News items from 2014 (second half)
29/12/14: Brunel Trophy sponsorship extended by another two years
The anonymous sponsor of the Brunel Trophy double elimination event has agreed to extend the deal for another two years.
The initial two years have seen Tim Line taking the inaugural title, and twenty-three players fulfilling the qualification criteria for the 2015 competition.
The theme of those two years has been qualification via participation in the leagues and Thursday events, but the emphasis is changing for the 2016 and 2017 competitions.
Thursday appearances will continue to be rewarded, but in addition to this top performers in many of our other competitions will win a place.
The subsidies which were a feature of the first two years have been diverted into the added prize fund, which will be £250.
With up to forty players taking part, the total prize fund in 2016 should exceed £1,000.
24/12/14: Festive greetings to all readers!
Ian Tarr, Bristol Backgammon Director, wishes all visitors to this website an enjoyable and relaxing festive break!
After a two week gap, play resumes at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, January 5th.
24/12/14: Simonetta wins the year's last Bristol Backgammon match
The held over consolation final from the December Grand Prix tournament was played at the Herreras' home in Kellaway Avenue yesterday.
Simonetta Herrera was the victor, defeating Richard Owsley, who thus has to be content with finishing third in the OGP, behind Simon Hughes.
22/12/14: Stephen makes AGP title win even more emphatic
Just six players turned up for the final session of the year, a Nackgammon Tourno evening.
With the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix already sewn up by Stephen Little, all that remained to be decided was the margin of his title win.
And his six points tally proved to be enough to take maximum points available yet again.
The margin over second placed Ian Tarr ended up at 74 points, and Stephen's total of 488.67 was the highest recorded for any of the nineteen four-monthly Monday grand prix series thus far.
22/12/14: Alan makes it forty-one
There was one last minute entry, just before the Sunday midnight deadline, with Alan Parfitt returning to the Premier League in 2015.
That brought the total up to forty-one, and means that there will now be ten players in the new Premier Three.
Full line-ups:
PREMIER ONE: Gaz Owen, Simonetta Herrera, Stuart Mann, Ed Turner, Ian Tarr, Steffen Nowak, Phil Charlton, Steve Morris, Nick Barham, Alex Hodge, Gary Plant, Simon Baker, Cecilia Sparke.
PREMIER TWO BLUE: Andy Boysan, Mike Smith, Paul Watts, Andy Brown, Andrew Cobb, Richard Owsley, Peter Thistlewood, James Lintell-Smith; Fred North.
PREMIER TWO RED: Tim Line, Pearl Foster, James Newman, Simon Hughes, John Corrado, Dave Pym, Neil Young, Mandy Macdonald, Eamonn Reay.
PREMIER THREE: Malcolm Patterson, Drew Caudwell, Jason Champion, Alan Parfitt, Simon Temme, Rob Brito, John Chester, Chris Hughes, Stephen Little, Adam Sinclair.
Those in Premier One will play each other twice for a total of 24 matches, while Premier Two players will meet three times each -- also for a total of 24 matches.
The new Premier Three will see players playing each other twice for a total of 18 matches.
19/12/14: Premier Three triggered!
Unless any unexpected further entrants emerge between now and the deadline at midnight on Sunday, it looks as though there will be forty contestants in a Bristol Premier League consisting of four divisions for the first time in 2015.
The projected pyramid structure of the league will look more like a diamond for a while, with this year's three divisions -- Premier One and two parallel divisions of Premier Two -- being augmented by a new Premier Three.
Premier One is now guaranteed to comprise thirteen players, just as it did this year.
The loss of Chas Perry because of other commitments has opened up the opportunity of a "back door" promotion for the first player in the "reserve list".
It can be stated categorically that no player has ever deserved this chance as much as Cecilia Sparke, who has consistently come so close to promotion over the past seven seasons.
If the total entry level remains at the present forty, Premier Two Blue, Premier Two Red and Premier Three will each comprise nine players, with each opponent to be met three times.
All divisions would therefore consist of the ideal of 24 matches.
Others who are not continuing next year are Miles Farren, Chrissy Carter and Sean Hopson, while former league players returning to the fold are Drew Caudwell, Jason Champion and Simon Temme.
Entering the league for the first time are Rob Brito, John Chester, Chris Hughes, Stephen Little and Adam Sinclair.
19/12/14: Twenty-eight in "Fizz" tournament
The pre-Christmas tournament known as the Christmas Fizz event, because of sponsor Steve Morris's kind provision of four bottles of various kinds of fizzy liquid, continues to gain in popularity.
With a buffet thrown in, it is increasingly being seen as an opportunity for celebration in a backgammon setting.
There were twenty-eight competing, plus a handful of other visitors popping in, and the format comprising only 3-point matches with lots of action for everyone, kept things ticking over nicely until well after midnight.
The party atmosphere was added to by the fact that the field contained some players making welcome returns after varying lengths of absence.
Peter Bennet came along twice in 2003, so this was the largest of the gaps, although he did of course attend the Bristol Open a few times in the interim.
Double Premier League champion Mark Dixon last appeared at the Bristol County Sports Club just over six years ago, John Sprague nearly three years ago, and international jet-setter Lily Owsley nearly two years ago.
On the other side of the coin Mary French -- a recent addition to the Monday ranks -- made a welcome Thursday debut.
The initial phase of action centred on round robins -- four groups of five players, two groups of four.
The group winners -- Tom Chapman, Stephen Little, Peter Bennet, Ian Tarr, Cecilia Sparke and Chris Hughes each more than recouped their entry money.
And the top two (or three in the case of the five player groups) progressed to a main knock-out flight, while the remainder contested a consolation.
There was one minor glitch in proceedings, with every player winning twice in one group.
The tie-breaks sorted out top and bottom places -- Stephen having the best points difference, Lily the worst, but a one point shoot out was necessary to sort out the minor positions.
Luckily for Director Ian, this proved decisive, as he was contemplating allowing all three players into the main knock-out flight in the event of a further triple tie.
In the consolation flight Neil Young was doubly fortunate.
Not only did he get one of the four byes to the quarter-finals, but then his opponent Jason Champion disappeared, leaving Neil the easiest possible path to the semis.
There he beat Tim Line before despatching Simon Temme in the final.
In the main flight it was Mark and Peter who made it all the way, Adam Sinclair, Chrissy Carter and Steve Morris succumbing to Mark, while Peter was eliminating Tom, John Chester and Ed Turner.
And Mark took the title.
All four finalists received cash prizes plus a bottle.
And the whole event proved to be a fitting finale to the Bristol Backgammon year, albeit that there is one more Monday event to go.
17/12/14: Ed wins record fourth John Chidgey Cup
Gaz Owen and Ed Turner met today at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, to fight out the final of the December Grand Prix main flight.
And it was Ed who came though, winning 11-5.
Ed thus takes the sixteenth and final qualifying place in the 2015 Bristol Masters tournament, and has also won the John Chidgey Cup, awarded to the December tournament winner each year, for a record fourth time.
Further bad news for Gaz was that the match was doubled up as a 2015 Premier League Division One match, the pair having gained the prior permission of Director Ian Tarr to play the match early.
15/12/14: Stephen cannot be caught
Ten players contested the penultimate phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, which consisted of two 5-player 3-point round robins.
Adam Sinclair won one group with a clean sweep of four victories, while Chris Hughes and Stephen Little shared the spoils in the other with three wins apiece.
Stephen can no longer be caught in the race for the AGP title.
With just one event remaining, his lead of sixty points is more than the highest number of points available to be won from next week's Nackgammon Tournos.
15/12/14: Neil's appeal result
Neil Young's appeal against the four penalty points incurred for failing to play his final match of the Premier Two Blue season has been heard.
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr took the decision to adjudicate himself rather than involving three other players in the ramifications of an appeals sub-committee.
His findings were that, while the penalty was wholly justified in terms of the rules, the fact that this was Neil's first such transgression in his twelve years as a Premier League player, this allowed one of the four points to be reinstated.
This has the effect of raising Neil two places up the league table, but has no bearing on major issues like prize money or loss of Premier Two status, which does call into question why an appeal was considered necessary in the first place.
12/12/14: LESTERS XCIII ROUND-UP ......
It's official -- rollovers don't boost tournament attendances!
With £130 already in the Winner Takes All kitty from November's tournament, only fifteen players toed the start line for the December Grand Prix Tournament, a k a the 93rd Lesters Trophy knock-out.
12/12/14: Gaz and Ed to contest Lesters final ......
The final of the main flight of the 93rd Lesters Trophy main flight will feature Ed Turner and Gaz Owen.
While Gaz was defeating Stuart Mann, Simon Hughes and Ian Tarr, Ed was getting past Stephen Little, Steve Morris and Andy Boysan.
12/12/14: Richard and Simonetta in consolation final ......
Richard Owsley and Simonetta Herrera will contest the final of Thursday's consolation flight.
Richard defeated Stuart Mann and Stephen Little, while Simonetta was beating Adam Sinclair and John Chester.
12/12/14: OGP second place still in the balance ......
OGP leader Neil Young had already done more than enough to clinch the title, so did not contest Thursday's event.
Second place was wide open, though, with Simon Hughes's tenure of that position threatened by a host of pursuers.
Five out of six of those in with a chance of overhauling Simon were present.
Simon's sole match win was not enough to add to his tally, so he needed to wait and see what the others could come up with.
Steve Morris, Tim Line and Nick Barham all fell in the second round of the main flight, thus falling short, and Ian Tarr's semi-final exit accounted for him.
But Simon's closest pursuer -- Richard Owsley -- retains a chance of making the runner-up slot, despite failing in the main flight.
Should he win the consolation final, he will finish dead level on points with Simon, but because he has contested one event fewer than Simon, he will edge Simon out with a victory.
12/12/14: John clinches IGP in Chris's absence ......
The stage was set for a gripping finale to this year's IGP race.
The main contenders were John Chester and Chris Hughes, with Stephen Little lurking in the wings as the outsider.
But Stephen managed just one consolation flight win, and Chris was a no show.
At least leader John would not have considered it an anti-climax as he failed to add to his points tally.
He didn't need to, and so claims the title.
12/12/14: Further rollover hopes extinguished in opening round ......
If the attendance was a tad disappointing, at least most of those who were present at the Bristol County Sports Club showed an interest in the Winner Takes All pool.
Thirteen out of fifteen contestants invested, bringing the pool amount up to a very useful £260.
Hopes of a further rollover were always slim, but they became non-existent when both non-investors succumbed at the first hurdle.
So finalists Ed Turner and Gaz Owen have a total pot of £475 to fight over, including the routine tournament prize money.
Meanwhile the final qualifying place for the 2015 Bristol Masters is also up for grabs.
While Ed will take the slot if he wins, Gaz has already qualified via his Premier One exploits, so if he wins the place goes to the next high finisher in Premier One, Simonetta Herrera.
08/12/14: Roland and Ian share Monday pot
Eight players took part in the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club.
A closely contested Tric Trac Tourno saw the pot split when Ian Tarr and Roland Herrera scored last ditch gammons to top the field on eight points apiece.
With third place on the night Stephen Little didn't do enough to add to his AGP points tally, but with discards also biting his pursuers, he still has a 47 point cushion over second placed Ian, with Roland a further 14 points back.
And with just two events remaining, it will take something exceptional to knock Stephen off the top spot.
04/12/14: Nick clinches Clock Blitz title and Handicap Trophy runner-up spot
Twelve players saw action at the Thursday session at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the eleven who contested the sixth and final phase of the Clock Blitz Grand Prix.
Before the tournament the October Handicap Trophy tournament finally reached its conclusion when Nick Barham pulled back from the opening 0-3 deficit to pip Marcus Evans to the lion's share of the prize money.
This was enough to clinch second place overall in the Handicap Trophy, Nick edging out James Newman on the fourth level of tie break.
The blitz event comprised two groups, one of six players, the other of five.
Nick and Roland Herrera arrived at the event jointly in the lead in the CBGP table, however Nick held the advantage of having contested fewer tournaments.
And so consistent had both players been, boosting their respective points tallies would be very difficult.
So it proved, as both players were to equal their potential discarded scores.
Bizarrely Nick maintained his record of having won four matches out of five in every event contested.
Ian Tarr won Nick's group, registering victories in all five matches.
Roland and Adrian Barnes shared the pot in the smaller group with three wins apiece from their four matches.
Also in the smaller group, Adam Sinclair broke through the 50 points barrier in the Race to the Premier League, becoming eligible for next season's competition only five and a half weeks after his debut session.
01/12/14: Four share Monday pots; John wins clock tournament
There were ten players in action at the Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Before the advertised event took place John Chester and Chris Hughes played out the final of Thursday's Clock GP Tournament, and it was John who emerged the victor by 7-5.
The assembled throng was drawn into two groups of five to contest 3-point round robins.
Both groups saw two players share the pot.
Cynthia Roberts and Ian Tarr took the plaudits in one group, Pearl Foster and Adam Sinclair doing so in the other.
Stephen Little still has an imposing lead in the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, 55 points ahead of second placed Ian with just three events to go.
There was also time for an impromptu DMP Tourno, which was won by Ian.
01/12/14: League season over -- James and Neil penalised; John is Conference champion
The eleven month Bristol league season is over.
The only outstanding issues were one unplayed match in Premier Two Blue and whether or not there would be any late action in the Bristol Conference League.
The Blue Division match between James Newman and Neil Young was not played, not was there any late Conference action.
So James and Neil incur four penalty points each, and John Chester is confirmed as Conference champion.
28/11/14: Chris and John in clock final; Richard wins November GP
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, including the fourteen who contested the sixth and final instalment of the Clock Tournament Grand Prix.
Before the tournament the final match of the Premier Two Red season took place.
Fred North defeated James Lintell-Smith 11-5, moving up two places from the bottom of the league table.
Also completed before the advertised event was the November Grand Prix tournament, with the final going very much Richard Owsley's way to the chagrin of Tim Line.
Richard moves into third place in the OGP and bags the fourteenth place in the 2015 Bristol Masters.
The clock tournament saw runs to the final for two of this season's outgoing intermediates.
Chris Hughes defeated Simonetta Herrera, Neil Young and Ed Turner en route, while John Chester eliminated Steve Morris and Roland Herrera after receiving a first round bye.
The final will no doubt be played some time very soon.
Simonetta won the consolation flight, beating Steve Morris, Ian Tarr and Nick Barham.
Chris's run to the final -- his third final in the six events of the series -- was enough to clinch him the CTGP title, at the expense of long time leader Andy Boysan.
As things stand, the two are level on points, but Chris wins on countback, having gained his points from fewer tournaments.
26/11/14: Nick wins Premier Two championship
Alex Hodge played host to Nick Barham this evening in the all-Weston-Super-Mare clash to decide the destiny of the Premier League Division Two championship.
Alex had won the Blue Division, while Nick had taken the Red Division title.
So what remained was to decide who the winner of the outright Premier Two title would be.
Nick prevailed with an 11-7 scoreline to become only the second title winner from the Red Divison in the seven years of the play-off.
26/11/14: Jude wins in Bedminster
The Hare, North Street, Bedminster, was the venue for a Conference League match last night.
Jude Pitt consolidated her tenure of second place by defeating Tom Chapman 11-3.
Her chances of cementing an annual invitation to compete in the Premier League, however, remain slim.
Two more victories between now and the season's end at midnight on Sunday would do it for her.
24/11/14: Simon is final Premier One qualifier
There were fifteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including the thirteen who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, a pair of DMP Tournos.
There were three league matches -- and almost a fourth.
Simon Baker and Paul Watts played the final two fixtures of their respective Premier Two Red campaigns, knowing that one of them would gain promotion to the top flight.
For Simon, there were two options -- either win at least one of the two matches, or lose both, provided he managed to score at least 11 points in the process.
It was a simpler equation for Paul -- win both matches.
And both were very close -- Simon winning 11-9, Paul 11-10 -- confirming Simon's return to Premier One.
In the Conference League Adam Sinclair met Horst Stenzel and scored a 11-0 whitewash, the final flourish of which was an eight-cubed game.
They attempted to fit in another match before the tournament, but stopped with Adam leading 10-0.
The DMP Tournos featured one seven player group, the other containing six.
In the larger group there was a three way tie for the pot, between John Chester, Horst and Ian Tarr, who each managed four wins out of six.
Alex Hodge produced a clean sweep in the other group, winning all five games.
Stephen Little didn't do enough to add to his overall AGP points tally, but still leads by 85 points from Ian, who now occupies second place.
Later there was time enough for a further DMP Tourno -- Alex winning again.
Alongside this Ian met Marcus Evans in the held over semi-final of the October Handicap Trophy tournament.
Marcus's handicap of 3 proved to be just enough to see him into the final, where he will meet Nick Barham.
21/11/14: Cecilia's comeback promotes Alex
Gary Plant and Cecilia Sparke met again at the GW Hotel in Swindon to complete the match they almost finished on Tuesday.
Trailing 8-10 with the Crawford Game to play, Cecilia won both games to clinch an 11-10 victory.
Cecilia remains third in the Premier Two Blue league table, but her win held more significance for others.
A win for Gary would have clinched the Blue Division championship, but the defeat means Alex Hodge takes the title.
Alex must now meet Nick Barham for the outright Premier Two title.
21/11/14: Simon relegated; great night for Ed
There were sixteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, including eleven in the advertised event, the final phase of the Round Robin Grand Prix.
But arguably the most significant matches featured Simon Hughes's battle to retain his Premier One status.
His matches against Ed Turner and Simonetta Herrera brought the curtain down on an enthralling top flight season, comprising thriteen players and 156 matches.
Sadly for Simon -- although not for the reprieved Steve Morris -- his 4-11 defeat by Ed sealed his fate, and his subsequent hard fought 11-10 win over Simonetta would have been scant consolation.
Simon joins Tim Line, Mike Smith and John Corrado in Premier Two next season.
Ed's win was one of two good pieces of news for him.
It moved him up to fourth in the final league table, which pushed him into the prize money bracket at the expense of Ian Tarr.
The other good news came from the RRGP, which his league match precluded him from entering.
Already in the overall lead in that competition, Ed was under threat from second placed Ian.
However, Ian would have needed to win all five of his RRGP group matches to overtake him, and fell to defeat by Simonetta in his second to confirm Ed as the title winner.
That six player group was won by Roland Herrera with four wins out of five, while Steve defeated all four of his opponents in the other group.
Further league action, as the season moves into its final few days, involved Sean Hopson and Richard Owsley, whose final Premier Two Red match ended 11-7 in Richard's favour, and Jude Pitt and Adam Sinclair, whose Conference League match involved an eight-cube, which played a major part in Adam's 11-4 victory.
Other good news involved Rob Brito, who has accumulated enough points in the Race to the Premier League to ensure that he will be getting his first Premier League invitation in a few days time.
20/11/14: Phil signs off with a win
Phil Charlton and John Corrado played their final league match of the season at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, last night.
And it was Phil who emerged the winner by 11-8.
The Premier One season will draw to a close at the Bristol County Sports Club this evening.
19/11/14: Simon faces a double date with destiny
The Cornubia was the scene of tonight's top league action when Simon Hughes met Ian Tarr.
A closely fought match saw both players elude the jaws of defeat on more than one occasion, and at DMP it was Ian who got the decisive break to win 11-10.
For Simon the equation is now a simple one.
He faces a Premier One double bill tomorrow evening at the Bristol County Sports Club, knowing that if he can defeat both Simonetta Herrera and Ed Turner he will reach safety and another season in the top flight.
Anything else would mean relegation, and a reprieve for Steve Morris.
The win lifted Ian into fourth place, and into the prize money bracket.
Should Ed defeat Simon by 11-9 or better, however, it will be Ed who scoops the fourth place prize.
19/11/14: Championship decider tantalisingly adjourned
The final match of the league season for Gary Plant and Cecilia Sparke was on the brink of being decided when Cecilia had to catch her train back fromm Swindon!
The outcome, which will decide whether or not Gary becomes the Premier Two Blue champion at Alex Hodge's expense, will not now be known until Friday.
After two and a half hours of action, Gary leads 10-8, with the Crawford Game to come.
16/11/14: Andy, Stephen and Ian cash on Monday
There were eleven players in action at the Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club.
All of them partook of the 3-point round robins which were the feature of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, and four found the time for some league action before the tournament.
Adam Sinclair defeated Chris Hughes 11-5 in a Conference League match, and in the same league Tom Chapman and Horst Stenzel moved their adjourned match on from 6-1 to 8-4 in Horst's favour.
The round robins comprised a group of six players and a group of five.
In the six player group the honours were shared by Andy Boysan and Stephen Little, who each won four of their five matches, while the five player group was won outright by Ian Tarr with four wins out of four.
Second placed Roland Herrera was absent, so Stephen took advantage of the opportunity to increase his AGP lead to 88 points with just five events remaining.
16/11/14: Andrew finishes with a win
A lunch-time encounter at the Ram, Widcombe, Bath, saw the resumption of a Premier Two Blue match which was started some time ago.
James Newman was 3-1 ahead of Andrew Cobb at the adjournment, but today he failed to score another point as Andrew signed off his league season with a win.
Andrew finishes seventh in the league, while James, who still has one more to play, will have to settle for fourth.
14/11/14: Afternoon win for Simonetta
In a Premier One match in Kellaway Avenue this afternoon Simonetta Herrera defeated John Corrado 11-6, applying the coup de grace with a backgammon.
14/11/14: NOVEMBER GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, including the sixteen who contested the November Grand Prix tournament.
14/11/14: Richard and Tim in November final ......
Richard Owsley last night made it to his second successive monthly grand prix final, defeating Drew Caudwell, Ian Tarr and Stephen Little en route.
He will meet Tim Line whose path to the final took him past Simon Hughes, John Chester and Adam Sinclair.
The final will no doubt be played very soon.
14/11/14: Nick wins consolation flight ......
Nick Barham was the consolation flight winner, with victories over Jason Champion, Steve Morris and Neil Young.
14/11/14: Neil can now celebrate OGP title win ......
It's been an open secret for some time now, but we can now be categorically sure that Neil Young is this year's OGP champion.
The 144 points lead which he carried into last night's tournament remains intact, as neither Neil nor his closest pursuer Simon Hughes did enough to add to their respective tallies last night.
And because of the effect of discards, there would need to be at least nine rounds in the main flight of the December event for Simon to stand even a chance to overhaul Neil.
That would need an entry in excess of 256 players!
So all that remains is the race for the minor placings, with Simon and Nick Barham currently second and third.
Richard Owsley would move into third place were he to defeat Tim Line in the outstanding final, while a win for Tim would push him up to fourth.
14/11/14: IGP race goes to the wire ......
Four intermediates contested Thursday's tournament, and each of them won at least one main flight match -- a rare event indeed.
IGP leader John Chester and second placed Chris Hughes each picked up 35 points from the efforts, but because of discards Chris has reduced John's overall lead from 17 points to just 5.
The other two intermediates made it through to the semis, with Stephen Little scoring 70 points, moving up to third place and not a million miles away from the leaders.
Adam Sinclair's monthly grand prix debut yielded 50 IGP points, but more significantly 12 points to add to his Race to the Premier League tally.
14/11/14: Rollover hopes rest with Richard ......
The £30 Winner Takes All pool rollover had a surprising galvanising effect on investment with ten of the sixteen players adding their respective stakes, boosting the total to £130.
Richard Owsley would therefore be a popular tournament winner, ensuring a healthy added interest in the December tournament.
Co-finalist Tim Line will, of course, have other ideas.
Meanwhile a final win would make Richard the thirteenth of the sixteen qualifiers for the 2015 Bristol Masters.
A win for Tim, already a qualifier, would release a place for a further Premier One high finisher.
14/11/14: Simonetta confirmed as runner-up; Ian safe ......
Elimination from Thursday's tournament opened a window for Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr to play their outstanding Premier One match.
For Simonetta there was the formality of avoiding three near whitewashes to ensure a second place finish.
It was fractionally more tense for Ian, as he needed to avoid two heavy defeats to be sure of staying in the top flight.
When the early stages went entirely Simonetta's way, her objective was realised.
Then, at 8-2, came the turning point.
With the cube on two and a game looking likely to finish in a gammon either way, the likeliest scenarios were either instant victory for Simonetta or a 6-8 deficit for Ian, which would have ensured his safety.
The crucial break went Ian's way, and from then on Simonetta failed to score another point.
The final relegation place now rests between Simon Hughes and Steve Morris.
While Steve has finished his programme, two wins from his three remaining matches will probably be enough for Simon to survive.
14/11/14: Miles misses out ......
The long adjourned Premier Two Red match between Miles Farren and Nick Barham finally got completed before Thursday's tournament.
With Nick long since confirmed as the divisional champion, all the pressure was on Miles, who needed to convert his 7-3 lead into victory in the hope that a double win for Paul Watts over Simon Baker might just work in his favour.
Sadly for Miles, neither the win nor even a single point materialised, meaning that it will be either Simon or Paul who pushes Andy Boysan out of second place.
For Nick, this was the climax to an extraordinary season, with his eighteen wins out of twenty-two comprising the best Premier Two performance since 2006.
12/11/14: Gaz claims second league title at the Star and Dove
Steffen Nowak and Gaz Owen played the final two matches of their Premier One season at the Star and Dove this afternoon.
Gaz, needing two victories to be sure of claiming the league title, romped to an 11-3 win in the opener, then hit problems when falling 1-8 behind in the return.
But Steffen failed to win another point, leaving the way clear for Gaz to claim the second league championship of his seven year stay in the top flight.
He becomes the fifth player to lift the title more than once and -- apart from those who have only contested a single Premier One season -- is one of only two players with a top flight career win percentage of more than 60%, along with five times champion Stuart Mann.
12/11/14: Late Conference results from Monday, and one from today
It has today emerged that Rob Brito and Jude Pitt met on Monday for a pair of Conference League matches at the Thali Cafe in Southville.
Rob won the first 11-4 before succumbing 8-11 in the return.
That put Jude five points from attaining Premier Status via this competition, while Rob is now on the brink of qualifying via the Race to the Premier League, needing just one more point somewhere before the end of the year.
Today's result also involved Jude, and this was a 7-11 defeat at the hands of league debutant Adam Sinclair at the Spotted Cow, Bedminster.
11/11/14: Steve edges to victory, relegating Tim
A tense Premier One match took place at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, this evening.
Both Phil Charlton and Steve Morris were playing under the threat of relegation.
A see-saw match eventually saw Steve winning by the narrowest possible margin, 11-10.
A defeat in this, his final match of the campaign, would have condemned him to relegation, so the win takes him above Tim Line, giving him a chance of survival.
That was the final straw for Tim, who sinks into the bottom four, having already finished his campaign, so he joins Mike Smith and John Corrado as three confirmed relegation sufferers.
The fourth place rests between Steve, Simon Hughes and Ian Tarr, with Phil ironically now being safe thanks to the margin of defeat.
Even if Phil loses 0-11 in his final match, against John, he will finish above Steve on average points difference.
Steve must now wait and see whether or not Simon can win two of his final three matches, as his points difference is unlikely to match Simon's if they finish level on points.
The further complication is that if Ian loses his final two matches heavily he can sink below Steve on average points difference.
10/11/14: John, Stephen and Ian cash in Monday event
There were fifteen players in action on Monday at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the thirteen who contested two Tric Trac Tournos as the latest phase of The Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
Horst Stenzel and Tom Chapman arrived early to play a Bristol Conference League match, which Tom won 11-5, and John Chester and Roland Herrera did likewise to play out the consolation final of the recent Handicap Trophy event.
Roland prevailed here.
Further league action involved Chrissy Carter and Neil Young, whose Premier Two Blue match ended 11-5 in Neil's favour.
The thirteen Tric Trac Tourno contestants were split into two groups, one of seven, the other of six.
These included welcome debut player Amanda Kallisbahn, a friend of Natalie Singh.
The seven player group saw the pot shared between Stephen Little and Ian Tarr, while John managed to win four gammons in his five games to run away with the smaller group.
Stephen still holds a commanding lead in the AGP, with a 55 points cushion over second placed Roland.
There was also time for a five player DMP Tourno, and this was won by Deana Romain, who didn't even need to play her fourth game to claim the prize.
And Adam Sinclair, who is keen to qualify for next year's Premier League in the very limited amount of time available, has joined the Conference League with just three weeks of the season remaining.
While he is likely to be too late to qualify directly from this competition, he is looking to score as many points as possible on all fronts to qualify via the Race to the Premier League.
08/11/14: London defeat leaves Tim in peril
Tim Line and Stuart Mann, both in the capital for the weekend's Live in London tournament, found time this evening to complete their Premier One campaigns.
The match, at Browns Courtrooms, Covent Garden, finished 11-5 in Stuart's favour.
Stuart moves into second place and is now assured of finishing among the cash prize winners, while the defeat leaves Tim at considerable risk of losing his top flight status.
With John Corrado and Mike Smith already condemned to relegation, Tim needs to stay ahead of both Steve Morris and Simon Hughes to stay up.
He needs Steve to lose his final match while Simon loses two of his three remaining matches.
07/11/14: Jason wins GP5 event; absent Roland takes title; Gaz hits back; Andy misses out
There were just fourteen players in action at the Thursday session at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the eleven who contested the final phase of the GP5 series.
League action began at Colston Yard, but Simon Hughes and Gaz Owen quickly adjourned their Premier One match to the less boisterous surroundings of our main venue just down the road.
It proved to be a one sided encounter, with Gaz scoring an 11-2 win to stay ahead of Simonetta Herrera in the two horse title race.
Meanwhile, in Premier Two Red, a further piece of the promotion jigsaw fell into place when Fred North's 11-4 victory over Andy Boysan scuppered Andy's chances of finishing in the automatic promotion places.
He stands in the top two at present, but that will change when Simon Baker and Paul Watts play their outstanding double header, as one of the pair must overtake him.
Final occupancy of second place now rests between Simon, Paul and Miles Farren.
The advertised event saw Jason Champion take the main flight with wins over Richard Owsley, Tim Line, Ed Turner and Adam Sinclair, whose run to the final came via a bye and his elimination of Simon Hughes and Drew Caudwell.
Steve Morris defeated Richard in the final of the consolation flight.
The destiny of the GP5 title rested between Roland Herrera and anyone who might gain enough points to overtake him.
The limited size of the field reduced the number of contenders to six, but the absences of Nick Barham and Chris Hughes left Ed, Simon Hughes, Ian Tarr and Steve in with a shout.
Roland being absent indisposed himself made it more of a contest.
Ian and Simon both fell at the opening hurdle, leaving the way open for Ed and Steve.
That was effectively Ed or Steve when the pair met in the quarter-finals.
Ed's win meant that victory over Jason would have wrested the title from Roland, but Jason prevailed, leaving Ed as overall runner-up.
04/11/14: Chas ends with a narrow defeat
Chas Perry ended his maiden top flight season with a narrow Premier One defeat at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, this evening.
The 9-11 reverse -- at the hands of Phil Charlton -- means Chas finishes with twelve wins and twelve defeats, which rates as a very creditable debut in a division where debutants have previously only achieved a 40% first season survival rate.
For Phil the win represented a major step in the battle for retention of his own place amongst the elite.
With two matches remaining, he may already have done enough, but one more win would certainly clinch it.
03/11/14: Monday group wins for Roland and Chris
There were eleven players present at the latest Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix session.
While Director Ian Tarr put debut player Paul Mines through his paces in a couple of friendly matches, the other nine took part in the advertised event, forming two three-point round robins -- one of five players, the other of four.
The five player group was closely fought, with Roland Herrera the only player doing better than breaking even with three wins out of four.
The four player group was more straightforward, with Chris Hughes making a clean sweep to take that pot.
In his absence Stephen Little's AGP lead was reduced to less than 59 points by Roland.
31/10/14: Ian wins Handicap Trophy for the fourth time
Twenty players contested the sixth and final instalment of this year's Handicap Trophy at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
Before the event got under way Richard Owsley and Roland Herrera played out the held over final from the October Grand Prix tournament -- Roland winning at DMP to become the tenth player to clinch a place in the 2015 Bristol Masters.
Going into the advertised event Ian Preston held the overall HT lead by 45 clear points, meaning that any of the five players with a chance of overhauling him would have to perform very well, even if Ian didn't add any points to his tally.
James Newman's absence ruled him out of the equation, and Ian Tarr's receipt of a first round bye restricted his point scoring chances too much.
That left Chris Hughes, Richard and Steve Morris.
The leader fell at the first hurdle of both flights, leaving the door still ajar.
But Chris and Richard also lost their opening matches, to leave Steve as the only title threat.
Steve progressed through two rounds, before losing to Nick Barham in the semis, thus ensuring that Ian collectes his fourth Handicap Trophy title, a great achievement, especially considering the sponsor's insistence that Ian (and any previous HT winner) would play off a zero handicap.
Three matches from the tournament remain to be completed.
Marcus Evans must play Ian Tarr for a meeting with Nick in the main final, while the consolation final, featuring John Chester and Roland, is also held over.
29/10/14: And then there were two
Steffen Nowak yesterday afternoon became the latest player to bow out of the Premier One title race.
His double header in Kellaway Avenue against fellow contender Simonetta Herrera could hardly have gone worse.
In her own words Simonetta had "dice from heaven", scoring a devastating pair of victories, winning 11-0 and 11-2.
Steffen can no longer win the title, and in fact only two players now can.
With three matches apiece to play leader Gaz Owen still has things in his own hands, but second placed Simonetta is now just one victory behind.
And perhaps significantly, her average points difference has improved to the point where she is likely to have an advantage if they finish level on points.
28/10/14: Dave finishes with a narrow victory
The Beaufort Arms, Hawkesbury Upton, was the scene of Dave Pym's final Premier Two Red match of the season this evening.
His match against Sean Hopson was a see-saw affair which ended 11-10 in Dave's favour.
Dave finishes with an even record in terms of wins and losses, while Sean has one match in which to attempt to avoid finishing in the bottom three, where there is a possibility of Premier Three backgammon next year.
27/10/14: Tom wins first league match
Twelve players -- including a welcome debut for Adam Sinclair -- were in action at the Bristol County Sports Club for the Monday session.
All contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, which consisted of two six player DMP Tournos.
Before the groups got under way John Chester and Tom Chapman played a Conference League match, with Tom registering his first ever league win, 11-10 being the margin.
Both DMP groups were won outright with four wins out of five -- Neil Young and Simonetta Herrera the successful parties.
Simonetta edged into second place in the AGP table, but is still 121 points behind Stephen Little.
There was also time for an impromptu additional five player DMP Tourno, which was won by Ian Tarr.
24/10/14: Andy wins promotion clash
The Lansdown, Bath, was the venue today for a vital Premier Two Red promotion clash.
The protagonists were Andy Boysan and Miles Farren, and it was Andy who prevailed, winning 11-7.
He moves into second place in the league table, and will be looking to win his final match to give him a good chance of staying there.
The defeat has left Miles in the role of outsider, as he needs all four relevant remaining results to go in his favour to have a chance of finishing second.
24/10/14: Stuart wins to take GP30 title
There were just eight players present to contest the fourth and final instalment of the GP30> series at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
And Stuart Mann defeated Simonetta Herrera, Stephen Little and Roland Herrera to win the main flight.
The final, which ended 9-7 in Stuart's favour, was effectively a GP30 title play-off, as Roland would have taken the title had he won.
Stuart ends the season just five points ahead of Roland, having contested just two of the four events. He has won both.
Tim Line won the consolation flight, defeating Ian Tarr and Simon Hughes in the process.
22/10/14: Simonetta still in the hunt
Stuart Mann visited Kellaway Avenue today for a Premier One encounter with Simonetta Herrera.
And Simonetta scored an 11-2 victory to keep alive her title chances.
Now only she and Steffen Nowak can overhaul Gaz Owen, as Stuart is out of the running.
There was also some knock-out action at the Bristol County Sports Club, where Ian Tarr defeated Miles Farren in the held over consolation final of the October Grand Prix tournament.
21/10/14: Chrissy and Ian win round robins
Nine players took part in the latest Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club.
3 point round robins were the order of the day as the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix entered its eighth phase of seventeen.
That meant two groups, one of five players, the other of four.
In the five player group Chrissy Carter took the spoils with three wins out of four, while a clean sweep of three victories saw Ian Tarr win the other group.
Runaway AGP leader Stephen Little takes a lead of 132 points into the remaining weeks, where discards will now begin to bite.
17/10/14: Ed safe, Mike in peril, Simon second
There were fourteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, ten forming two groups of five in the latest phase of the Clock Blitz Grand Prix, while four played out Premier League double headers.
And as is usual at this time of the year the league matches all had a bearing on important unresolved issues.
Ed Turner reached the safe haven of twelve Premier One victories by beating Mike Smith 11-9.
And although Mike hit back to win the return 11-7 to move out of the bottom four, he has now finished his fixtures and his chances of staying above the dotted line do not look good.
Meanwhile the four horse race to join Nick Barham in the promotion bracket took another turn when Simon Baker pressed his claim well with a double success against Richard Owsley, winning 11-3 and 11-9.
He is now second in the Premier Two Red table, and will clinch that promotion place if he wins his final two matches -- both against Paul Watts.
The complication there is that Paul is one of the other contenders, and a brace of wins would also give him a chance.
Miles Farren and Andy Boysan are the others in the mix.
The blitz round robins saw clean sweeps of four wins apiece for Simonetta Herrera in one group and Ian Tarr in the other.
And while the points totals at the top of the CBGP table remain unaltered because of discards, the situation between the apparent joint leaders Nick Barham and Roland Herrera remains in Nick's favour.
The tie-break criteria had Nick ahead at the third level with a head-to-head advantage over Roland, having won their only meeting in this year's competitions.
Nick now has the additional advantage thanks to the second level of tie-break, which concerns total number of tournaments entered.
With one event remaining it is now clear that Roland will need to increase his overall points tally to take the title.
He can do this by winning at least four matches in the final event.
15/10/14: Stuart maintains slim chance
There were three Premier One matches played this afternoon.
Stuart Mann defeated John Corrado 11-8 at the Prince of Wales, Westbury-on-Trym, to keep alive his slim chance of landing a sixth league title.
The Globe, Newton St Loe, was a new venue for Bristol Backgammon matches, and it was here that Tim Line and Chas Perry played out a double header.
11-2 wins were the order of the day, first for Tim, then for Chas.
Tim will need a win in his final match to stand a realistic chance of staying up.
14/10/14: Miles stays in contention
The Albion, Clifton, was the venue for this evening's Premier Two Red clash.
Sean Hopson and Miles Farren traded blows, reaching 7-6 to Sean, before an eight cubed game decided the issue in Miles' favour.
Miles remains very much in promotion contention, and continues to vie with Andy Boysan, Paul Watts and Paul Watts for the honour of accompanying Nick Barham into the top flight.
13/10/14: Gary up as Cecilia misses out again
Gary Plant will be playing Premier One backgammon for the first time next season.
He has been occupying a top two position for most of the season, and will now do so to the very end after Pearl Foster's 11-9 Premier Two Blue win over Cecilia Sparke at the Bristol County Sports Club decided things this evening.
Pearl had led 5-1, then slipped to 5-10 down, before launching the decisive comeback.
Cecilia's consistency is now legendary.
Six previous successive seasons at Premier Two level have all -- bizarrely -- resulted in a fourth place finish in her division.
One two of those occasions only average points difference separated her from a promotion place, and twice more she was just 3 points away.
This season she will finish either third or fourth, missing out on an automatic promotion slot once more.
She will hope for a third place finish which might just put her in pole position for a back door elevation, should the chance arise.
There was also a match from Premier Two Red completed.
Andy Boysan moved into second place when he beat Fred North 11-9.
And six players fought out the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix -- a Nackgammon Tourno.
Stephen Little is beginning to run away with this competition.
This time he shared the spoils with Simonetta Herrera, both players scoring six points from their five games.
His overall lead over second placed Roland Herrera has increased from 92 points to 137.
10/10/14: OCTOBER GRAND PRIX TOURNAMENT ROUND-UP ......
There were nineteen players in action on Thursday, including the fifteen who contested the October Grand Prix tournament.
10/10/14: Richard and Roland reach final ......
Richard Owsley and Roland Herrera made it to the final of the October Grand Prix main flight at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
Richard's route to the final took him past Simonetta Herrera, John Chester and Simon Hughes, while Roland's victims were Cynthia Roberts, Steffen Nowak and James Newman.
The final will no doubt be played some time soon.
10/10/14: Ian and Miles to contest consolation flight final ......
The consolation final of Thursday's tournament, when it is played, will involve Miles Farren and Ian Tarr.
10/10/14: Neil's OGP lead getting safer ......
Without increasing his overall points tally Neil Young looks ever more secure in pole position of the OGP table.
The 144 points lead he carried forward from September is wholly intact, as although Neil didn't do enough to add to his tally, neither did his three closest pursuers.
And with just two events remaining, time is running out for any late challenge.
10/10/14: John retakes IGP lead ......
John Chester picked up 45 IGP points, courtesy of a first round win over Ian Tarr, and has retaken the IGP lead from Chris Hughes.
10/10/14: Small rollover to November tournament ......
Only three players invested in the Winner Takes All pool on Thursday, and when Simon Hughes exited the event at the semi-final stage, a modest rollover to the November tournament was assured.
Meanwhile the finalists of Thursday's main flight will have more than mere cash and grand prix points to play for, as the tenth of sixteen 2015 Bristol Masters places is also at stake.
10/10/14: League wins for Stuart, Ed and Miles ......
Mike Smith's place in the top flight of the Bristol Premier League is looking a little more precarious after he suffered an 8-11 defeat to Stuart Mann at the Star and Dove yesterday evening.
He probably now needs to win both his remaining matches to stay up.
Meanwhile Ed Turner was taking a major step towards safety by recovering from a 3-10 deficit to pip Chas Perry at the Bristol County Sports Club.
And Richard Owsley was effectively ruled out of promotion contention when he lost his Premier Two Red match with Miles Farren 7-11.
Miles is well in the mix to take that second promotion slot after the win.
08/10/14: Simon's Star and Dove lifeline
A crucial Premier One double header took place at the Star and Dove this evening, and the two protagonists -- both eager to preserve their top flight status -- suffered contrasting fortunes.
Mike Smith was looking for a brace of wins to be pretty close to being safe, while Simon would have had cause for considerable unease had he suffered a brace of defeats.
In the event the reverse was the case, with Simon's 11-10 and 11-2 victories giving him renewed reason for optimism, while Mike will now probably need at least two wins from his final three matches to stay up.
08/10/14: Malcolm and Peter finish with a marathon session
The Bristol County Sports Club yesterday played host to the league season's climax for Malcolm Patterson and Peter Thistlewood.
Their Premier Two Red double header resulted in 11-9 victories for both players, and a staggering total of thirty-eight games played!
This correspondent has broken into a cold sweat just thinking about it......
06/10/14: Horst wins Intermediates Trophy
The final of last Thursday's Intermediates Trophy was played before the regular Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club.
And although John Chester led early on, it was Horst Stenzel who came through with a 7-4 win for the best moment yet in his fledgling backgammon career.
Alongside the advertised event Andy Brown and Miles Farren played a Premier Two Red match, Miles' 11-5 victory being aided by an early double backgammon.
Andy has now finished his campaign, and sits proudly in the second promotion slot.
He is very unlikely to stay there, however, as a cluster of five players with between two and four matches remaining stand poised to overhaul him.
Miles is one of these.
But although Andy's chances of promotion are extremely slim, this should not detract from a season which has seen him transformed from also ran into contender.
There were seven players ready and waiting to contest the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix.
But seven is the wrong number for a 3-point round robin, so Director Ian Tarr stood down to make it a more manageable six.
AGP leader Stephen Little made the most of the non-participation of his three closest rivals by winning the group to score a handy 75 points, extending his lead to 92.
03/10/14: Tim is inaugural Brunel Trophy winner
The inaugural Brunel Trophy reached it's conclusion at the Bristol County Sports Club last night.
The thirty-fourth match of this year-long double elimination tournament saw Tim Line, who has remained undefeated throughout, defeat Ed Turner 11-8 to take the title.
The tournament was initially devised to stimulate attendance at Thursday tournaments by giving players qualification points throughout the year.
The format was the brain child of the generous anonymous sponsor of the event, and to be honest, the qualification process in 2013 can only be said to have had a minimal effect on tournament attendance.
There are signs now, however, that more players are mindful of their qualification status, as those who have contested this year's competition have been eager to qualify for the 2015 Brunel Trophy, and some of those who didn't qualify last year are making sure they do this time.
Thursday's advertised event, the Intermediates Trophy, always provides a mixed bag of entrants.
Some of those you might expect to contest it don't make it, while others unexpectedly come out of the woodwork.
The field has varied netween five and fifteen during its thirteen year existence, and last night there were just seven.
It's not over, however, as Thursday debutant Horst Stenzel and John Chester agreed to hold it over.
John was the lucky recipient of a bye, and beat Dave Cank in the semis, while Horst was victorious over Colin Sara and Warner Solomon.
Meanwhile there was Premier Two Red action elsewhere.
The Rose of Denmark was the venue as Richard Owsley kept his slim promotion hopes alive with an 11-4 win over Fred North.
01/10/14: Eleven penalised at September 30th checkpoint
The September 30th midnight checkpoint has passed, and eleven players have incurred penalties, including one whose July penalty point has been firmed up.
That player is Fred North of Premier Two Red, who experienced the same thing at the last checkpoint.
Fred had two penalty points which became permanent in July, and now has a total of three permanent penalties, plus the single point incurred this time, which he can claw back if he finishes the season on time.
Others who have incurred initial penalties in his division are Miles Farren 2, Richard Owsley 2 and Simon Baker 1.
Premier Two Blue had a clean bill of health at this checkpoint, but there were seven players in the top flight falling foul of the system this time.
It seems that the "wizened old pros" of Premier One in particular have developed the habit of being up with the schedule at the July checkpoint, only to hang back at the September checkpoint in the hope that they will have a clearer view of what they need to succeed at either end of the table, knowing that they will claw the points back by the end of the season.
Director Ian Tarr's mind is being exercised, as he looks at ways to combat this phenomenon.
The seven players who have points to claw back are Simonetta Herrera 3, Simon Hughes 3, Mike Smith 2, Stuart Mann 1, Steffen Nowak 1, Chas Perry 1 and Ed Turner 1.
29/09/14: Alex promoted; Chrissy scoops Tric Trac Tourno pot
Another Premier League issue has been resolved.
Alex Hodge edged through a tense match against Pearl Foster 11-9 and is back on top of Premier Two Blue.
With just two promotion slots available Alex, who has now finished his league programme, can be passed by the displaced Gary Plant.
He can also be overhauled by Cecilia Sparke.
The twist in this tale, however, is that he cannot be passed by both players, as they still have to meet, so Alex is certain of promotion.
Should Gary win that match, he would be back on top as champion, and Cecilia's hopes would be dashed.
Should he lose to Cecilia, however, his fate would then depend on Pearl, as she is Cecilia's other remaining opponent.
Two wins for Cecilia would see her finish as champion.
The other ten players present contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, which took the form of a Tric Trac Tourno.
The field included welcome debutante Natalie Singh, who acquitted herself nobly by finishing fourth of the ten.
Chrissy Carter took the honours here, finishing four points ahead of her nearest rivals.
Stephen Little's AGP lead over second placed Roland Herrera has been reduced to seventeen points.
29/09/14: Title odds now substantially shorter for Gaz
A key match in the Premier One title race was fought out at the Bridge Inn, Yatton, today.
Stuart Mann won the reverse fixture at at Colston Yard on September 11th, but this time Gaz Owen turned the tables with an 11-3 victory, which featured an eight-cube with the score at 8-3 in Gaz's favour.
The win gives Gaz a nine points cushion at the top, and his title odds will have tumbled after this match.
It's too early to say that the others are playing for second place, but Gaz has things very much in his own hands now.
26/09/14: Setback for Gaz; Eamonn completes season
Three Premier League matches were played today -- one in Premier One, two in Premier Two Red.
Gaz Owen was again in action, as he needs to claw back the penalty point incurred at the end of July.
The venue this time was the Swan, Conham Hill, and Gaz suffered a setback, losing 7-11 to Chas Perry.
Chas is rounding into some very good form, and having moved up to fifth in his maiden season in the top flight, still retains a vestige of title hope himself.
While Gaz remains the favourite, today's result gives encouragenment to his pursuers.
Meanwhile, back at the Bristol County Sports Club, Eamonn Reay was completing his mission to play his final eight Red Division matches in three days.
Defeating Fred North and losing to Simon Baker gave Eamonn a useful return of four wins out of the eight, and leaves him rueing his slow start to the season.
Simon's victory cements his promotion ambitions, as -- having moved into third place -- nobody can stop him claiming a promotion place should he win his final four matches.
26/09/14: Gaz a step closer; Eamonn wins clock event
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday evening, including the fifteen who took part in the fifth of this year's six Clock Tournament Grand Prix events.
The early action was at Colston Yard, where Gaz Owen took another important step towards taking his second Premier League title by defeating Simon Hughes 11-5.
For Simon, this means he has little margin for error if he is to remain in the top flight for next season.
In the tournament Eamonn Reay may well have benefitted by limbering up with six Premier Two Red matches in two days, as he swept all before him to win his first Bristol Backgammon tournament.
Wins over Neil Young, Steve Morris, Jason Champion and Roland Herrera in the final did it for him.
Roland had beaten Stephen Little, Steffen Nowak and Simon.
Simonetta Herrera won the consolation flight, beating Stephen in the final.
CTGP leader Andy Boysan failed to add to his points tally, as his 15 points haul was discarded, but the good news for him was that nobody made substantial inroads into his lead, which Chris Hughes cut from 70 points to 55.
And another achiever on the night was Stephen, who made his Bristol Backgammon bow less than two months ago.
In that short space of time he has already accumulated enough points in the Race to the Premier League to ensure that he will be receiving a Premier League invitation for 2015 and, of course, beyond.
25/09/14: Eamonn off the bottom
The first of Eamonn Reay's three scheduled league matches at the Bristol County Sports Club today went right to the wire.
And Eamonn pipped Paul Watts with a post-Crawford gammon to haul himself off the bottom of Premier Two Red at Fred North's expense.
But Paul had his revenge, winning the return 11-7.
Paul's victory keeps him in promotion contention.
A quickfire match with James Lintell-Smith followed, and some heavy doubling resulted in a win for James, by 11-8.
25/09/14: Blue Division victory for Pearl
Another league match played at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday came in Premier Two Blue.
Pearl Foster defeated Malcolm Patterson 11-3.
24/09/14: Eamonn's latest Roadshow gives him some hope
Eamonn Reay has been absent for a few months now, but is back with a vengeance.
He has arranged his final eight Premier Two Red matches for today, tomorrow and Friday, and started the gruelling sequence with an 11-7 victory over Sean Hopson at the Bristol County Sports Club this lunchtime.
At the same venue this evening, his double header with Andy Brown yielded a 1-11 defeat followed by an 11-8 victory.
Two wins out of three constitutes a good start to his visit, giving him real hope of escaping from the bottom places.
For Andy the session was a mixed blessing.
He moves into the second promotion place, but realistically will need a win in his final match to stand a chance of staying there.
23/09/14: John relegated at the Kings Arms
John Corrado and Ian Tarr met at the Kings Arms for a Premier One encounter this evening.
And the 11-6 win for Ian signalled John's relegation from the top flight, barring any penalty or expungement issues.
Ian is now almost safe from the threat of the drop -- one more win from his final two fixtures will do it.
23/09/14: Roland, Stephen and John take/share the Monday pots
There were eight players present at the latest Monday session, all there to contest the fourth phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, a pair of four player three point round robins.
Stephen Little and John Chester shared the pot in one of the groups, while Roland Herrera took the other one outright.
Stephen, who is also the leading intermediate in the competition, had his overall lead reduced to 42 points over second placed Roland.
There was also time for a seven player DMP Tourno, where Stephen again cashed.
23/09/14: Don Hatt
Don Hatt, who -- with his wife Jean, and occasionally his grandson James -- visited Bristol events between 1993 and 2000, died on August 16th, aged 82.
He is remembered in the obituaries section on the BIBA website.
23/09/14: Several Bristol successes at the inaugural UKBGF Open
The UKBGF has been some time in development -- and there is lots still to be achieved to set it up as it should be -- but it took a firm first step along the road with the weekend's event in Coventry.
The inaugural UK Backgammon Open was attended by around 150 players in three categories -- Championship, Intermediates and Beginners -- and the hub of the action was the Legends Lounge at the Ricoh Arena, the home of Coventry City FC.
There was a strong Bristol presence, from which emanated some successes.
Nick Barham had already bagged his Championship place for a pittance when he won the Bristol Qualifier back in April, and a pre-tournament (Friday) satellite event saw Steve Morris do the same in the Intermediate section.
On to Saturday and the centrepieces of the event were the double elimination knock-outs for the Championship and the Intermediates.
Best in the Championship main event was Gaz Owen, who fought his way through the winners bracket to be one of the eight survivors for Sunday's final stages, all in competition for the weekend's biggest prizes.
There he fell to London's busiest player, Tariq Siddiqi, but although this saw him fall one match short of the official prize money, a pre-match deal still saw him profit handsomely from his efforts.
Saturday evening saw the start of two consulting doubles events.
The Super Doubles was contested by eight pairs paying £100 to enter, while the Doubles (entry £20 per pair) saw seventeen pairs in contention.
In this latter event, Cynthia Roberts and Ian Tarr were unfortunate enough to be drawn into the only preliminary round match but, undaunted, they successfully made their way through four matches to reach the final, where they would meet another Bristol pair -- Steve Morris and Warner Solomon.
This match was held over until Sunday, to be played when the four protagonists had been eliminated from Sunday's consolation 5-point knock-outs, the Championship Arena Cup and the Intermediates Arena Cup.
But although Cynthia, Steve and Warner failed to progress very far in the Intermediates event, Ian Tarr's progress in the Championship section was to prove a fly in the ointment, as far as completion of the doubles was concerned.
Eventually qualifying for the semi-finals ahead of the rest of the draw, Ian was able to settle down for the doubles.
And after falling 0-2 behind, a double gammon turned the match in Cynthia's and Ian's favour, to the point where they were able to claim the title of inaugural UK Doubles champions.
Returning to individual action, Ian was hoping for an all-Bristol semi-final, as Nick was pitted against top London player Eric McAlpine.
Eric prevailed, however, but Ian took an early lead in the semi.
The coup de grace came when Ian, 3-2 ahead, pondered an awkward bear-off cube. Ian took, rolled well, and was in the final.
Interestingly, it later emerged that all spectators (and Eric) felt Ian should have dropped the cube -- all, that is, except World #2 Giant Michihito Kageyama, who declared it a take, albeit a very difficult one.
In the final, Ian met another Londoner Chris Jeans, and while Ian led for most of the way, a cube acceptance was his undoing this time.
Leading 5-4 in the first-to-7 match, the match clinching gammon Chris won was very much unexpected by both players.
Chris had also defeated another Bristol player in a final.
This time it was Neil Young, who succumbed in the 128-player weekend long 1-point £5 entry knock-out, although he did cash handsomely.
Another success was quite extraordinary.
The World's acknowledged top two players, Michi and Masayuki Mochizuki (a k a Mochy), have devised a proficiency test, comprising 50 backgammon problems.
This is a multiple choice quiz, and they have staged this at many tournaments around the world.
The average success rate during all this time is 22 out of 50, and the average at this particular event was 21 out of 50.
At this event the highest scorer was none other than Tim Line, whose score (42) outstripped not only the other participants at the tournament, but all entrants at every other tournament!
All in all, a great event, both for the UK and for Bristol.
22/09/14: Warner wins GP5 event
Thursday's GP5 event at the Bristol County Sports Club was well attended, with eighteen players contesting the tournament, while two others played a brace of Conference League matches.
The league matches involved Jude Pitt and Rob Brito, and honours were even -- Rob winning 11-4 before succumbing 3-11 in the return.
Jude moves into second place in the league.
An earlier league match took place at the Bridge Inn, Yatton, where Tim Line suffered a body blow in his fight to avoid relegation from Premier One.
Leading 10-8 Crawford, his opponent Stuart Mann won a freak backgammon to steal the match and keep his slender title hopes just about alive.
The final of the GP5 main flight was held over because of time constraints, but with both protagonists visiting the big event in Coventry at the weekend, they took the opportunity to finish things there.
Warner Solomon, whose dedication to the game is such that he travels from Totnes, Devon, for his nearest organised events, defeated Simonetta Herrera, Ian Tarr and Chris Hughes en route to the final, while Steve Morris was getting past Deana Romain, Ed Turner and Cynthia Roberts.
The final, on Saturday -- the first Bristol Backgammon match to be played at the Legends Lounge of Coventry's Ricoh Arena -- saw Warner prevail for his first Bristol tournament success.
The consolation flight had seen Steffen Nowak returning to tournament action to good effect with wins over Angie Vick, John Chester and ultimately Simon Hughes.
Roland Herrera holds a 35 points lead going into the last of the six GP5 events in November.
18/09/14: Jude wins at the Hare
Jude Pitt defeated Chris Hughes 11-6 at the Hare, Bedminster, last night in a Conference League match.
17/09/14: Another hefty defeat for Ian
The Cornubia was the venue for tonight's Premier One match.
And for the second successive night Ian Tarr was on the wrong end of a heavy defeat.
Steffen Nowak was the winner this time, and his 11-3 victory moved him up to the safe haven of twelve wins.
Ian also rises up the table, courtesy of the three penalty points he reclaimed by complying with the terms of the September 30th checkpoint.
Tim Line becomes the latest player to slip back into the bottom four.
17/09/14: Stuart wins September GP tournament
The two remaining matches from the September Grand Prix tournament were played at the Ship, Park Row, yesterday evening.
First up was the outstanding semi-final featuring Stuart Mann and Tony Walters.
Stuart edged this one 7-6 to set up a final meeting with Neil Young.
Neil led most of the way, but never won another point after getting to 9-4.
Neil has to be content with "just" three grand prix wins this year, plus an OGP lead of 144 points to take into the final three events.
Stuart has secured a place in the 2015 Bristol Masters, and won the Winner Takes All pool for good measure.
16/09/14: One sided match at the Fire Engine
Chas Perry and Ian Tarr met for a Premier One match atthe Fire Engine this evening, and it proved to be a very one sided encounter.
Ian spent almost the entire time during the first three games on the bar, falling 0-6 behind.
In the following game Ian was wrong to accept a cube, and ended up 0-10 in arrears, and the final game followed a similar pattern to the first three.
Ian is back in the bottom four, while Chas has moved out of that zone into the top half of the table.
15/09/14: Andy steps up promotion challenge
There were ten players in action on Monday at the Bristol County Sports Club.
While eight were involved in the latest phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, Andy Brown and Miles Farren played a close fought Premier Two Red match.
Miles led for most of the match, but was unable to shake off his opponent, Andy eventually claiming an 11-9 victory, which moves him up to third place in the table, marking him out as a genuine promotion contender, while Miles -- while also in contention -- has suffered a setback.
The advertised event took the form of a DMP Tourno, and this was also closely fought, with six of the eight players bunched together on five and four wins.
The five time winners -- sharing the pot -- were Stephen Little, Chris Hughes and Roland Herrera.
The consistent Stephen has now moved into a 52 points lead, while Roland is now second.
13/09/14: Late results from the Cornubia
Two late results have emerged from a double header at the Cornubia on Thursday.
The protagonists were Sean Hopson and James Lintell-Smith, whose Premier Two Red encounters ended 11-6 to James and 11-8 to Sean.
12/09/14: ALL THE NEWS FROM LESTERS 92 ......
Nineteen players contested the 92nd Lesters Trophy event on Thursday, and four of those got in some league action beforehand.
12/09/14: Neil awaits final opponent ......
Neil Young's dominance of the 2014 monthly grand prix scene continued at the Thursday tournament when he defeated Steve Morris, Gaz Owen and Richard Owsley to reach the final for the fourth time in seven tournaments this year.
There he will face either Tony Walters or Stuart Mann.
Tony came through three close matches against Simon Hughes, Blaine Buchanan, returning to competition for the first time this year, and Cecilia Sparke, while Stuart's victims were John Chester and James Newman.
12/09/14: Simon wins consolation flight ......
Simon Hughes missed the chance to score big OGP points when he was eliminated from the main flight of Thursday's tournament at the first hurdle.
But he made the best of a bad job by winning the consolation flight, defeating John Chester, Roland Herrera and Simonetta Herrera.
12/09/14: Who can stop Neil taking the OGP title now? ......
Neil Young's already commanding OGP lead has increased to 144 points after his run to the final of Thursday's tournament.
And with 40 points available to the winner of the final, it would be difficult for anyone to mount a meaningful challenge in the three remaining tournaments, given that we are already deep into discard territory.
Simon Hughes also has a strong hold on second place, with third placed Nick Barham a further 58 points back.
12/09/14: Chris takes IGP lead ......
John Chester's three month tenure of the IGP lead ended when Chris Hughes moved into pole position last night.
Chris's defeat of Tim Line, complete with bonus points, was enough to put him 43 points clear.
12/09/14: Neil can force a rollover ......
If Neil Young wins the held over final of Thursday's tournament, there will be an £80 Winner Takes All pool rollover to tempt investors at the October tournament, as both of his potential final opponents -- Stuart Mann and Tony Walters -- are in the pool, while he isn't.
12/09/14: Leader Gaz will take nothing for granted ......
If Premier One leader Gaz Owen needed reminding that a good lead guarantees nothing, that reminder came yesterday evening at Colston Yard, when he suffered a 4-11 defeat at the hands of Stuart Mann.
Gaz is still odds on to take the title, but will still need to win a good proportion of his six remaining matches.
Stuart is one of those ready to pounce sould there be any slip ups.
The other top flight pre-tournament action involved Tim Line and Ian Tarr.
When the pair turned up at the Bristol County Sports Club the intention was to fit in a single match.
However, when that match was over in a single game -- Tim won with an eight-cubed gammon -- it seemed only sensible to play the return as well.
Ian managed to repair some of the damage by winning a much closer affair 11-9.
Both players have moved out of the bottom four, to the chagrin of Mike Smith and Chas Perry.
But the league is so tight that, apart from the leader and the bottom two, all players are covered by just six points!
10/09/14: Gaz a step closer to title
Wednesday afternoon league action consisted of four results, all potentially having a bearing on the season's important issues.
Premier One leader Gaz Owen returned to the scene of his previous victory, the Portcullis.
And the outcome was the same -- an 11-5 win -- although this time the victim was Ed Turner.
With just four defeats all season, the destiny of the league title is in his own hands, although a lot can happen in seven games, which is what he has left.
Also in the top flight, Steve Morris played host to Ian Tarr for a double header, the outcome of which was important to both players because of their involvement in the chase to escape the bottom four relegation slots.
Ian managed a brace of wins -- 11-8 and 11-4 -- thus slightly easing his own worries while increasing those of Steve, who will very possibly need to win his final match to retain his Premier One status.
The other match was actually just the end of a match.
James Newman and Malcolm Patterson had adjourned at 8-8 on Monday evening, and returned to the Bristol County Sports Club to finish things off.
James nicked it 11-9 to retain his outside interest in the Premier Two Blue promotion race.
10/09/14: Steffen and Cecilia suffer title blows
Three more results from last night featured disappointments for title candidates in Premier One and Premier Two Blue.
Steffen Nowak, who led the top division only on Monday was defeated twice by Chas Perry at the Star and Dove -- 11-6 and 11-9.
The latter match featured a Chas comeback from 2-9 down.
This leaves Gaz Owen as the overwhelming favourite to take the title for a second time.
The victories were much needed for Chas, whose chances of survival in a fascinatingly close race to avoid the drop have been drastically enhanced.
In the Blue Division, at the Ram, Bath, it was Cecilia Sparke who was on the wrong end of an 11-10 result against Andrew Cobb, for whom this was a first victory in nine league matches.
Here we have a four way fight for occupation of the promotion places, although James Newman must be regarded as the outsider.
Of the three crunch matches remaining Cecilia versus leader Gary Plant is the most intriguing, while Cecilia and second placed Alex Hodge both have to play Pearl Foster.
Any of the top three can still win the title.
09/09/14: Sean beats Dave in Hawkesbury Upton
Dave Pym paid a visit to the Beaufort Arms, Hawkesbury Upton, this evening, and fell to a 10-11 Premier Two Red defeat.
09/09/14: Gaz hits the top
On a busy Monday, there were eighteen players in action, including fifteen at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Eleven took part in the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, while the others played league matches.
The Portcullis, Staple Hill, was the venue for a Premier One match which saw Gaz Owen hit the top of the league with an 11-5 victory over Phil Charlton.
Phil also moved up a place by clawing back the penalty point he incurred in July.
In Premier Two Red the race to join champion Nick Barham in next season's top flight is no closer to being resolved after Paul Watts and Andy Boysan shared the spoils of a double header at the main venue.
Assuming it will take a minimum of thirteen wins to finish second, there are still six players well in contention.
Mandy Macdonald finished her Premier Two Blue season with a win over Malcolm Patterson at the Windmill.
After a disappointing start to her season, Mandy has finished well, with seven victories in her final ten matches, to haul herself up to third from bottom.
James Newman also inflicted defeat on Malcolm at the Bristol County Sports Club, and has kept his slim promotion hopes alive.
He will need to win all of his three remaining matches to stand a chance, however, including the return match with Malcolm, which was adjourned tantalisingly at 8-8.
In the advertised AGP event, which took the form of a pair of 3-point round robins, Mark Shipton was making his first appearance since December 2011.
Simonetta Herrera won the five player group, while there was a three way tie in the six player group.
Roland Herrera, Stephen Little and Pat Meek all won four matches each, but as Pat had taken the zero entry fee option, the prize money was shared between Roland and Stephen.
Stephen thus consolidated his position as early leader of the AGP, with his lead already close to 40 points ahead of second placed Ian Tarr.
05/09/14: Neil and Simon are Bristol's doubles champions
The now annual Bristol Consulting Doubles Championship was contested by six pairs at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
And the 2014 champions are Neil Young and Simon Hughes, who fought their way through three matches to take the title.
Their victims were, in turn, John Chester and Stephen Little, Tim Line and James Newman, and Andy Brown and Andy Boysan.
Reigning champions Gaz and Luke Owen won the consolation flight, defeating Ian Tarr and Drew Caudwell, and then John and Stephen in the final.
And before the doubles tournament, the surviving players in the inaugural Brunel Trophy were reduced to two in number when Tim scored a hard fought victory over Richard Owsley, who will share the third and fourth place prize money with James Newman.
So unbeaten Tim and once defeated Ed Turner will fight out a seventh round, where Tim will take the title with a win, while a victory for Ed would see the pair contest an eighth and final round to become the first winner of this double elimination event.
04/09/14: Stuart suffers first defeat in six
In a lunch-time match at the Bristol County Sports Club today Ian Tarr defeated Stuart Mann 11-9 to haul himself off the bottom of the Premier One league table.
It was Stuart's first league defeat in six matches, and could have been worse.
After trailing 2-9 he clawed his way right back to parity, and with the cube on two a tense game went Ian's way.
03/09/14: Phil wins in Redland
In a Premier One match at the Kensington Arms, Redland, yesterday evening, Phil Charlton beat Steve Morris 11-10.
02/09/14: Bittersweet night for Nick
Four league matches were played on Tuesday evening, with a double header at the Pump House taking centre stage.
It was here that Nick Barham had mixed fortunes.
In defeating Andy Boysan 11-6, Nick not only made sure of the Premier Two Red title, but he equalled Gaz Owen's all time record 1000 to 1 sequence of eighteen victories, equating to 250,000 to 1!
One more win and Nick would have claimed Gaz's generous sponsorship prize of £100 for creating a new record.
And it was a close thing, Andy finally winning 11-10, leaving Nick with a mere share of the record.
While Nick has a massive lead at the top of the table, the win was important for Andy, who has as good a chance as anyone of claiming the second automatic promotion place.
Meanwhile there was a win for Mandy Macdonald, who pipped Malcolm Patterson 11-10 in their Premier Two Blue match at the Windmill.
And in the Conference League Jude Pitt took a step towards consolidating third place with an 11-1 victory over Tom Chapman at the Bristol County Sports Club.
02/09/14: Stephen takes Monday Tric Trac honours
Eight players were present at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday to contest the first phase of the Monday Club Autumn Grand Prix, which took the form of a Tric Trac Tourno.
And the outcome was seldom in doubt after Stephen Little racked up two backgammons to boost his points tally.
Stephen thus becomes the first leader of the AGP, with Mathew Nicholls in second place.
There was also time to fit in a five player DMP Tourno, where John Chester and Ian Tarr shared the pot.
29/08/14: Seventeen in Thursday action
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
Malcolm Patterson and Neil Young fought out a Premier Two Blue match, which Neil won 11-4, while the other fifteen were there for the fifth of six Handicap Trophy events.
Richard Owsley took the honours in the main flight, defeating Andy Boysan, Ed Turner and Stephen Little before despatching Steve Morris in the final.
Steve had beaten James Newman, Ian Preston and Mandy Macdonald en route to the final.
Ian Tarr took the consolation flight with victories over Andy, John Corrado and Chris Hughes.
Handicap Trophy specialist Ian Preston had his overall lead over second placed James cut from 60 points to 45, but there is a good chance that this will be enough to see him through to his now customary title.
27/08/14: John wins at the Port of Call
Phil Charlton and John Corrado fought out a Premier One match at the Port of Call, Clifton, on Tuesday, John winning 11-9 to haul himself off the bottom of the league table.
26/08/14: Conference win for Jude
Tom Chapman and Jude Pitt met this evening at the Bristol County Sports Club for a Bristol Conference League match.
And it was Jude who prevailed, winning 11-8.
26/08/14: Ed ends James's great Brunel run
James Newman's run to the latter stages of the inaugural Brunel Trophy came to an end last night at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Ed Turner defeated him 11-9, and there are now just three players left standing.
The good news for James is that he is at least assured of a cash prize for finishing amongst the final four.
The other sixth round match involves unbeaten Tim Line and Richard Owsley.
22/08/14: Ian, Ed and Steve take round robin prizes
There were twelve players toeing the start line for the fifth of this year's six Round Robin Grand Prix events at the Bristol County Sports Club, meaning two groups of six, playing each other in 3-point matches.
Ian Tarr took the pot in one group with a clean sweep of five victories, while in the other group Steve Morris and Ed Turner shared the pot with four wins apiece.
Ed is now in a very strong position to take the RRGP title -- his 15 points lead being deceptive.
Taking into account discards, only second and third placed Ian Tarr and Cynthia Roberts would appear to have any real chance of overhauling Ed, and either would need a sterling performance in the final session.
20/08/14: Fire Engine win for Phil
Phil Charlton visited the Fire Engine, Redfield, this evening for a Premier One encounter with Ian Tarr.
He raced into a 7-0 lead, but was pegged back to 9-9, before winning what turned out to be the decider.
19/08/14: Gary still waiting
There were ten players competing at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday evening.
Two knock-out loose ends were tied up, an important league match was played, and eight players played out 3-point round robins in the final session of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix .
First to finish was the held over main final from last week's Monthly Grand Prix, where Nick Barham extended his potentially ground breaking 1000 to 1 sequence to seventeen wins -- the equivalent to 125000 to 1!
His 11-1 victory over Simon Hughes -- Simon's third monthly final defeat of the year -- brought him up to third in the OGP, and ensured that leader Neil Young has a nice bit of breathing space with four tournaments to go.
The consolation final of the July Clock GP tournament saw victory for Neil over Roland Herrera.
Neil then went on to play a Premier Two Blue match, taking on leader Gary Plant.
With the score at 3-2 in Neil's favour a sixteen cube brought proceedings to an end with Gary eventually getting hit in the bear off to lose 2-11.
The odds are still in Gary's favour as he strives to cross that promotion line, but with every result that comes in, they are narrowing.
Nick and Roland were also among the eight SGP contestants.
The two groups of four saw clean sweeps for Simonetta Herrera and John Chester, two of the main SGP title protagonists.
So close in points terms were John and the two Herreras before the tournament, it was always likely that discards would be a major factor in the final analysis.
And so it proved, as John's discard score of 30 told against him when compared to Simonetta's 15.
So Simonetta takes the SGP title, with second placed John winning the top intermediate prize.
16/08/14: One apiece for Fred and Sean
Fred North visited Sean Hopson's local, the Beuafort, Hawkesbury Upton, for a Premier Two Red double header yesterday.
Honours were practically even, with Fred winning the opening encounter 11-10 before Sean struck back to take the return 11-7.
15/08/14: Simon and sixteen-up Nick in GP final
Sixteen players took part in the August Grand Prix event at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
And Nick Barham continued his astonishing run of success by reaching the main final via wins over Steve Morris, Chris Hughes and Roland Herrera.
In that held over final he will meet Simon Hughes, who is having a very strong OGP season himself.
Simon's victims were Ed Turner, Ian Tarr and James Newman.
Nick's wins brought his winning sequence for 1000 to 1 purposes to sixteen, the second longest sequence recorded during the long history of the sponsorship.
Miles Farren won the consolation flight, defeating Richard Owsley, Drew Caudwell and OGP leader Neil Young.
Neil, who won't even be in discard territory until October at the earliest, garnered 25 points to add to his already impressive tally, which now stands at 425.
Simon, meanwhile, is ensuring that the OGP race is not yet a foregone conclusion.
Should he win the final, he would move to within 45 points of Neil, albeit with that discard disadvantage.
The opposite result in the final would see Nick move into a relatively distant third place.
Four intermediates took part, although the term should only loosely be applied to recent arrival Stephen Little.
In just a handful of visits, he is already virtually half way -- in the Race to the Premier League -- towards earning a Premier League invitation come the year end.
His initial IGP points tally was 45 points, including bonus points for beating a Premier One player.
John Chester still heads the IGP table, but Chris Hughes has now closed to within seven points of the lead.
14/08/14: Honours even in Wiltshire
Phil Charlton visited Tim Line's Wiltshire home yesterday for a Premier One double header, and the outcome of each match was 11-3.
Phil took the first match, Tim the second.
12/08/14: Fred promotes Nick, while Alex piles on the pressure
Three Premier Two matches -- all with a bearing on promotion issues -- took place on Tuesday.
Goddards Arms in Swindon was a venue that will always bring a smile to the face of Nick Barham.
It's doubtful whether he has ever been there, but this was the place where his promotion to Premier One was sealed, when Fred North's 11-3 victory over Simon Baker ensured that only one player can now overhaul Nick, penalties excepted of course.
While Nick's elevation from Premier Two Red had seemed inevitable for a while now, the same can no longer quite be said of Gary Plant, who leads Premier Two Blue.
Gary remains a favourite to go up, but Alex Hodge, who defeated him yesterday, is showing typical determination to have his say in the proceedings.
This evening at the Bristol County Sports Club he scored a pair of wins over Andrew Cobb, and has now moved into second place at Cecilia Sparke's expense.
Alex will need to win his final match (against Pearl Foster), but if he does, Gary will need to win one of his two fixtures to stay head of Alex, while two wins out of three for Cecilia would probably see her ahead of him too.
Fourth placed James Newman's chances of breaking into this picture now look extremely remote.
11/08/14: Alex keeps hopes alive
There were ten players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, where an important Premier Two Blue match took centre stage.
This involved league leader Gary Plant and third placed Alex Hodge.
A win for Gary would have removed all doubt that he will be playing Premier One backgammon next season, while Alex needed the win to keep his challenge for second place (and possibly first place) alive.
The final result, 11-8 to Alex, kept the race alive for him, while Gary still knows that five different results all have to go against him to thwart his promotion ambition.
The other eight players present took part in the penultimate phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a DMP Tourno.
This was won by Stephen Little, whose seven wins made it a clean sweep.
At the top of the SGP table, there was no movement, as leader John Chester failed to beat his next discard score, while second and third placed Simonetta and Roland Herrera were unavailable.
So the three are still covered by less than two points going into the last event.
For fourth placed Ian Tarr nothing less than first place in a six player 3-point round robin next week will give him any chance of overhauling the others.
10/08/14: Nick is the latest 1000 to 1 winner
The 1000 to 1 award -- currently sponsored by Andy Boysan -- given to any player winning at least ten successive matches in qualifying competitions, has a new winner.
Given his recent form, it should come as no surprise that Nick Barham is currently on such a run.
Thirteen victories during a spectacular July have him on 8,000-1 so far, and under the terms of the award, the longer the run, the bigger the prize.
Can he extend the run in August? Time will tell.
08/08/14: Belated congratulations to Lily
Former Conference League player Lily Owsley will probably not be too pleased to read this.
But to most of us the winning of a Commonwealth Games silver medal would be a mind boggling scenario.
Lily, at the tender age of just nineteen, was a part of the England ladies hockey team at the Games, and played a key part in their run to the final, gold medal match, against Australia.
She scored England's only goal in the semis against New Zealand, and in the final it appeared that she might have scored the gold medal winning goal.
Australia's resilience came to the fore, however, and they netted an equaliser just seconds from the final whistle.
The shoot-out went Australia's way, so England -- and Lily -- had to be content with silver medals.
The consolation must be that, at nineteen, Lily can surely look forward to many similar oportunities in the future.
08/08/14: Nick and Tim take clock blitz spoils
Fourteen players were in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, twelve of them in the advertised Clock Blitz Grand Prix event.
The other two -- James Lintell-Smith and Richard Owsley -- played out a Premier Two Red double header, Richard prevailing in both matches.
Turnouts for the CBGP have been consistent this year.
For the fourth successive time in these events, there were two groups of six players, optimum conditions for a good contest.
Nick Barham maintained his outstanding run of form, taking one group outright with four victories out of five, while Tim Line did likewise in the other group.
Tim's ultimate success owed something to some good fortune in his final match.
With all other matches in the group completed, Tim needed the win to prevail, while a win for Peter Thistlewood would have resulted in a five way tie!
But at DMP, on the bear off, with time very low, Peter failed to notice his time running down, and was timed out.
All the clocks in use had their sound turned on at the start of the evening, so all players should have had an audible prompt of such imminent danger.
Unfortunately for Peter -- and three other onlookers -- the sound had been turned off at some stage of the evening.
This highlights a slight design fault with the DGT clocks, in that the sound button is quite close to the often used pause button.
But as each player is responsible for his/her own time management, the premature cessation of hostilities saved Tim from a situation where he would have needed at least one double to win the race.
Nick and Roland Herrera now have a very healthy 75 points CBGP lead over the rest of the field with two events remaining.
08/08/14: Brunel draw made
The draw for the sixth round of the Brunel Trophy was made before the Thursday tournament.
We are now down to the four cash prize winners.
Unbeaten Tim Line plays Richard Owsley, while Ed Turner meets James Newman. Matches are to be played by September 11th.
06/08/14: Stephen Thomas
Sad news has just been received.
Stephen Thomas, who visited eleven times between 2012 and 2013, died on June 20th.
05/08/14: Gary is almost there
Just like Nick Barham in Premier Two Red, Gary Plant is so close to the top flight that he can almost touch it.
His 11-7 victory over Chrissy Carter at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday puts him firmly at the top of the Premier Two Blue table.
Only two players can possibly overtake him, but in the case of Alex Hodge that means six results all going the right way.
Second placed Cecilia Sparke has a better chance of overhauling Gary, but even then the odds are well in Gary's favour.
The interesting thing is that Gary's three remaining matches are against Cecilia, Alex, and the under-performing Neil Young, whose league results show a marked contrast to his tremendous OGP record.
James Newman is the only other player in the division with an interest in the promotion race -- he could still sneak second place.
Neil was defeated 9-11 by Mandy Macdonald on Monday.
In the advertised Monday event, the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, there were seven players ready and willing to participate.
This so often happens when the format is 3-point round robins, where a seven player turnout heralds the only time where not all players can be accommodated, for time constraint reasons.
Ian Tarr, back in his customary directorial role, was the player to miss out, and even then it was a struggle to get all matches in on time.
Andy Boysan was on fire, and swept all before him to take the pot.
It was a good night for John Chester, despite the fact that he failed to win a match.
The three way race for the SGP title saw leader John fail to add to his tally, while his closest pursuers -- Roland Herrera and Simonetta Herrera -- failed to add enough to overhaul him.
The three protagonists are now covered by less than two points, but Roland and Simonetta will miss one of the two remaining events.
And to compound John's good fortune, Ian's non-participation ensured that the race is unlikely to become a four way thing.
05/08/14: July League checkpoint catch-up
There are still one or two pieces of news from late July still to be imparted, but the next important one concerns the July 31st Premier League checkpoint.
It is always sad when expungement from the league occurs, both for the individual concerned, and for the well being of the league itself.
Unfortunately this has happened in the case of Simon Temme of Premier Two Blue, who had experienced difficulty early in the season, but seemed to be getting back on track.
Having "overlooked" an earlier expungement, Director Ian Tarr this time had no alternative but to apply the rules to the letter, with Simon having completed just eight matches.
With four wins and four defeats for Simon, the result of wiping those results has a mixed effect on those he played.
Chrissy Carter and Gary Plant benefit by losing a defeat from their respective records, while the opposite is true for Alex Hodge and Mandy Macdonald.
For Malcolm Patterson and Neil Young the two lost results cancel one another out.
As the league will now consist of twenty matches per player, the penalty and expungement schedule for the remainder of the season has needed to be revised, as referenced in the updated Premier Two rules.
Also in the Blue Division, Malcolm Patterson has incurred a penalty point, which he can recover by complying with the terms of the Seotember 30th checkpoint.
Meanwhile Fred North has failed to claw back the two penalty points he incurred in May, being just one result short of the required fifteen this time.
So that's one further penalty point, while Sean Hopson (with two) and Eamonn Reay (one) also have penalties they need to wipe out before the end of September.
Initial penalties have also been incurred by Ian Tarr (three), Phil Charlton and Gaz Owen (one apiece) in Premier One.
The cases of Fred (for the firmed up penalties) and Simon are subject to appeal, should they so desire.
03/08/14: Tournament catch-up
Thursday July 31st
Richard Owsley completed the triumvirate of stand-in TDs during Director Ian Tarr's absence, proving that -- along with Roland Herrera, Andy Boysan and all the other players who are ready and willing to step in -- there need be no fears for the future of Bristol Backgammon.
Fifteen players signed up for the fourth of this year's six GP5 tournaments, and amongst the field were Stephen Little, making his Thursday debut, and Manchester's Kevin Jones, who had cashed on both his previous Thursday visits.
In-form Nick Barham won the main flight, defeating Cynthia Roberts, Richard and Steffen Nowak, before ousting Simon Hughes in the final.
Simon had got past Drew Caudwell, Chris Hughes and Roland to be there.
Kevin maintained his own Bristol tradition, defeating Richard, Cynthia and Steve Morris to win the consolation flight.
With his three closest pursuers in the GP5 table not present to add to their respective points tallies, Roland was able to extend his overall lead from five points to 45.
Ed Turner, Nick and Chris are now in second, third and fourth.
Monday July 28th
The nine players contesting the eleventh phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix included a welcome Bristol Backgammon debut appearance for Stephen Little, who will be familiar to those with long memories of his exploits in casino tournaments in the '80s.
Two groups -- one of five, the other of four -- played out Nackgammon Tournos.
Andy Boysan -- stand-in TD for the evening (incurring thanks from Director Ian Tarr) -- won the five player group with 6 points, while the four player group saw the spoils shared by debutant Stephen and John Chester.
John thus edges in front in the SGP race, but has two Herreras breathing down his neck with three events to go.
There was also time for an impromptu nine player DMP Tourno, where Chris Hughes won the pot.
Thursday July 24th
There were ten players toeing the start line for the fourth of this year's six Handicap Trophy events.
Roland Herrera won the event, defeating Bahman Salahshour and John Chester, before winning his final against Ian Preston.
Steve Morris won the consolation flight, defeating Chris Hughes and Bahman.
HT leader Ian extended his lead from 10 points to 60, with James Newman and Chris Hughes the only players within immediate striking distance.
This was the third of three events where Roland was the stand-in TD for a grateful Ian Tarr.
Monday July 21st
Just six players contested the tenth phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix.
Seven were available, but stand-in TD Roland Herrera did the selfless thing to leave a realistic chance of finishing on time.
As it happened, even that was not enough to get things finished by 11pm, but Roland took the justifiable decision to move the cube straight up to four in the sole remaining match.
Simonetta Herrera was the winner with four wins, while there was a three way tie for second between Chrissy Carter, John Chester and Mary French.
This had the effect of making things very tight at the top of the SGP table, with the top three covered by less than seven points, Simonetta being the new leader, with Roland second and John third.
Thursday July 17th
Eight players contested the third of four GP30 tournaments, while four others progressed other tournaments.
In the July Grand Prix tournament main final Miles Farren defeated Bahman Salahshour 11-5, taking closer order in the race to catch OGP leader Neil Young.
Miles also became the sixth qualifier for the 2015 Bristol Masters.
And the last of the fifth round Brunel Trophy matches ended 11-10 to James Newman over Richard Owsley.
So four players remain in the competition, with Tim Line the only one yet to be defeated, and the draw for the sixth round will be made on Monday August 4th.
In the GP30 event Nick Barham swept all before him, beating Rob Wills and John Chester before despatching Roland Herrera in the final.
Wins over Drew Caudwell and Steve Morris saw Simonetta Herrera take the consolation flight.
Roland leads the GP30 table, with Nick 30 points behind, and previous leader Ian Tarr now in third place.
02/08/14: The news catch-up starts with league action
Here's a round-up of league action during the absence of the webmaster.
A total of twenty-one league results have been reported during the second half of July.
In Premier One Gaz Owen has moved to the top after defeating Steve Morris at Steve's Redland home.
Also on the move was reigning champion Simonetta Herrera whose double over Chas Perry keeps her in the race.
And Stuart Mann appears to be rectifying his uncharacteristically mediocre start to the season, having scored wins over Simon Hughes (twice) and Phil Charlton.
Chas and Steve also traded victories in a double header at Steve's.
Nick Barham is the proverbial gnat's whisker away from clinching promotion to the top flight for the first time.
His brace of Red Division wins over Paul Watts extended his lead to eighteen points.
One more win would do it, but even if Nick loses his final three matches, all he would need to get over the line would be a single defeat for either Simon Baker or Andy Boysan, who have six and seven matches respectively to play.
Simon and Miles Farren were the others to record victories during the period in question.
The race for the other promotion slot is now wide open.
Eight Premier Two Blue matches featured some important games for the main promotion contenders.
Gary Plant certainly improved his chances -- and did the opposite for his opponents -- with three 11-8 successes, and has hit the top again.
Previous leader Alex Hodge suffered once at Gary's hands, while James Newman did so twice, and needs a very strong run in to get back into contention, although he did manage a win against Peter Thistlewood.
Cecilia Sparke also defeated Peter to move back into second place at Alex's expense.
Peter and Neil Young were honours even after their two matches, while Chrissy Carter narrowly beat Pearl Foster.
And finally, in the Conference League, Chris Hughes finished off an adjourned match with Hosrt Stenzel, winning 11-9.
15/07/14: APOLOGIES FOR IMPENDING HIATUS
The webmaster apologises that there will be a news blackout on this site until after his return fromm holiday on July 31st.
Please be patient, and rest assured that as soon as possible after his return normal service will be resumed.
15/07/14: Nick doubles lead
Two more league double headers took place this evening, and the focus was on Premier Two Red.
Leader Nick Barham was again on form, winning two close encounters with Sean Hopson at the Bristol County Sports Club.
His lead is now up to twelve points.
The Graze Bar was the scene of the other matches, Dave Pym and Miles Farren trading blows to end up more or less even.
14/07/14: Nick opening up Red Division lead
There were fourteen players in action on Monday, including the ten who were at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Six league matches were played, including a Premier Two Red double header between Nick Barham and Fred North.
Nick won both matches and has now opened up a six points lead at the top. This margin would have been nine points, but for another double header at the Royal William, Cranham, Stroud.
This involved Simon Baker and Andy Brown, who notched one win apiece, Andy moving into second place in the league table.
In the Blue Division Cecilia Sparke defeated Neil Young 11-8 at Lloyds Bar, and is now only separated from the divisional lead by Alex Hodge's slight average points difference advantage.
Chrissy Carter won the other match in that division, defeating Mandy Macdonald 11-3.
The advertised Monday Club Summer Grand Prix event was a Tric Trac Tourno, contested by eight players.
This event featured a debut for Deana Romain.
Tric Tracs are all about winning gammons and backgammons, but the 28 games yielded just six gammons.
Ian Tarr managed three of these to take the pot, while Horst Stenzel -- returning after a short absence -- got two of the others.
In the absence of leader Roland Herrera, second placed John Chester had a chance to wrest the overall lead from Roland, but is still almost 20 points adrift, with discards beginning to take their toll.
11/07/14: John and Ed even at the Bay Horse
John Corrado and Ed Turner scored one win apiece today when they fought out a Premier One double header at the Bay Horse.
11/07/14: JULY GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
There were nineteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, including the sixteen who contested the seventh of this year's Monthly Grand Prix tournaments.
11/07/14: Bahman and Miles reach July final ......
Miles Farren, with wins over Simonetta Herrera, Richard Owsley and Ed Turner, and Bahman Salahshour, who eliminated Ian Tarr, Nick Barham and Simon Hughes, will contest the final of Thursday's tournament some time soon.
Miles has been a more frequent visitor this year, while Bahman appears to have made the transition from Mondays to Thursdays with ease.
11/07/14: John wins consolation flight ......
John Corrado took the consolation flight of yesterday's tournament.
He despatched Simonetta Herrera and Drew Caudwell before his final win over Ian Tarr.
11/07/14: Neil reaches the magic 400 ......
Neil Young didn't manage to maintain his OGP hot streak, but the 25 points gained have at least elevated his score to exactly 400 points.
While others will have to contend with discarding points scores from next month, Neil still has a two tournament cushion to ensure he maintains his lead of nearly 100 points.
Simon Hughes is now his nearest pursuer.
11/07/14: John edges ahead of IGP field ......
Just two intermediates contested yesterday's tournament, and neither troubled the scorers with any victories.
But John Chester's 10 points for turning up have extended his lead to 17 over second placed Rob Brito.
11/07/14: Nick limits Andy's CTGP lead ......
Before the tournament Nick Barham managed to prevent Andy Boysan from building up a near unassailable lead in the Clock Tournament GP.
Their main flight final, held over from last week, went to 5-5 before Nick clinched it.
Andy still leads the field by 70 points, which -- with discards beginning to play their part -- will be a tough ask for the pursuers to run down.
11/07/14: Bahman and Miles have more than mere money to play for ......
The protagonists of Thursday's held over final will, of course, take some prize money for their efforts, but arguably just as important is the place in next year's Bristol Masters which will go to the winner.
Meanwhile, it was unsurprising that the record low rollover in the Winner Takes All pool failed to tempt much further investment.
Just two players went for it, and it remains to be seen whether or not too many players will be that interested in the new £30 rollover!
11/07/14: League wins for Simon, Dave and Andy ......
Before and alongside yesterday's tournament three league matches were completed.
In the top flight Simon Hughes defeated John Corrado 11-5, ensuring that John will need to win a high percentage of his remaining matches to avoid relegation.
And Dave Pym and Andy Brown shared the spoils of a double header in Premier Two Red.
10/07/14: Cecilia wins in Bath
The Ram, Bath, was the venue for a Premier Two Blue match yesterday evening.
And Cecilia Sparke got her promotion campaign back on track with an 11-2 victory over Andrew Cobb.
09/07/14: Four top flight results from the Portcullis
Three Premier One matches have been played at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, in two days.
Yesterday evening's double header saw a brace of wins for Phil Charlton over Simon Hughes.
Then, this lunch-time Gaz Owen's 11-8 win over Ed Turner saw him move to within three points of league leader Steffen Nowak.
And this evening both Ed and Phil returned to the scene, where Ed scored an 11-6 win.
08/07/14: League wins for Ed, Simonetta and Mandy
There were three league matches played this evening.
A double header at the Merchants Arms, Eastville, saw a Premier One win apiece for Ed Turner and Simonetta Herrera, Ed winning 11-6 before losing the return 9-11.
And the Knights Templar was the venue for Mandy Macdonald's 11-7 Premier Two Blue victory over Andrew Cobb.
07/07/14: John and Steffen share the spoils
A Premier One double header between John Corrado and league leader Steffen Nowak took place at Channings Hotel, Clifton, this evening.
Both matches ended 11-3 -- the first one in John's favour, the second in Steffen's.
Meanwhile, back at "HQ", Cecilia Sparke was dealt another blow to her Premier Two Blue promotion chances when she lost 5-11 to Pearl Foster, who moves up to fourth in the league table.
The evening's main event was the 3-point round robin session, contested by ten players split into two groups of five.
The random draw look anything but, with the five most experienced players in the field all drawn into one very competitive group.
Roland Herrera was the only one to win three matches, so won the group, while the other group saw the pot shared between three-time winners Chrissy Carter and John Chester.
John moves into second place overall in the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix table, although Roland is beginning to pull away at the top.
With just six events to go, discards will begin to take effect from next week.
07/07/14: Monday afternoon victories for Tim and Ian
Simonetta Herrera is the latest player to exit the Brunel Trophy double elimination event.
Her 9-11 home defeat at the hands of Tim Line means there will be either three or four players in the sixth round, depending on the result of the only remaining match of the round, between Richard Owsley and James Newman.
There was Premier One action at the Old Stillage, Redfield, where Ian Tarr avoided what would have been his worst league sequence ever, when he defeated Ed Turner 11-2.
05/07/14: Alex wins first major honour
At Kellaway Avenue yesterday evening Alex Hodge scored the biggest win of his career to date when he pipped Roland Herrera 9-8 in the final of the fourteenth Bristol Masters.
Roland was hoping to become the fourth player to win the event twice, but his consolation is the fact that he holds the record for both final appearances (three) and semi-final appearances (five).
Alex, of course, is now an automatic qualifier for next year's event.
04/07/14: Nick and Andy reach clock final
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, including the thirteen who contested the latest Clock Grand Prix tournament.
Alongside the main event, Alex Hodge became the latest player to exit the Brunel Trophy, when he lost narrowly to Ed Turner.
And Mandy Macdonald's bid to win a third Premier Two Blue match in successive days just fell short of the target when she lost 9-11 to Peter Thistlewood.
Nick Barham and Andy Boysan made it to the main final of the clock tournament -- Nick defeating Bahman Salahshour, John Chester and Ian Tarr while Andy was getting past Tim Line, Hadi Kermani and Simonetta Herrera.
The final will doubtless be played some time soon, as will the consolation final, where Roland Herrera and Neil Young will be the protagonists.
Andy already led the CTGP table, but has now increased his lead from five points to a minimum of 70, which will rise to 105 if he can defeat Nick.
02/07/14: Two wins in two days for Mandy
Having hurt the chances of one Premier Two Blue promotion chaser at the Windmill on Tuesday, Mandy Macdonald returned to the scene to defeat another this evening.
This time James Newman was the victim, and the 11-10 victory has given Mandy fresh hope of climbing the league table.
01/07/14: Mandy deals Cecilia promotion blow
In a Premier Two Blue match at the Windmill this evening, Mandy Macdonald scored a much needed 11-6 victory over Cecilia Sparke, who thus missed a chance to close on the two divisional leaders.
01/07/14: Important league win for Alex
There were fourteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday, including the nine who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix -- a DMP Tourno.
Five players played Premier Two matches, including Neil Young, who followed a whitewash of Pearl Foster with a narrow defeat at the hands of Premier Two Blue leader Alex Hodge.
In the Red Division there was a nail biter between Paul Watts and Andy Brown.
The pair reached DMP, and when Andy reached his final throw he rolled the double he needed.
The DMP Tourno saw a four way tie for the pot and the best SGP points returns, with Roland and Simonetta Herrera, John Chester and Ian Tarr cashing.
Roland maintains his narrow SGP lead over Simonetta, with John still within striking distance.
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