 31st checkpoint is now lifted, leaving only Phil Charlton of Premier One in that predicament, although this problem will be resolved tomorrow when he meets Mike Smith at the Portcullis.
23/07/13: A win apiece at the Star and Dove
Blaine Buchanan and Simon Hughes met for a Premier One double header this evening at the Star and Dove.
And the result was a win apiece, with Blaine's 11-7 victory the precursor to Simon's 11-2 win.
23/07/13: Is Mandy a morning person?
Today saw a slightly unusual event in the annals of Bristol Backgammon competition -- a weekday morning league match.
The venue was Grounded cafe in Bedminster, and the protagonists in this Premier Two Blue meeting were Sean Hopson and Mandy Macdonald.
Mandy prevailed 11-0, and moves up to fourth from bottom.
23/07/13: Simon makes a move
In terms of activity levels, it's not unusual for Simon Baker's season to be conducted in fits and starts.
Yesterday was a case in point, with Simon arranging two Premier One double headers.
First of all it was a visit to Steffen Nowak's Knowle home, and Simon was able to deal a double blow to Steffen's championship hopes, winning 11-2 and 11-4.
Onward to the Bristol County Sports Club, and the opponent was Blaine Buchanan.
The results were similar, with Simon scoring 11-0 and 11-5 victories to move into fourth place in the league.
Other league action took place at the Merchants Arms, Eastville, where visiting Gary Plant shared the honours with Ed Turner.
The pair's Premier Two Blue encounters ended 11-9 to Gary and 11-3 to Ed, who keeps his promotion aspirations alive.
Back at the Bristol County Sports Club, there was a league debut appearance for Alan David, who took on Chrissy Carter in the Conference.
Chrissy scored an 11-2 victory, but Alan struck back for his maiden league success, winning 11-6.
The advertised event at the club was the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix.
This turned out to be a five player three point round robin, with Kia Tandeseh scoring a clean sweep of wins to take the pot.
There was also time for a four player DMP Tourno, which was won by Bahman Salahshour.
In the SGP Ian Tarr slightly extended his lead over second placed Simonetta Herrera, while Manesh will be hard to dislodge as the event's top intermediate, even with just four events to go.
19/07/13: Stuart's fantastic night
Round robins aside, it's not often that a single player records six victories in a single evening session.
But that's exactly what Stuart Mann achieved at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday evening.
Pre-tournament he played a Premier One double header with Tim Line, winning 11-10 and 11-6.
He followed this by finishing off an adjourned league match with Blaine Buchanan, winning that one 11-4.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, he breezed through the evening's main event -- the third of the year's series of four GP30 tournaments -- with wins over Steve Morris, Ian Tarr and Simon Hughes to win the event.
His 85 points haul moves him level with previous sole GP30 leader Nick Barham, both players now 40 points ahead of third placed Roland Herrera.
Gaz Owen and Tim Line were doing battle in the consolation final, but this was adjourned tantalisingly at 6-5 in Tim's favour with his train back to Trowbridge waiting.
There was other league action in Premier Two Blue and the Conference.
Chas Perry defeated Simon Temme twice to move to the top of the Blue Division at Alex Hodge's expense.
In the Conference James Newman defeated Matt Walder and was 4-1 ahead in a second match when time intervened in thr form of an adjournment.
17/07/13: Fred and Paul score Red Division wins
Today's league action came from Premier Two Red, with two matches this afternoon.
Channings Hotel in Clifton was the venue for John Corrado and Fred North, league leader John moving into a 9-2 lead, then failing to score another point.
Pearl Foster and Paul Watts played at the Compass, Tormarton, with Paul prevailing by 11-8.
16/07/13: Premier Two wins for Mandy and Paul
Two Premier Two matches were contested this evening.
In Premier Two Red league leader John Corrado suffered a 10-11 defeat at the hands of Paul Watts at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Meanwhile at the Cornubia Mandy Macdonald scored an 11-8 Premier Two Blue victory over Sean Hopson.
16/07/13: Chrissy goes second
There were ten players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, two playing a Conference match, while the other eight contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix.
Chrissy Carter notched her third successive league win to move into second in the Conference league table.
Her 11-7 victory over Matt Walder means that there are now three players at least half way towards the 20 points threshold which guarantees Premier League status for next season.
Meanwhile the other eight players present contested a DMP Tourno, and it was SGP leader Ian Tarr who took the honours with six wins out of seven.
He now has a 59 points lead over new second placed player Simonetta Herrera, who is just ahead of Roland Herrera and Bahman Salahshour.
Manesh is the leading intermediate in this competition, and by quite some distance.
12/07/13: JULY GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were just thirteen players in action on Thursday -- holidays taking their toll -- eleven of them in the grand prix tournament at the Bristol County Sports Club, the other two in a league match at Tormarton.
12/07/13: Derek wins July grand prix event ......
Derek Clew's Thursday visits have been few and far between so far this year, but he is making some of them count.
Having won his second Bristol Masters title last month, he added the July grand prix to his list with victories over Tim Line, Simon Hughes, Richard Owsley and Steffen Nowak.
Steffen had reached the final by defeating Jason Champion and Nick Barham.
12/07/13: Tim and Ian to contest consolation final ......
Tim Line and Ian Tarr will meet in the final of the consolation flight of Thursday's tournament, which had to be adjourned for Tim to catch his train back to Trowbridge.
Tim beat Jason Champion and Mandy Macdonald to reach the final, while Ian advanced via a bye and a win over Chrissy Carter.
12/07/13: Ed's OGP lead barely scratched ......
Ed Turner was among those who missed Thursday's tournament, so would have been apprehensive about his 72 points OGP lead.
But closest challengers Tim Line and Ian Tarr were both eliminated at the first hurdle, so damage is currently limited to the 25 points Tim has grabbed by reaching the final of the consolation final.
A final win for Tim would reduce the margin to 32 points.
12/07/13: Lone intermediate Chrissy extends IGP lead ......
IGP leader Chrissy Carter was the only intermediate present for Thursday's tournament, so was immediately sure of increasing her 30 points lead over second placed Alexi Solomou by at least 10 points.
However, a fine comeback from 0-6 in arrears against Ian Tarr gained her a further 25 points, so her lead is now a handy 65.
12/07/13: Modest rollover for August event; still just five qualifiers for next year's Masters ......
Just four players went for the extra investment in the Winner Takes All pool, but as they won just one main flight match between them, there is a £40 rollover awaiting contestants of the August event.
Meanwhile, there are still only five qualifiers for the sixteen berth 2014 Bristol Masters, as July winner Derek Clew has already qualified by winning this years Masters.
That's good news for Premier One players, for whom there will be an extra qualifying place.
12/07/13: Pearl avenges Monday defeat ......
Pearl Foster may have had her winning run in Premier Two Red truncated on Monday.
But just three days later she gained revenge over Richard Holness with an 11-4 victory at the Compass Inn, Tormarton.
10/07/13: Adrian goes second
Adrian Barnes visited Peter Thistlewood's home in Henbury this afternoon for a Conference encounter.
Peter's hospitality extended to succumbing to a 0-11 whitewash, and Adrian thus moves into second place, exactly half way towards the 20 points threshold, which signals qualification for next year's Premier League.
10/07/13: Tuesday league wins for Steve and John
Yesterday saw league action in both Premier One and Premier Two Red.
In the top flight Steve Morris edged out Steffen Nowak for three very much needed points in his battle to stay up.
The defeat was a blow for Steffen in his fight to win a maiden league championship.
Meanwhile John Corrado was continuing his remarkably consistent Red Division campaign at the Green Man, Kingsdown -- another debut venue for Bristol Backgammon action.
His 11-2 defeat of John Paton has moved him back to the top of the league -- a further step closer to promotion.
09/07/13: Pearl's winning run halted
There were ten players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club's latest Monday session.
In Premier Two Red Pearl Foster lost for the first time in six league matches, going down 5-11 to Richard Holness.
In the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix eight players competed, being split into two four player 3-point round robins.
These were won by Manesh and Bahman Salahshour respectively, each with a clean sweep of three match wins.
Ian Tarr took advantage of the absence of the two SGP leaders -- Roland and Simonetta Herrera -- by edging past them into the overall lead, but discards will bite him before they do anyone else.
Manesh, in fifth place overall, leads the race to be the top intermediate in the competition, his lead over the next intermediate in the table -- Chrissy Carter -- extending to almost 50 points.
05/07/13: Double for Chas, win for Chrissy
In Friday league action, there was a double success for Chas Perry in Premier Two Blue at the Rose and Crown, Larkhall, where Andrew Cobb was the victim, losing 5-11 and 2-11.
Chas moves back into the top two.
And in the Conference there was another win for Chrissy Carter, who defeated Adrian Barnes 11-9 at the Retreat, West Street.
05/07/13: Dave and Mike score a win apiece
The latest new Bristol Backgammon venue is the Victoria Park, Raymend Road, Bedminster.
It was there that Dave Pym and Mike Smith met for a Premier One double header yesterday evening, and honoyrs were virtually even with Dave taking the first match 11-6 before Mike struck back with an 11-4 win.
04/07/13: Roland doubles CTGP lead
Roland Herrera is running away with the Clock Tournament Grand Prix title.
His 80 points lead going into this evening's event was exactly doubled by the time the event was over.
Roland's wins over Ed Turner, Ian Tarr and Steffen Nowak gave him the tournament win.
Jason Champion edged ahead of the absent Andy Boysan into second place, but it will now take something extraordinary to rob Roland of the title, even with two events to come.
Simon Hughes took the consolation flight, defeating Richard Owsley and Ed.
Richard had earlier taken part in the 2,000th match in the history of Premier Two, succumbing to Chas Perry 11-2 in their Premier Two Blue match.
Another match completed before the tournament was the adjourned Premier One encounter between Tim Line and Simon Hughes, which finished 11-6 in Tim's favour.
And there was also Conference action, with Chrissy Carter beating Matt Walder 11-4.
03/07/13: Stuart suffers third successive league loss
The Blue Flame Inn, Nailsea, is the latest new venue to host Bristol Backgammon action.
Stuart Mann and Blaine Buchanan convened there this evening, hoping to complete two Premier One matches.
The first saw Blaine score an 11-10 victory, inflicting Stuart's third successive league defeat.
But the return had to be adjourned with Stuart 10-4 ahead, post Crawford.
02/07/13: League wins for Tim and Gary
There were twelve players in action at the latest Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Two Premier League matches were played.
Tim Line just held off a fight back from Blaine Buchanan after the two resumed their adjourned Premier One match.
Tim's 8-4 lead was whittled away and he eventually had to settle for an 11-10 victory.
In Premier Two Blue Gary Plant defeated Simon Temme 11-5.
Nine players contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, which comprised two Nackgammmon Tourno groups -- one of five players, the other of four.
Amongst that field were two debut players -- Kia Tandeseh and Des Whatley.
Simonetta Herrera won the four player group outright, while the pot in the other group was shared between Jason Champion and Bahman Salahshour.
Roland Herrera's SGP lead is down to 10 points, with Simonetta moving into second place, while Ian Tarr is half a point further back in third.
01/07/13: First half of the year sees many record figures
The revamping of the Bristol Backgammon calendar for 2013 is showing every sign of being eminently worthwhile.
The number of matches completed (excluding 1-point matches) during the first half of 2013 is comfortably an all-time record, the total of 1,034 outstripping the previous January to June best of 909 in 2009.
The figures include record totals for January, February, May and June, while the March total of 193, although not a record for March, is the second highest figure for any month in history, behind the 205 from March 2009.
The culling of some of the less popular events from last year is a factor in the improvement, but a comparison of like-for-like events between 2012 and 2013 shows increases across the board in monthly grand prix, clock tournament grand prix, clock blitz grand prix and Handicap Trophy events.
Attendances on Mondays -- averaging 12 so far this year -- are at record levels, while Thursday figures -- although still far from all-time record levels -- are way ahead of those for 2011 and 2012.
But if there is one lesson for Director Ian Tarr to bear in mind, it is that there can never be any room for complacency, and the calendar will be reviewed assiduously every year for ways of increasing overall activity.
01/07/13: Derek becomes third double Masters winner
On an otherwise low key Thursday evening at the Bristol County Sports Club, Derek Clew recovered from a 0-4 deficit to defeat Gaz Owen 9-5 in the final of the thirteenth Bristol Masters event.
Derek becomes the third player -- after Charlie Hetherington and Stuart Mann -- to win the prestigious event twice.
The advertised event -- the fourth of six Round Robin Grand Prix events -- was contested by nine players, split into groups of five and four to play series of 5-point matches.
The five player group included Angie Vick, who was making her Bristol Backgammon debut.
Roland Herrera won the four player group, but the five player group was not properly finished after Alex Hodge departed early for work reasons.
The pot in this group would have been shared by Ian Tarr and the winner of Alex's match with Simon Hughes.
Director Ian ruled that Simon would take the share of the pot while scoring half of the win points he would have gained for defeating Alex.
And while Alex may have left early, he still did enough to extend his 40 points RRGP lead to 45, with Ian replacing Richard Owsley in second place.
There was also a Premier Two Blue match played at the Cornubia on Thursday.
Andrew Cobb defeated Simon Temme 11-7.
Apologies for the tardiness of the appearance of this report and the supporting links. The webmaster was in Ireland.
Recent news items
News items from 2014 (first half)
News items from 2013 (first half)
Back to Home Page