News items from 2016 (first half)
28/06/16: Five advance to UK Champions League knock-out stages
As the six months allotted to the group phase of the UK Champions League draw to a close, it can be reported that five of the eight Bristol contestants have made it through to the knock-out stages.
While Nick Barham, Andy Boysan and Simon Hughes have been eliminated, the news is better for Stuart Mann, Steve Morris, Steffen Nowak, Gaz Owen and Cecilia Sparke, who will all contest the round of sixteen over the next few weeks.
28/06/16: Steffen out of Brunel Trophy
Ian Tarr visited the Star and Dove tonight to meet Steffen Nowak in the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy.
It amounted to sudden death as both players had previously lost one of their two lives.
This match of two halves saw Steffen build an 8-0 lead, but sadly for him he never managed another point, so Ian progresses to round five.
28/06/16: Gaz wins June grand prix final
There were once again seven players in action on Monday as Euro 2016 took its toll.
The held over final of the June Grand Prix event was played at another new Bristol Backgammon venue, the Old Fish Market, and Gaz Owen scored an 11-2 victory over Drew Caudwell to move into twelfth place in the OGP after his first appearance of this year's series.
Drew moved on and joined five others to contest the seventh phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club.
And his workout with Gaz obviously had a positive effect as he shared the pot with Ian Tarr, both players winning four of their five 3-point round robin matches.
Ian moves into second place in the SGP, some 53 points behind leader Roland Herrera.
25/06/16: Chris suffers different kind of Brexit
The latest player to be eliminated from the Brunel Trophy was Chris Rogers whose second life was taken by the undefeated Richard Owsley at the Watershed yesterday.
The match ended 11-8 in Richard's favour.
24/06/16: Gaz out of Brunel Trophy
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday at the Rainbow Casino, including the ten who contested the third of the year's six Speedgammon Grand Prix evenings.
Earlier, and alongside the tournament, there were two league matches played, plus two in the Brunel Trophy.
And the headline here was the exit of holder Gaz Owen from the Brunel Trophy, a 3-11 victim of Jason Champion, whose win was secured via an eight cube.
Also out of the Brunel is Tom Chapman, whose earlier victims had included Chris Rogers.
This time his creditable run was ended by a 7-11 defeat at the hands of Steve Morris.
In Premier One Richard Owsley scored a much needed win -- 11-10 over Paul Watts -- while Tim Line, again with the help of an eight cube, was the other league winner -- 11-1 over Mandy Macdonald in Premier Two Red.
The speedgammon fell into two groups of five players, both of which ended in a three way tie for the honours.
Daniel Eldridge had threatened a clean sweep in one group, but had to settle for a third of the pot after losing his final match against Simonetta Herrera.
Simonetta -- the UK's "Queen of Speed" -- and Tim were the other two to cash.
In the other group it was Gaz who threatened the clean sweep, but his final match defeat by Ian Tarr not only meant that Ian and Roland Herrera shared the pot.
It also meant that Gaz's proud record of being undefeated through the speedgammon season was ended after thirteen successive wins.
With a record like that it's not surprising that Gaz leads the SGGP standings.
He has a 45 points lead over Simonetta, with Daniel and Ian 15 points further back.
21/06/16: Ian goes second
Ian Hedges moved into second place in Premier Two Blue this evening.
As he is just one match from completing the season, however, he is extremely unlikely to stay there for long.
This evening's 11-6 victory occurred at the Bristol County Sports Club, and the victim was Fred North.
20/06/16: Ian and Stephen share the Monday spoils
There was another low Monday turnout at the Bristol County Sports Club when just seven players contested the sixth phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a DMP Tourno.
Before the event Mary French and Tom Chapman completed some unfinished business in the form of a Conference League match which had been adjourned with Tom 9-8 ahead.
Mary levelled the score before a very close doubled race saw Tom scrape home.
In the DMP Tourno Stephen Little and Ian Hedges managed five wins apiece to share the pot.
Roland Herrera, despite having an off night, nevertheless saw his SGP lead extended to over 70 points because his closest pursuer fared even less well.
17/06/16: A debut to remember for Matt
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday at the Rainbow Casino in a variety of events.
Three others were present without getting the opportunity to play.
Three Premier One matches were played -- Steffen Nowak coming out on top in a double header with Paul Watts, while Steve Morris was recovering from 4-9 down to league leader Andy Boysan to win 11-9.
And there was a further double header in Premier Two Blue, where Ian Hedges and Simonetta Herrera shared the spoils.
A Red Division match was scheduled, but Tim Line was afflicted with vehicular problems.
The headline event of the evening was the annual Intermediates Trophy -- the fifteenth incarnation of this event.
Seven players turned out for this, including Thursday debutante Natalie Singh and Bristol Backgammon debutant Matt Robson.
For Matt it was an evening to remember.
The smart money would have been on one of those with track records taking this title -- maybe Conference leader Cliff Blofield or Handicap Trophy leader Daniel Eldridge.
But after defeating Tom Chapman in the first round, Matt accounted for both Cliff and Daniel to make the title his own, in what must rank as the outstanding debut in Bristol Backgammon history for a player completely new to tournament backgammon.
The other aspect of the evening was the introduction of satellite tournaments leading up to the Bristol Open.
It was hoped that there would be enough interest to stage at least one Masters satellite and one Advanced satellite.
However only one player expressed an interest in the Advanced category, so went home unfulfilled.
And just four players paid £60 each for the privilege of being the first player to have their Bristol Open Masters entry and registration fully paid up.
Roland Herrera and Seb Wilkinson got past Tony Walters and George Devlin respectively, and then reached 7-7 in the first-to-9-points final before agreeing an equitable settlement.
Roland is thus paid up for the event, while Seb went home with more cash than when he arrived.
14/06/16: Gary back on top of Red Division
Three matches were played on Tuesday.
At the Lock Keeper, Keynsham, Andy Boysan defeated Chris Hughes in the held over consolation final from Thursday's tournament.
The win moves Andy into third place in the OGP.
And the Three Brooks, Bradley Stoke, played host to a Premier Two Red double header.
Gary Plant scored an 11-1 win in the opener to regain top spot, but his adversary James Lintell-Smith struck back to win the return 11-6.
13/06/16: Roland and Ian share spoils in low key Monday session
There were just six players in action on Monday at the Bristol County Sports Club to contest the fifth phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a 3-point round robin.
This was comfortably the lowest Monday turnout this year.
Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr won four matches out of five to share the pot.
And Roland, who is setting a hot pace so far during the SGP, has extended the margin of his lead over second placed Simonetta Herrera to an impressive 65 points.
10/06/16: Gaz and Drew reach June Grand Prix final
There were twenty-five players in action on Thursday at the Rainbow Casino, including the twenty-two who contested the sixth of this year's twelve monthly grand prix tournaments.
We were slightly displaced -- to the near end of the poker room -- as the casino staged its tenth birthday party, but this did nothing to stop the flow of interesting matches.
There was also Premier Two Red, Conference League and Brunel Trophy activity.
Amongst the entrants to the main event were three welcome new players -- Richard Gazzard, Matt Hopkins and Alex Yate, the latter two from Carmarthen.
The finals of both flights of the grand prix event have been held over for other times.
Gaz Owen and Drew Caudwell will contest the first-to-11-points main flight final, while the consolation final will involve Andy Boysan and Chris Hughes.
Gaz came through the long part of the draw with victories over Carwyn Jenkins, Derek Clew, Simon Hughes and Ian Tarr, while Drew, who received a bye in the first round, got past Steve Morris, Matt and Mandy Macdonald.
Roland Herrera still heads the OGP standings, but his lead has been cut to 19 points by Ian.
In the IGP the absent Rufus Rozelaar still holds a 19 points lead over second placed Bob Markham.
The Winner Takes All pool, standing at £100, will be scooped by Gaz if he wins the final, otherwise there will be a rollover to the July grand prix event.
Before the tournament two league matches were played.
In Premier Two Red Pearl Foster scored an 11-3 win over Tim Line, while Cliff Blofield's 11-2 win over Carwyn ensures that next year's Bristol Masters will have representation from whoever wins the Conference League.
And Paul Watts became the first player to reach the fifth round of the Brunel Trophy with both lives intact, when he despatched Alex Hodge from the competition with an 11-9 win.
08/06/16: Steve stays alive in Brunel Trophy
In the closest of finishes at the G W Hotel, Swindon, on Tuesday Stephen Little edged out Dave Pym in a fourth round Brunel Trophy match.
Stephen needed the win to stay in the competition, while Dave at least had the consolation that it was his first life to be forfeited.
07/06/16: Andy beats Paul to top Premier One
Andy Boysan defeated Paul Watts 11-3 this evening at the Rose of Denmark, and returns to the top of Premier One.
06/06/16: Blaine is first Brunel fourth round casualty
There were eleven players in action on Monday, including nine at the Bristol County Sports Club, of whom eight contested the fourth phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a DMP Tourno.
The Golden Guinea was another venue new to Bristol Backgammon competition, and it was there that the first match of the Brunel Trophy fourth round was completed -- Ed Turner recovering from 4-7 down to defeat Blaine Buchanan 11-8.
The results ends Blaine's involvement in this year's competition.
There was also a Premier Two Red match played before the advertised event at the club.
Stephen Little edged home 11-9 against Pearl Foster to move into second place in that league.
The eight player DMP Tourno ended in a triple tie when Roland Herrera, Simonetta Herrera and Chris Hughes each won five out of seven games to share the pot.
Roland retains his 40 points SGP lead over Simonetta.
03/06/16: Two more achieve Premier Status
Daniel Eldridge and Cliff Blofield have achieved Premier Status this week.
In the catch-all totting up procedure, the Race to the Premier League, both players have scored the requisite 50 points to join Rufus Rozelaar in qualification for all future incarnations of the Bristol Premier League.
Cliff actually breached the 50 points barrier on Wednesday when he won a Conference League match.
Daniel hit the target during his run to last night's Handicap Trophy final.
This follows the news three weeks ago that Director Ian Tarr had used his discretionary powers to confer Premier Status on three other players, for whom he considered intermediate status to be inappropriate.
With more than half the year remaining, there is a distinct hope that next year's Premier League will have a greater membership than this year.
03/06/16: Brunel Trophy fourth round draw done
Cliff Blofield kindly performed the draw for the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy before last night's event.
It can be seen here.
None of the six undefeated players have been paired together, so the fifth round can feature anything between ten and sixteen players.
Matches are to be completed before the fifth round draw on July 7th.
03/06/16: Chris wins Handicap Trophy tournament
There were nineteen players in action on Thursday at the Rainbow Casino, including the eighteen who contested the fourth of this year's eight Handicap Trophy events.
One loose end was tied up after the tournament when Simonetta Herrera and Cecilia Sparke played the outstanding consolation final from last week's GP30 tournament.
Simonetta was the victor.
Chris Rogers emerged from the field in the evening's main flight to win.
He defeated Cliff Blofield, Ed Turner and Tim Line before despatching Daniel Eldridge in the final.
And he had to come from 0-6 down to do it.
Mary French won the consolation flight, defeating Simon Hughes, Stephen Little and Rufus Rozelaar.
Daniel, having won the first of this series, has regained the HT lead, moving some thirty points ahead of Ed, with Roland Herrera in third place.
And the leader in the unique Side Pool Grand Prix associated with this series is the event's sponsor, Ed.
01/06/16: Cliff consolidates his lead
Cliff Blofield is putting a lot of space between himself and the other members of the Conference League.
His seventh win from nine league matches came at the Jersey Lily, a hard fought 11-9 victory over Mary French.
01/06/16: Ed completes fourth round Brunel line-up
The last of the fourteen third round Brunel Trophy matches was played out at the Rainbow Casino this evening, Ed Turner defeating Chris Hughes 11-4.
In this double elimination event it was a match which both players needed to win to stay alive, so Chris makes his exit and Ed lives to fight another day.
The original field of forty has now been halved exactly, so there will be no need for a bye in the fourth round draw, which will take place at the casino tomorrow evening.
Six of the remaining twenty still have two lives intact.
01/06/16: Three penalised at May 31st checkpoint
The May 31st Premier League midnight checkpoint passed with three players picking up penalty points for being behind the schedule.
Richard Owsley (2 points) in Premier One, Andy Brown (2) in Premier Two Blue, and James Lintell-Smith (1) in Premier Two Red were the players in question.
All of those penalties will be recouped if and when the three are able to comply with the terms of the next checkpoint on July 31st.
31/05/16: League wins for Gaz and Dave; Brunel win for Derek
Two league matches and a third round Brunel Trophy encounter took place on Tuesday.
The Griffin, Warmley, was the latest new Bristol Backgammon venue as Derek Clew maintained his unblemished record in the Brunel Trophy competition by defeating Gaz Owen 11-7.
Gaz still has one life remaining.
Later on he had some success in his Premier One match at the Prince of Wales, Westbury-on-Trym, beating Steve Morris 11-8.
And in Premier Two Blue at the Compass Dave Pym consolidated his second place with an 11-8 victory over Ian Tarr, when a see-saw four cube finale went his way.
31/05/16: Jason and Tim share the spoils
Zero Degrees played host to a Premier Two Red double header yesterday, when Jason Champion and Tim Line won one apiece.
The interesting match was the opener, where Tim led 10-0 but couldn't quite convert that scoreline into a victory.
31/05/16: Another day, another league win for Simonetta
Yesterday, for the second successive day, a visitor to Kellaway Avenue was despatched in a Premier Two Blue match by Simonetta Herrera.
This time it was Chris Hughes, beaten 11-4.
29/05/16: Simonetta gets much needed league win
Ian Tarr visited Simonetta Herrera in Kellaway Avenue this evening, and suffered his first defeat in six Premier Two Blue matches.
The 11-8 win was much needed by Simonetta, whose start to the league season has not met expectations thus far.
28/05/16: Gaz ends Paul's run
A run of five consecutive Premier One wins by Paul Watts was ended by Gaz Owen at another new Bristol Backgammon venue today.
Gaz will be hoping that his 11-2 win at Grounded, Redfield, is a turning point in his stuttering campaign.
27/05/16: Friday Blue Division action
There were two Premier Two Blue matches played today.
At the Old Stillage Ian Tarr scored an 11-6 win over Andy Brown, while the Compass, Tormarton, was the venue for Chris Hughes's 11-2 victory over Fred North.
27/05/16: Cynthia makes memorable GP30 debut
There were twenty-one players in action on Thursday, including twenty at the Rainbow Casino, where the third of this year's six GP30 events was entered by fourteen.
There was league action at the Bridge Inn, Yatton, earlier on as Neil Young and Stuart Mann met to finish off one previously adjourned Premier One match and complete another.
Stuart, 10-9 Crawford ahead, polished off the first match 11-10, but his winning sequence of nine matches was brought to a halt by Neil's 11-6 success in the reverse fixture.
But Stuart can now boast five of the eight longest winning sequences in Premier One history.
The victory had moved him to the league's summit at Ed Turner's expense.
Later at the casino Cecilia Sparke scored an 11-1 victory over Gaz Owen, while Andy Boysan maintained his challenge by defeating Steve Morris 11-9.
There was also a Premier Two Blue double header, where Chris Hughes and Dave Pym shared the spoils.
And with just a week left before the fourth round Brunel Trophy draw three players made their exits from the competition, Mandy Mandonald, Andy Brown and Tim Line succumbing respectively to Steve, Neil and Ian Tarr.
The tournament proved to be a memorable one for Cynthia Roberts, who scored the biggest success of her career in her GP30 debut.
She benefitted from a bye, and made the most of that by eliminating Rufus Rozelaar and Elias Hamati before recovering from 2-7 down to defeat Ian in the final.
Ian had got past Andy Boysan, Gaz and Roland Herrera en route.
The consolation final -- featuring Simonetta Herrera and Cecilia -- was held over for another time.
Ian edges ahead in the GP30 standings, with Alex Hodge, Roland, Andy Boysan and Cynthia breathing down his neck.
25/05/16: Neil wins in Horfield
The Inn on the Green, Horfield, was the venue today when Neil Young defeated Andy Boysan in a Premier One match.
While the defeat was a blow to Andy's title aspirations, the three points will be very welcome for Neil in his battle to escape the bottom four.
24/05/16: Tuesday Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played at the Rainbow Casino on Tuesday evening.
Nick Barham missed a chance to go top of Premier One when he fell to a 5-11 defeat at the hands of Phil Charlton.
In fact, the defeat saw Nick slip to third behind Stuart Mann on average points difference.
Earlier in Premier Two Blue Ian Tarr edged home against Ismail Yilmaz by the narrowest of margins.
24/05/16: Herreras take Monday round robins
There were fifteen players in action on Monday, including twelve at the Bristol County Sports Club, of whom ten contested the third phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a pair of five player 3-point round robins.
There was also league and Brunel Trophy action, both elsewhere and at the club.
Simon Baker had a busy day, fitting in three Premier Two Red matches.
First he defeated Pearl Foster at the Brimson Park pub in Yate.
Then he fought out a double header with Mike Smith at the Green Man, Kingsdown, where the spoils were shared.
Mike goes top of Red Division, although second placed Gary Plant has six matches in hand.
Cliff Blofield consolidated his place at the head of the Conference League by defeating league debutant Luke Owen before the round robins.
And a Brunel Trophy win for Steffen Nowak kept him involved in that competition, although his victim Alin Buzescu bows out, having already lost once.
The round robins began with five players, although when Luke was unfortunately taken unwell, he and brother Gaz were forced to leave, which made for a slight rejig of their group, where Roland Herrera came out on top of the three remaining players.
Simonetta Herrera won the other group.
Roland leads the SGP with big scores from each of the first three events, and Simonetta is second.
24/05/16: Catch-up: What happened to Bristol players at the UK Open?
The highlight of the UK domestic season took place at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, over the weekend.
In the UKBGF UK Open, the winner from the 79-strong Masters field was the unheralded Richard Furborough, who plays at the recently founded Lowestoft club in Norfolk -- a great fillip, both for him and for his club.
Second was Romania's Costin Constantinescu and third was Manchester's Lee Gorton.
Our own Gaz Owen finished fourth, and cashed handsomely with that prize, plus being second in both the £130 and £70 pools.
The other regular Bristol player to come away with some nice prize money -- plus some trophies -- was Simonetta Herrera, who partnered Julian Fetterlein to the runner-up spot in the Consulting Doubles, and won two other flights.
She is now the UK Open Speedgammon title holder, after coming through one of eight eight-player heats and then winning the final heat, which consisted of the eight heat winners.
And for good measure she won the 64-player £5 1-point knock-out.
Others from Bristol to have a memorable weekend were those who contested the two "Social Swiss" events -- one on Saturday, the other on Sunday.
These events are staged to encourage occasional players and sometimes partners of more serious players.
Tony Foster is a very occasional player, but was there as Pearl Foster's chauffeur this time.
So what better way to spend his Saturday than to contest a friendly tournament (actually a round robin, rather than a Swiss Format one) with seven other occasional players?
The matches were to two points with no cube in play, and Tony and Luke Owen contested the Saturday group.
Tony won six matches out of seven, tieing with Su Lim.
Unfortunately for Tony the first level of tie-break was the result of the match between the two players, and Su had won this, so took the title.
Luke was back in the pack, but fared better on Sunday when he came out on top of a four player group, getting a trophy to commemorate his feat.
Seb Wilkinson, a player who has played in Bristol three times recently while working with Tim Line, also had a good weekend.
In the £250 entry Super Jackpot, he made it to the final, and was 9-6 ahead, before losing out 9-11 to Germany's Volker Sonnabend.
All in all a fine tournament for the UKBGF, and a good one too for the Bristol players mentioned above.
23/05/16: Catch-up: What happened in Bristol competitions since last Wednesday?
THURSDAY:
There were twenty-four players in action on Thursday, including twenty-one at the Rainbow Casino, of whom seventeen entered the fourth of the year's eight GP5 events.
The Brunel Trophy featured away from the casino, with Dave Pym maintaining his 100% record at the expense of Pearl Foster at the Compass, Tormarton.
It was Pearl's second defeat in the competition, so she is the latest to suffer elimination.
The Shakespeare, Prince Street, was the venue for Blaine Buchanan and Stephen Little.
Stephen prevailed here, leaving both players with a single life remaining.
In league action at the casino, Neil Young was defeated twice in Premier One -- Nick Barham and Paul Watts being the victors.
And there were two Premier Two Red double headers.
The spoils were shared both by Simon Baker and Tim Line and by Mike Smith and Cynthia Roberts.
The GP5 event was won by Roland Herrera, whose victims were Nick, Graham Alder and Cliff Blofield en route to the final and Ian Tarr in it.
Ian had beaten Steffen Nowak, Daniel Eldridge and Simon Hughes on the way.
Nick beat Steffen, Ismail Yilmaz and Richard Owsley to take the consolation flight.
Roland closes to within 30 points of GP5 leader Simonetta.
FRIDAY:
A further Brunel Trophy casualty was Mike Smith, who was defeated by unbeaten Nick Barham at the Old Colonial, Weston-super-Mare.
And Neil Young scored a much needed Premier One win at the expense of Steve Morris at the Cambridge Arms.
SATURDAY:
This was a better day for Mike Smith, who played host to Drew Caudwell in St Werburghs, and scored a brace of wins to further press his Red Division promotion claim.
SUNDAY:
The Lock Keeper, Keynsham, was the scene for the latest Premier Two Blue match, Chris Hughes defeating Ismail Yilmaz.
20/05/16: Updates delayed
Blame the UK Open in Coventry this weekend for the lack of information on Thursday's action!
Full updates on the GP5 tournament, plus Premier League and Brunel Trophy results will appear here some time from Sunday evening onwards.
Apologies for the divergence from normal service.
18/05/16: Wednesday's Premier One action
Almost three Premier One matches were played on Wednesday.
The exception was early at the Bridge Inn, Congresbury, where a match between Stuart Mann and Neil Young was adjourned tantalisingly close to a finish with Stuart 10-9 Crawford ahead.
Neil's next action did at least reach a conclusion when he lost 8-11 to Andy Boysan at the Cambridge Arms.
Meanwhile Zazu's Kitchen was the scene of the day's other match, a 0-11 drubbing for Cecilia Sparke at the hands of Steve Morris.
17/05/16: Tuesday's league action
Three Premier League matches were played on Tuesday.
Evening action in Premier One saw Paul Watts score an 11-3 victory over Andy Boysan at the Pump House to continue his recent good form.
And in the afternoon Ian Tarr defeated Chris Hughes 11-6 at the Lock Keeper, Keynsham, in Premier Two Blue, while Mike Smith was overcoming Pearl Foster 11-8 in the Red Division at the Compass, Tormarton.
17/05/16: Nick goes third; Roland wins Monday Tric Trac
There were fifteen players in action on Monday, including thirteen at the Bristol County Sports Club, of whom eleven contested the second phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a Tric Trac Tourno.
Two Premier One matches were played.
Neil Young defeated Phil Charlton 11-7 at the Merchants Arms, Eastville, while Nick Barham was edging home 11-10 against Simon Hughes at the club.
Nick moves into third place in the league.
In the Tric Trac Tourno it was Roland Herrera who took the honours, scoring 14 points from his 10 games.
He extends his SGP lead over second placed Simonetta Herrera to 40 points, while the absent Yuri Cherkasenko is still the competition's leading intermediate.
15/05/16: Strong field of sixteen at the Rainbow Sunday tournament
There were sixteen players at the Rainbow Casino on Sunday, having negotiated their way though the Bristol 10K Run crowds.
The occasion was the latest incarnation of our weekend one-day tournaments, and the prize money, including side pools, exceeded £1,000.
Amongst a very strong field were four of the top seven players in the current UK rankings (Gaz Owen, Seb Wilkinson, Roland Herrera and Simonetta Herrera), World Backgammon Giant Julian Fetterlein (who delivered a fascinating seminar before the tournament), Julian Minwalla (fresh from his triumph at Saturday's Birmingham Open), Chris Rogers (with Seb a member of the victorious UK team in Tbilisi recently), and reigning Bristol Premier League champion Cecilia Sparke.
And yet those who emerged from this wealth of talent to make the main final were George Devlin and George Georgiou.
George Devlin had defeated Tim Line, Roland and Cecilia en route to the final, while George Georgiou was eliminating Gaz, Miles Farren and Elias Hamati.
And it was George Devlin who prevailed at DMP by the narrowest possible margin.
Gaz won the consolation flight, beating Tim, Julian Minwalla and Seb.
Results of this and all weekend Rainbow events are here.
14/05/16: Enthusiasts should make light of the Bristol 10K
The latest of our weekend one-dayers takes place at the Rainbow Casino on Sunday (15th).
When the date was set, considerations of counter attractions and road closures were far from Director Ian Tarr's mind.
Next year he might have to take a more enlightened approach.
The Bristol 10K Run will see road closures around the casino on Sunday, some of which will only be lifted at around 4pm.
So the free car park will be out of bounds at the time of players' arrival for the event.
This will test the ingenuity of players, but enthusiasm will surely prevail.
14/05/16: Ed back to the top
Stuart Mann's tenure of top spot in Premier One lasted just one day this time.
The King William IV, Staple Hill, was the venue which saw Ed Turner reclaim pole position yesterday when he defeated Phil Charlton 11-7.
Stuart, however, has five matches in hand over Ed.
12/05/16: Twenty-seven in Thursday Rainbow action
There were twenty-nine players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-seven who entered the latest Monthly Grand Prix tournament at the Rainbow Casino.
The biggest Thursday tournament turnout for six years may have owed something to the fact that the Winner Takes All pool carried a rollover of £250 from the April tournament.
The luxury of playing in 24-hour surroundings enabled the entire event to be concluded, the main final ending at around 2.30am.
The protagonists were Elias Hamati and Stephen Little, giving us a glimpse of what it must have been like in the eighties, when these two would lock horns in the casino in St Nicholas Street.
Stephen emerged as the victor, although the two had already agreed to share the £640 available to them.
His victims en route to the final were Seb Wilkinson, Simon Hughes, Cliff Blofield and Cris Horincar, while Elias was getting past Andy Boysan, Marcus Evans, Rufus Rozelaar and Roland Herrera.
Andy took the consolation flight, defeating Daniel Eldridge, Richard Owsley and then Seb in the final.
Roland's OGP lead entends to 30 points, with Stephen moving into second place.
In the IGP Rufus Rozelaar has moved into the lead after picking up 80 points, including 40 bonus points for defeating two current Premier One players.
The IGP standings have been affected by the decision of Director Ian Tarr to confer Premier Status on Elias, Cris and George Devlin, for whom intermediate status is demonstrably inappropriate.
There were also two Brunel Trophy third round matches played, including one of the most surprising results of the year so far -- Tom Chapman scoring a famous victory over Chris Rogers, a recent member of the victorious UK team in Tbilisi.
That happened before the tournament, while the other match, adjourned for the main event, had a sting in the tail for Marcus, who was 10-5 ahead before the tournament, but suffered elimination when Simon recovered after the resumption.
Chris, at least, has one life remaining.
Meanwhile at the Plough, Congresbury, Stuart Mann extended his winning league sequence to eight with a nail-biter against Phil Charlton, a win which moved him to the top of the Premier One table.
11/05/16: Victory for Paul in Staple Hill
The King William IV, Staple Hill, was the venue on Wednesday for a Premier One encounter between Phil Charlton and Paul Watts.
And it was Paul who prevailed, 11-7.
10/05/16: Simon up to fourth
Simon Hughes this evening defeated Neil Young 11-6 at the Star and Dove to move up to fourth in Premier One.
And earlier at the Bristol County Sports Club Mandy Macdonald beat Horst Stenzel 11-5 in Premier Two Red.
09/05/16: Summer Grand Prix begins with two Herrera clean sweeps
There were fourteen players in action on Monday, including the twelve at the Bristol County Sports Club who contested the first phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, a pair of 3-point round robins.
The two exceptions were Nick Barham and Cecilia Sparke who played a Premier One match at the Rainbow Casino, which Nick won 11-8.
Amongst the SGP field there was a welcome Bristol Backgammon debut for Siana Hristova Videva, a Bulgarian national working in Bristol.
The twelve were split into two six player groups, each of which was won by a Herrera making a clean sweep.
Simonetta Herrera and Roland Herrera thus find themselves in joint leadership of the year's first Summer Grand Prix table.
08/05/16: Simonetta out of Brunel Trophy
Simonetta Herrera is the first casualty of the third round ties in the Brunel Trophy.
In a match both players needed to win as each had lost a life in previous rounds, that feat was accomplished by Andy Boysan, with an 11-1 victory at Kellaway Avenue.
06/05/16: Cecilia back on track; George and Nick win round robins; Rufus attains Premier Status
There were nineteen players in action yesterday, including eighteen at the Rainbow Casino, of whom fourteen contested the second of the year's Round Robin Grand Prix events.
And making his Bristol Backgammon debut was Seb Wilkinson, working in the area for a short while, and fresh from his part in the UK team triumph in Tbilisi.
There was league action at Colston Yard before the tournament, with Tim Line scoring a brace of narrow Premier Two Red victories over Drew Caudwell.
Later, alongside the tournament, Cecilia Sparke's Premier One wobble came to a halt with two hard fought wins over Richard Owsley.
And Paul Watts remained unbeaten in the Brunel Trophy with an 11-2 win against Miles Farren, who stays in the competition with a single life remaining.
There were dominant performances in each of the seven player round robins.
Nick Barham claimed a clean sweep in one group, while George Devlin only lost one match in the other, and that was when he had already confirmed his victory through his five previous wins.
Simonetta Herrera heads the RRGP table with 100 points, 10 ahead of second placed Tim.
Meanwhile in the Race to the Premier League, where intermediates tot up points through their performances in all Bristol Backgammon events, Rufus has become the first player this year to breach the 50 points barrier.
So he will be receiving his first invitation to compete in the Premier League come the end of this year.
04/05/16: Stuart makes a move
In a Premier One season where everyone has been beating everyone else, Stuart Mann is beginning to emerge as an exception to the rule.
Having lost his first two league matches this season, he has now played seven times more and won every time.
His two latest victories occurred tonight at the Star and Dove, where Steffen Nowak was his victim.
Stuart is now second, and has comfortably the best record of anyone in Premier One so far this season.
03/05/16: The full lowdown on Bristol's Tbilisi exploits
Quite apart from the fact that a past Bristol player, Leo Waters, and a present one, Chris Rogers, were a part of the truimphant UK team in the Worldwide Team Trophy in Tbilisi, Georgia -- see story from 29/04/16 -- there were noteworthy Bristol achievements in the other events there too.
Cecilia Sparke won the Ladies Prize.
Leo and Tim Line reached the final of the doubles.
Chris was runner-up in the Last Chance.
And future Bristol player (at least for a few weeks) Seb Wilkinson finished 7th in the main flight.
Seb was also a part of that five man winning UK team, so it actually contained past, present and future Bristol players!
02/05/16: Richard still unbeaten in Brunel Trophy
The first of the third round Brunel Trophy matches was played at the Rainbow Casino yesterday.
It featured two of those who had the luxury of two remaining lives, and Richard Owsley's 11-9 win over Alex Hodge ensured that he at least retained that position.
Alex, of course, lives to fight for at least one more day.
29/04/16: Leader Ed beaten by Phil
Just a day after rising to the top of Premier One Ed Turner suffered a defeat at the King William IV.
His 8-11 reverse at the hands of Phil Charlton leaves the title race as wide open as it has ever been.
29/04/16: Bristol connections in World Team triumph
Yesterday saw another momentous day for UK backgammon, when the five player UK team won the Worldwide Team Trophy in Tbilisi.
Our top players are making more and more of an impression in world backgammon, with recent major successes being achieved by Eric McAlpine, Raj Jansari and our very own Gaz Owen.
And Bristol can take some more reflected pride from this latest success.
Included in the UK team were Chris Rogers and Leo Waters.
Leo was an occasional visitor to our events a few years ago, and Chris is in the process of becoming a regular Bristol player.
Fantastic times for the national game, and pretty good ones for our local game, too!
29/04/16: Jason gets the Brunel bye
The draw for the third round of the Brunel Trophy was made yesterday evening at the Rainbow Casino by Steffen Nowak and Simonetta Herrera.
The initial part of the draw was to decide which of the two eligible players -- Jason Champion or Alex Hodge -- would receive the round's only bye.
And it was Jason who got lucky.
The remainder of the draw sees seven "sudden death" pairings, i.e. those which will result in the elimination of whoever loses.
And there are three ties where both players will survive to the fourth round.
Matches must be completed by June 2nd.
29/04/16: Rufus takes Handicap honours
There were seventeen players in action at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday, all of whom contested the third of the year's Handicap Trophy tournaments.
And Rufus Rozelaar made the most of his 2-handicap to take the main flight, defeating Steve Morris, Simonetta Herrera, Nick Barham and Roland Herrera in the process.
Roland had arrived in the final via wins over Ed Turner, Ian Tarr and Cliff Blofield.
Steve won the consolation flight, defeating Ed, Richard Owsley, Daniel Eldridge and George Devlin.
Ed retains his Handicap Trophy lead over second placed Daniel, although the margin is narrowed to ten points.
Ed also leads the Side Pool Grand Prix, where second placed Nick is 35 points behind.
Two league matches were played.
Rufus and Cliff played a Conference League match before the tournament, where Cliff recovered from 3-9 down to edge home and extend his league lead to seven points.
Steffen and Ed made good use of the time after tournament elimination to play a Premier One match, Ed prevailing 11-4 to move to the top of the league.
26/04/16: Neil's win completes Brunel second round
The Westbury Tavern was the venue today for the last of the twenty round two Brunel Trophy ties.
And Neil Young's 11-4 victory over John Chester means that there will be twenty-nine survivors in Thursday's third round draw.
John is the eleventh and final casualty of a round which saw high profile exits in the forms of Cecilia Sparke and Roland Herrera.
The odd number of contestants surviving into round three will mean that one lucky player receives a bye to the fourth round.
Based on the number of victories recorded by the victims of the eleven players who have won twice, that bye will go to either Jason Champion or Alex Hodge.
25/04/16: Shared pots abound at Monday Nackgammon event
There were thirteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including the twelve who entered the final phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of Nackgammon Tournos.
There was also league action, with Pearl Foster mounting a strong comeback to pip Drew Caudwell 11-10 in a Premier Two Red encounter.
Those who got money back in the Nackgammon were Mary French and Ismail Yilmaz in one group, and John Chester, Jim Green and Simonetta Herrera in the other.
Simonetta had already made sure of the SGP title, but there was still a minute doubt about the destiny of the event's leading intermediate prize.
John Curran was in pole position to win this with a lead of 49 points over Mary, but the group sizes -- and hence the number of points available -- ensured that John would not be surpassed.
Mary did cut that lead to just twelve points, however.
The event also contributed to the Drew Caudwell sponsored Monday Club Nackgammon Championship, where this was the second of the year's five Nackgammon events.
Mary and John Chester shared the lead after the February event, but Mary has now moved five points clear of John, with Jim in third place.
25/04/16: Drew and Jason trade wins on Saturday
A pair of Premier Two Red matches were played out at the Prince of Wales, Gloucester Road, on Saturday.
The double header saw Drew Caudwell extend his sequence of league victories to seven when he pipped Jason Champion 11-10.
Jason ended that sequence later with an 11-2 win to keep his promotion bid on track.
25/04/16: Ismail and James share the spoils
Ismail Yilmaz and James Newman met yesterady at the Rainbow Casino for a Premier Two Blue double header.
And the spoils were shared, Ismail's 11-6 win being answered by James's 11-7 success.
22/04/16: Simonetta wins GP5 tournament
There were nineteen players in action at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday, including the eighteen who contested the third of the year's GP5 tournaments.
There were also three Brunel Trophy second round matches played, leaving just one of the twenty to be completed before next Thursday's draw.
Latest to exit this year long double elimination event were Carwyn Jenkins and Tony Walters, while Nick Barham and Richard Owsley remain unscathed.
Assuming the twentieth match gets played before the draw, there will be twenty-nine survivors in the third round.
In the GP5 event it was Simonetta Herrera who came through to win the main flight, defeating Mandy Macdonald, Simon Hughes and Steve Morris before despatching Ian Tarr in the final.
Ian had got past Richard, Roland Herrera and Tony to reach the final.
Richard won the consolation flight with victories over Mandy, Andy Boysan and Nick.
So after three of the eight GP5 events Simonetta has opened up a very useful 65 point lead over previous joint leader Andy.
20/04/16: Cecilia exits Brunel Trophy
Steffen Nowak this evening defeated Cecilia Sparke 11-4 in the second round of the Brunel Trophy at the Steam Crane, Southville.
Each player had lost in the first round, so Cecilia becomes the eighth player to exit the competition, while Steffen lives to fight another day.
20/04/16: Andy tops Premier One
There are four league results to report from Monday and yesterday.
The two Monday results I missed were a pair of 11-4s at the Pump House, Simon Hughes and Andy Boysan sharing the spoils.
Andy played a further Premier One match yesterday at Zazu's Kitchen, Bedminster, and his 11-8 win over Cecilia Sparke moved him to the top of the league, while extending Cecilia's losing league sequence to three -- the first time she has suffered that indignity since arriving in the top flight.
And in a Premier Two Red meeting at the Bristol County Sports Club Mandy Macdonald defeated Horst Stenzel 11-8.
18/04/16: Simonetta assured of Spring Grand Prix title
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including eleven entrants to the penultimate phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of 3-point round robins.
Both the six player group and the five player group were won by a player with a clean sweep of victories -- Simonetta Herrera in the larger group, Drew Caudwell in the smaller one.
And with just one session remaining, Simonetta will definitely finish at the summit of the SGP table, as there are not enough points available in next week's Nackgammon Tournos for her to be caught.
Also, John Curran -- the competition's leading intermediate -- will take that title unless Mary French should score very heavily next week.
Two Brunel Trophy matches and two league matches were played alongside the tournament.
Jim Green became the latest player to exit the Brunel Trophy, when he lost his second life to Miles Farren, who remains undefeated.
Meanwhile Alin Buzescu and Steve Morris each have a single life left after Steve's win.
In Premier Two Red Stephen Little got the better of Pearl Foster when they resumed their recently adjourned match, and he returns to second place in that league.
And Carwyn Jenkins scored his maiden Conference League win at the expense of Mary.
15/04/16: Andy wins April Grand Prix tournament
There were twenty-two players in action at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday, including the twenty who contested the fourth of the year's monthly grand prix events.
And Andy Boysan continued his impressive recent form by winning the main flight, defeating Rufus Rozelaar, Alin Buzescu and Roland Herrera before despatching Elias Hamati in the final.
Elias had progressed there via wins over Tim Line, Nick Barham and Ian Tarr.
Steffen Nowak won the consolation flight after victories against Richard Owsley, Ian Hedges, Warner Solomon and Simonetta Herrera.
Andy's win will have earned the approval of many players, as he opted out of the Winner Takes All pool, which already carried a £100 rollover.
Fifteen entrants opted in, so the rollover in May will be a handsome £250!
Roland Herrera's OGP lead has increased fractionally to 29 points, with Ian Tarr now in second place and Andy third.
And Elias's status as an intermediate sees him leap straight into the lead in the IGP, displacing previous leader Bob Markham.
Two Brunel Trophy matches were played, and Ian Hedges is the latest player to exit the competition after defeat to Chris Hughes.
Derek Clew beat Tom Chapman, but that was Tom's first defeat, so both players progress to round three.
13/04/16: Wednesday league action
There were five league matches played on Wednesday.
In the Premier League's top flight Simon Hughes and Cecilia Sparke played out a double header at the Shakespeare Tavern, Prince Street.
And Simon emerged with a brace of wins to throw the Premier One title race wide open.
The Larkhall Inn, Bath, was the venue for a Premier Two Blue douible header, where Peter Thistlewood moved into second place in the league table by defeating Andrew Cobb twice.
And at the Rainbow Casino Cliff Blofield consolidated his Conference League lead by registering a narrow win over Carwyn Jenkins, for whom this was a first taste of league action.
13/04/16: Roland is fifth Brunel casualty
Roland Herrera this afternoon became the fifth player to exit this year's Brunel Trophy when Pearl Foster visited Kellaway Avenue.
Pearl scored an 11-4 victory to eliminate Roland and preserve her last remaining life in the competition.
12/04/16: Brunel win for Andy; Steffen and Simon swap league wins
Andy Boysan remained in contention for the Brunel Trophy by defeating Marcus Evans 11-1 at the Pump House this evening.
Both players have one life remaining.
And in a Premier One double header at the sane venue, honours were exactly even when Steffen Nowak won 11-9 and lost 9-11 to Simon Hughes.
12/04/16: Paul Watts wins sixteenth Bristol Masters
There were nineteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including thirteen entrants to the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of Tric Trac Tournos.
Highlight of the evening, however, was the held over final of the sixteenth Bristol Masters between Roland Herrera and Paul Watts.
Paul was the winner, and takes his biggest ever backgammon title.
In the Brunel Trophy Ed Turner registered the narrowest of victories over Simonetta Herrera when it appeared as though his second and last life was about to expire.
Both players now have one life left in this double elimination event.
A Premier Two Blue double header saw Peter Thistlewood and Dave Pym swap 11-7 wins, while Stephen Little edged home 11-10 in a Red Division encounter with Tim Line.
In the Conference League Tom Chapman and Mary French have adjourned a match, with Tom 9-8 ahead.
The Tric Trac Tournos featured Yuri Cherkasenko and his daughter Kat.
Yuri was making a return appearance after a gap of nearly five years, while Kat was making her Bristol Backgammon debut.
Stephen won the seven player group, and Mary the six player group.
Simonetta remains nineteen points ahead of her nearest challenger in the SGP, while Mary still has a ghost of a chance to overhaul John Curran in the race to be the competition's leading intermediate.
There was also time for an impromptu five player DMP Tourno, where Roland took the pot.
10/04/16: Blue Division wins for James and Andrew
Three Premier Two Blue matches were played today.
In Kellaway Avenue James Newman was the visitor and Simonetta Herrera was the hostess.
Two away wins were the result.
And at the Talbot, Keynsham, Andrew Cobb defeated Ismail Yilmaz 11-9.
08/04/16: Paul and Roland to contest Masters final
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, including the sixteen qualifiers for the sixteenth Bristol Masters event.
And the players to emerge from the high quality draw were Paul Watts and Roland Herrera, who are scheduled to contest the final on Monday at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Paul defeated Stephen Little, Cecilia Sparke and Nick Barham to reach the final, while Roland was getting past Cynthia Roberts, Stuart Mann and Ed Turner.
It's the fourth time Roland has reached the final of this event, and nobody else has done so more than twice.
Paul, who has twice previously reached the semi-finals, will be contesting his first Masters final.
Three Brunel Trophy matches were played, and two more players -- Bob Markham and Ismail Yilmaz -- made their exits by losing their second life.
The other defeated player, Ian Tarr, lives to fight another day.
Winners Dave Pym and Gaz Owen have both lives intact, while Stephen Little's win kept him in the competition.
One Premier Two Blue match was played -- Ian Hedges scoring an 11-8 win over Andy Brown.
06/04/16: Brunel wins for Jason and Alex
Two more second round Brunel Trophy matches were played on Wednesday.
The Knights Templar was the venue for Jason Champion's marrow victory over Simon Hughes, while Alex Hodge's win over Andy Brown at the Rainbow Casino was more emphatic.
Jason and Alex go into round three with both lives intact, while Simon and Andy at least still have one left.
06/04/16: Adam exits Brunel Trophy
Adam Sinclair became the second player to be eliminated from this year's Brunel Trophy when he lost narrowly to Blaine Buchanan at the Oxford, Totterdown, last night.
05/04/16: Rufus starts with a win
Rufus Rozelaar, who has recently returned to action after a six year gap, has started his Conference League campaign with an 11-8 win over Mary French at the Kensington Arms, Redland.
04/04/16: Seventeen in Monday action
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including twelve entrants to the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of six player 3-point round robins.
Amongst the field who started the round robins was debut player David Ralston, for whom the schedule proved too tight for him to finish the contest, but who will hopefully be back for more very soon.
Elias Hamati and Ian Tarr shared the pot in that group, while Gaz Owen scored a clean sweep of wins to take the other.
The absent Simonetta Herrera still heads the SGP table, although her lead has been cut to a little under 20 points.
John Curran did not have a good night, but he still faces no immediate challenge to his leadership of the race to finish as the event's top intermediate.
Other action saw the first Brunel Trophy demise, as Drew Caudwell suffered his second narrow defeat of the competition, this time to Paul Watts, who is as yet unscathed in the event.
And the Conference featured the day's league highlight, as Tom Chapman and Cliff Blofield registered three results, including one which had previously been adjourned.
That one went Cliff's way, as did the third, and the pair are now locked closely together at the top of the embryonic league table, Cliff holding a slight average points difference advantage.
Those three results actually doubled the division's output for the season to a total of just six results, although it is understood that several other matches have now been arranged.
The only other match -- a Premier Two Red encounter between Pearl Foster and Stephen Little -- was adjourned with the score at 6-6.
04/04/16: Alex to miss Masters defence
Work related reasons have decreed that Alex Hodge, who has won the Bristol Masters in both 2014 and 2015, will not be on the starting line this Thursday for the sixteenth incarnation of Bristol's most prestigious single evening event.
While this is bad news for Alex, his replacement from the list of reserves -- Cynthia Roberts -- is honoured to accept the vacancy.
01/04/16: Six penalised at midnight checkpoint
The first of the season's Premier League checkpoints passed at midnight.
The good news is that nobody was expunged from the league, although six players have incurred penalty points which can all be reclaimed by compliance with the terms of the May 31st checkpoint.
Cecilia Sparke, Simon Hughes, Phil Charlton and Neil Young of Premier One, Ian Tarr of Premier Two Blue and Tim Line of Premier Two Red will all need to be active during April and May.
Bizarrely one player -- Andy Brown in the Blue Division -- failed to pay his league fees by the deadline, so will be one point light for the remainder of the season.
01/04/16: Andy wins GP30 tournament
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday, including thirteen at the Rainbow Casino, eleven of whom contested the second of this year's GP30 tournaments.
Andy Boysan emerged victorious, defeating Adam Sinclair, Ian Tarr and debut player George Devlin, who had beaten Alex Hodge and Cecilia Sparke en route to the final.
George, who is locally based, plays regularly at London's RAC Club, and his Bristol debut was a very successful one, not only taking the runner-up prize money, but also scooping the side pool for a profitable evening.
Also in action was Graham Alder, who was making his first playing appearance in a Bristol Backgammon event since August 2006.
In the consolation flight it was Adam who took the honours with wins over Alex and Gaz Owen.
The first of the second round Brunel Trophy matches was played, and it was a nail biter.
Chris Rogers pipped Mike Smith at DMP to preserve his unbeaten record in the competition, while Mike still has one life left.
Two Premier League matches were played.
In the top flight Richard Owsley scored a much needed win over Simon Hughes at the Adam and Eve, while Jason Champion kept up the pressure on the leaders of Premier Two Red by defeating Stephen Little at the casino.
30/03/16: Simon wins at the Pump House
A Premier One match played at the Pump House yesterday evening saw an 11-8 victory for Simon Hughes over Phil Charlton.
The completion of this match ensures that no Premier League players will be expunged at tomorrow's midnight checkpoint, although there are seven who might collect penalty points.
26/03/16: Gaz and Simonetta score speedgammon clean sweeps
There were sixteen players in action at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday, including the fourteen who contested the second of this year's six Speedgammon Grand Prix events.
Two groups of seven players made for plenty of activity for all.
And both groups featured a player winning all six matches -- Gaz Owen in one group, Simonetta Herrera in the other.
Gaz also managed a clean sweep in the February event, so has built up a 45 ponts lead in the SGGP table, with Simonetta now in second place.
Debut player Cristian Horincar, who hails from Hungary, made an impressive start to his Bristol Backgammon career, winning five of his six matches.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy play.
Steffen Nowak and Steve Morris opted for a Premier One double header instead of the Speedgammon, and Steffen scored a pair of emphatic victories.
In advance of the tournament Jason Champion defeated Cynthia Roberts in Premier Two Red, while Gaz was overcoming Stephen Little in the twentieth and last match of the Brunel Trophy first round.
And the second round draw, made later in the evening by Simonetta, can also be seen here.
24/03/16: Mandy wins in Brunel first round
The late result from yesterday evening in the Brunel Trophy at the Windmill was an 11-8 victory for Mandy Macdonald over Tony Walters.
The round will be completed with the twentieth and final match at the Rainbow Casino at 5.30pm.
23/03/16: Ed back on top
There were eight Premier League matches played on Wednesday, plus one Brunel Trophy match which has not yet been reported.
Both Premier One and Premier Two Red featured a pair of double headers.
In the top flight Ed Turner scored a pair of emphatic wins over Neil Young at the Merchants Arms, Eastville, and regains top place in the league, albeit having played more matches than his pursuers, while at the King William IV Phil Charlton and Gaz Owen shared the spoils.
In the Red Division Drew Caudwell made it six straight league wins in twice defeating Simon Baker at the Post Office Tavern, while at the G W Hotel, Swindon, Stephen Little and Gary Plant scored a win apiece.
Gary stays top with Drew now second and Stephen third.
In the Brunel Trophy the result from the Windmill, where Mandy Macdonald met Tony Walters, is not yet in.
This match and the one between Gaz and Stephen tomorrow afternoon will wrap up the first round of the competition prior to the second round draw.
23/03/16: Tuesday wins for Gaz and Chris
Two Premier League matches were played on Tuesday.
At the Portcullis, Staple Hill, Gaz Owen defeated Ed Turner 11-5 to rekindle his Premier One title challenge.
And Chris Hughes inflicted Peter Thistlewood's first Premier Two Blue defeat of the season, 11-3 at the Compass, Tormarton.
21/03/16: Twenty in Monday action again
There were twenty players in action on Monday, including eighteen at the Bristol County Sports Club, of whom sixteen contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of eight player DMP Tournos.
Elsewhere there was a Brunel Trophy match, with Mike Smith defeating Tim Line to preserve his two lives.
Before the tournament Cynthia Roberts and Horst Stenzel played a Premier Two Red double header, where the spoils were shared.
Cliff Blofield and Tom Chapman got a long way through a Conference League match, before adjourning to play in the tournament with Cliff 10-4 ahead post Crawford.
And the held over GP5 main final from March 3rd, featuring Andy Boysan and Alex Hodge, resulted in a 7-5 win for Andy, who now shares the GP5 lead with Stephen Little.
The DMP Tournos were closely contested, with Horst winning one outright, whuile the other ended in a three way tie.
20/03/16: Announcing the 2016 Bristol Open
The Bristol Open website is up and running!
The event, which will embody the final leg of the inaugural UKBGF Tour, will be staged at the Rainbow Casino on October 28th, 29th and 30th.
Keep visiting the website over the coming weeks and months as more and more details will be appearing.
20/03/16: Simonetta wins Saturday Rainbow event
There were just thirteen players at the Rainbow Casino on Saturday for the latest of our weekend one day events.
But with a total of £740 on the table it was still a worthwhile entetprise.
Simonetta Herrera won for the second successive time, defeating Adam Sinclair, Miles Farren and in the final, Warner Solomon.
Warner, who did not have the benefit of a first round bye, beat Roland Herrera, Nick Barham and Tony Walters en route.
The introduction of a consolation flight meant there was a bigger spread of prize money, and Tim Line took this flight with wins over Ian Tarr, Gaz Owen and Ed Turner.
Ed and Nick also took the opportunity to play their held over Handicap Trophy final, and it was Ed, the event's sponsor, who won to take the overall lead from Daniel Eldridge.
18/03/16: Roland takes OGP lead
The held over final of last week's Monthly Grand Prix tournament was played out in Kellaway Avenue this evening.
And after visitor Derek Clew took a 6-2 lead the match turned on its head with an eight-cube game which utimately proved decisive as Roland Herrera won 11-7.
He takes over the lead of the OGP table from Richard Owsley.
18/03/16: Twenty-eight in Thursday action
There were twenty-eight players in competitive action on Thursday, including the twenty-one who made it to the Rainbow Casino, where nineteen contested the second of this year's eight Handicap Trophy competitions.
Seven Premier League matches and one Brunel Trophy match were completed.
In Premier One there were two nail biters.
Paul Watts scored an 11-10 victory over Gaz Owen at the Fire Engine, Redfield, while Stuart Mann triumphed by the same score over Andy Boysan at the Adam and Eve.
It was a day for good progress in Premier Two Red.
Simon Baker and James Lintell-Smith shared the spoils of a double header at the Pump House, while Tim Line beat Pearl Foster at the Compass, Tormarton.
And alongside the day's tournament at the casino, Drew Caudwell twice managed narrow defeats of Mandy Macdonald.
In the first round of the Brunel Trophy Bob Markham became the seventeenth player to lose his first life when he lost to Marcus Evans.
The evening's central event saw Nick Barham and Ed Turner make light of their scratch handicaps to reach the final, which was held over for another day.
Nick got past Ismail Yilmaz, Tim and Richard Owsley while Ed was eliminating Cliff Blofield, Marcus and Adam Sinclair.
The consolation flight saw two 3-handicap players make it to the final, where Ismail got the better of Bob.
January winner Daniel Eldridge still leads the HT table, but this would change were Ed -- who leads the Side Pool Grand Prix standings -- to win the final.
16/03/16: League wins for Gary and Neil
Two Premier League matches were played on Tuesday.
In Premier Two Red Gary Plant and Pearl Foster met in the afternoon at the Compass, Tormarton, and Gary's 11-4 win sees him move six points clear at the top of that league.
And the King William IV, Staple Hill, was the evening venue for Phil Charlton and Neil Young to get their Premier One campaigns moving.
Phil made the early running before Neil fought back to parity at 8-8.
And a cubeless backgammon completed Neil's comeback.
14/03/16: Nineteen in Monday action again
There were nineteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including the eleven who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of 3-point round robins.
There were also five league matches, three Brunel Trophy ties, and the consolation final of last Thursday's Monthly Grand Prix tournament.
In that final Chris Hughes thwarted Richard Owsley's bid to extend his OGP lead.
Sixteen of the twenty first round Brunel Trophy matches have now been played, and the latest three to lose a life were Cecilia Sparke, Jim Green and Roland Herrera, who suffered defeats to Nick Barham, Chris Rogers and Blaine Buchanan respectively.
Cecilia later gained her revenge over Nick by inflicting a Premier One defeat on him, although he retains the lead of that division on average points difference from Cecilia, despite her two matches in hand.
There was a double header in Premier Two Red, where Drew Caudwell bagged a brace of wins over Horst Stenzel.
Also in that division Tim Line suffered defeat to Cynthia Roberts.
And the slow starting Conference League sees Tom Chapman making the early pace after he made light of an early 1-7 deficit to defeat Mary French.
In the round robins Tim scooped the pool in the five player group, winning three of his four matches, while there was a four way tie in the six player group.
Simonetta Herrera extended her SGP lead to twenty-nine points.
14/03/16: Roland wins local derby
Roland Herrera and Simonetta Herrera sat down at home to play the outstanding semi-final of Thursday's tournament on Saturday.
And it was Roland who prevailed with a 7-2 victory, which earns him a final meeting with Derek Clew, the date of which has yet to be decided.
Roland moves into joint second place in the OGP table, and would overtake leader Richard Owsley were he to win the final.
A win for Derek would see him slotting into outright second place behind Richard.
11/03/16:
There were twenty-four players in competitive action on Thursday, including the twenty-three who made it to the Rainbow Casino, where twenty-one contested the third of this year's monthly grand prix competitions.
Five Premier Two matches were played beforehand and alongside the main event.
The Ship, Lower Park Row, was the venue for a Premier Two Blue double header between two of the division's stragglers.
Ian Tarr was able to become a little less of a straggler by defeating Andrew Cobb twice, his first league wins of the season.
Two more Blue Division matches took place at the casino, where Fred North and Chris Hughes defeated Ismail Yilmaz and Ian Hedges respectively.
And in the Red Division Tim Line also recorded his first league success of the season, defeating Stephen Little.
In the tournament there were Bristol Backgammon debuts for father and son Steve and Aelwyn Elias.
Both flights of the tournament are incomplete at the time of writing.
Derek Clew came through one half of the draw, past Simon Hughes, Cecilia Sparke and Ian Hedges, and now awaits a final opponent.
The outstanding semi-final, which features the Herreras, will no doubt be played very soon in the comfort of their own home.
Roland's victims were Chris Hughes, Aelwyn and Adam Sinclair, while Simonetta's were Ian Tarr, Andy Boysan and Tim.
The consolation final is also outstanding, and will feature Chris Hughes and Richard Owsley.
The good news from a neutral perspective is that the Winner Takes All pool, amounting to precisely £100, stayed in its envelope, ready for carrying forward to the April tournament.
Bizarrely none of the ten investors last night made it past the quarter-finals.
OGP leader Jason Champion was absent, so has had to yield his top place, at least for the moment.
Richard is the new leader, although a main flight triumph for either of the Herreras would change things, regardless of how Richard gets on in his final.
In the OGP's sister competition, the IGP, Bob Markham did enough to increase his lead to 46 points, while Warner Solomon, making his first appearance of the season, has moved into third place.
09/03/16: Brunel wins for Richard and Jason; Ian still awaits first league win
Four matches were played on Wednesday -- two in the Brunel Trophy and two in Premier Two Blue.
In the Brunel first round there were wins for Richard Owsley and Jason Champion.
Richard defeated Pearl Foster in his office, while Jason beat Steffen Nowak at the Prince of Wales, Gloucester Road.
The league matches formed a double header at the Bristol County Sports Club, where Ian Hedges arrested his run of league defeats by defeating Ian Tarr twice.
Ian T has yet to register a league win this season.
09/03/16: Stuart wins in Staple Hill
A Premier One match at the King William IV, Staple Hill, last night saw Stuart Mann move into closer contention for honours when he defeated Phil Charlton 11-7.
And now that Phil has started his league campaign, that means that all Premier League players are now under way.
08/03/16: All hail the new Grand Masters!
The Backgammon Masters Awarding Body exists to fulfil a particular role in the backgammon world.
Tournaments are run specifically to measure the quality of players' performances, and in the UK the main organiser is Rick Janowski.
When players perform to a particularly high standard over a sustained period of time, the most exceptional are rewarded with the title Grand Master.
Since the awards began, only twenty-two players had fulfilled the criteria, so it can be seen to be no mean feat.
Now the twenty-third and twenty-fourth Grand Masters have been announced, and not only are they from the UK -- they are both Bristol players!
Gaz Owen's recent triumphs have been well chronicled, and he owes at least a small portion of his success to his formative Bristol Backgammon years.
The same cannot be truthfully said of Julian Fetterlein, who has been on the World Backgammon Giants list for a long time now.
His appearances at our events have been sporadic at best, but none the less welcome for that.
And if he were to call any club his own, that would be us.
So many congratulations are due to Grand Master Gaz and Grand Master Julian!
08/03/16: Adam's league run continues
Adam Sinclair's amazing run in his first Premier Two season shows no sign of coming to an end.
Today at the Brewhouse, Cotham Hill, he scored an 11-2 win over Ian Tarr, who was making a belated first league appearance of the season.
But that was a scoreline which obscured the main talking point of the match -- whether or not it was wise to allow the cube to reach eight when 8-2 ahead.
Adam duly secured that game by rolling more doubles than his opponent, and will surely gain promotion from Premier Two Blue with something approaching a fifty-fifty record over the remainder of the season.
With twelve wins out of twelve, Adam's league form is at odds with his record in other Bristol competitions, where he has won only four of fourteen other Bristol ranked matches.
Meanwhile, the Fox Den, Stoke Gifford, was the scene of Neil Young's first league match of the season.
And he too suffered a 2-11 Premier One reverse, at the hands of Gaz Owen.
The afternoon's other league action came in Premier Two Red, where Mandy Macdonald and Mike Smith played a double header.
Both matches ended 11-4, Mandy winning the first, Mike the second.
08/03/16: Nineteen in Monday action
There were nineteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including the thirteen who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of DMP Tournos.
In Premier One action were Ed Turner and Paul Watts, and it was Paul who scored a much needed victory.
Cynthia Roberts, having experienced two narrow defeats earlier in the day, suffered yet another when she met Pearl Foster in Premier Two Red.
Two Brunel Trophy matches were completed -- Tom Chapman and Alex Hodge beating Drew Caudwell and Chris Hiughes respectively.
In the DMP Tournos both pots were shared.
In the seven player group Simonetta Herrera and Adam Sinclair shared the spoils, while there was a three way split in the six player group, with Cliff Blofield, Stephen Little and Gaz Owen benefiting.
Simonetta has regained the SGP lead, moving 26 points ahead of previous leader Ian Tarr, while John Curran also did enough to extend his lead as the competition's leading intermediate.
Ian had some consolation later when an additional eight player DMP Tourno was arranged, splitting the pot with Alex.
06/03/16: Simon starts with a brace of wins
Simon Baker today became the latest player to get off to a late Premier League campaign start when he visited Cynthia Roberts' home in Stoke Bishop.
And he now has two Premier Two Red wins to his name, although both were close run affairs, 11-10 and 11-9.
06/03/16: Simonetta defeats Adam in Brunel clash
Adam Sinclair visited Kellaway Avenue today for his first round Brunel Trophy meeting with Simonetta Herrera.
And it was Simonetta who edged to victory to keep her two lives intact.
04/03/16: Gary beaten, but extends lead; Ismail loses a Brunel life
The Inn on the Green, Horfield, was the scene of Gary Plant's first league defeat of the season today.
His Premier Two Red double header with Mike Smith saw the spoils shared, so despite the setback Gary pulls three points clear at the top.
Meanwhile at the Bristol County Sports Club the latest player to lose one of his two Brunel Trophy lives is Ismail Yilmaz, beaten 3-11 by Simon Hughes.
04/03/16: Alex and Andy reach GP5 final
There were twenty-two players in competitive action at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday, including the eighteen who contested the second instalment of this year's GP5 competition.
In league battle were Stuart Mann and Paul Watts of Premier One, and James Newman, Ian Hedges and Fred North of Premier Two Blue.
Stuart inflicted an 11-4 defeat on Paul, while James played three matches, defeating Ian and Fred before Fred got his revenge.
The final of the tournament main flight has been held over until another time.
Alex Hodge defeated Cynthia Roberts, Rufus Rozelaar and Richard Owsley to arrive there, while Andy Boysan was getting past Chris Hughes, Steffen Nowak and Simon Hughes.
Simonetta Herrera won the consolation flight with victories over Ismail Yilmaz, Chris and Drew Caudwell.
Stephen Little was absent, but still heads the GP5 table, although a final win would see Alex take over.
The alternative result would mean joint leadership for Stephen and Andy.
03/03/16: Two wins for Jason at the Canteen
Yet another new venue for Bristol Backgammon surfaced yesterday.
Jason Champion and Mike Smith met for a Premier Two Red double header at the Canteen, Stokes Croft.
And Jason won both matches -- by 11-5 and 11-10.
02/03/16: Neil loses a Brunel life
The latest match in the third Brunel Trophy took place at the Fire Engine, Redfield, this afternoon.
And it finished with an interesting eight-cube -- Ian Tarr being the beneficiary rather than his opponent Neil Young.
So Neil will have just one life remaining in the double elimination event when the second round draw takes place on March 24th.
29/02/16: Roland, Ismail and Ian cash on Monday
There were thirteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including the ten who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a pair of five player 3-point round robins.
This included a welcome debut for newcomer Steve Mott.
There was also some league action before and alongside the round robins.
In Premier One Steffen Nowak and Gaz Owen fought out a double header, Steffen winning the opener 11-3 before Gaz struck back with an 11-7 victory.
In Premier Two Red a match between Drew Caudwell and Horst Stenzel was adjourned with the score tantalisingly at 10-4 post Crawford in Drew's favour.
And the year's second Conference League match saw Tom Chapman open his campaign by defeating Cliff Blofield.
In the round robins one group was won outright by Roland Herrera, while the other saw the pot shared between Ian Tarr and Ismail Yilmaz, who won three apiece.
Ian takes over the SGP lead from Simonetta Herrera, albeit by less than a point, while John Curran had another useful evening and extended his lead in the race to become the competition's leading intermediate.
26/02/16: Chris and Tim take round robin honours
There were twenty-three players in competitive action on Thursday, including the twenty-one who did battle at the Rainbow Casino.
Thirteen of those participated in the advertised event, the first of the year's six Round Robin Grand Prix events.
Five Premier League matches were completed, along with four from the first round of the Brunel Trophy.
In Premier One Richard Owsley scored his first league win of the season at Steve Morris's expense, but Steve was able to bounce back to edge the return.
In Premier Two Red Mandy Macdonald was also scoring her first league win of the year, 11-5 against Cynthia Roberts.
And a Premier Two Blue double header turned into a triple header when Ian Hedges and Dave Pym also played their Brunel Trophy match.
Dave was the victor in all three encounters.
There were also Brunel Trophy wins for Derek Clew, Alin Buzescu and Andy Brown over Carwyn Jenkins, Andy Boysan and John Chester respectively, the latter encounter taking pkace at the Bristol County Sports Club.
In the seven player RRGP group Chris Rogers scored five victories out of six to take the pot, while Tim Line's four out of five were enough to secure the smaller group.
Chris is thus the early leader of the RRGP table, ten points ahead of Tim and Simonetta Herrera.
24/02/16: Three matches, four results on Wednesday
There were three physical matches which amounted to four results in Wednesday's action.
Ed Turner and Paul Watts agreed before their match to double it up as both a Premier One match and a Brunel Trophy one.
So Paul's 11-7 victory at the Bristol County Sports Club is good for him twice over.
Meanwhile at the Star and Dove Cecilia Sparke was progressing her top flight title defence in a double header against Steffen Nowak.
She suffered her first league defeat of the season in the opening encounter, but struck back to win by the identical score -- 11-4 -- in the return.
23/02/16: Conference up and running!
It's often a little slow to get off to a start, and this season's Conference League is no exception.
Five have signed up so far for our flexible feeder league, but this evening saw the first match of the season completed.
The protagonists were Mary French and Cliff Blofield and the venue was the Jersey Lily.
Cliff won 11-5 to become the season's first Conference leader.
23/02/16: Nick tops Premier League; Gary and Peter maintain unbeaten starts
Four Premier League matches were played on Wednesday.
In Premier One Nick Barham and Andy Boysan met for a double header at the Adam and Eve.
Nick won the opener emphatically, and was 7-0 ahead in the return, but Andy fought back to edge it 11-10.
Andy, Nick and Ed Turner have all won five out of seven and head the table, Nick having the advantage of a vastly superior points difference.
And in a Premier Two season of hundred percent starts, two players maintained their sequences.
In the Red Division it was Gary Plant who made it six in a row when he defeated Horst Stenzel at the White Lion, Westbury-on-Trym, while in the Blue Division Peter Thistlewood was despatching Chris Hughes in a nail biter for his fifth successive win.
23/02/16: Miles is the year's first Brunel Trophy winner
There were thirteen players in action on Monday, including the eleven who were at the Bristol County Sports Club to contest the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a Tric Trac Tourno.
The exceptions were Miles Farren and Steve Morris who played the first match of this year's Brunel Trophy at the Kensington Arms.
Miles, playing his first match of the year, emerged with an 11-9 victory to keep his two lives intact.
The Tric Trac Tourno proved to be something of an anti-climax, although Simonetta Herrera would disagree.
Her backgammon and four gammons made her an easy winner.
She takes over the SGP lead from Chris Hughes, while John Curran is establishing a useful lead in the race to finish as the competition's top intermediate.
23/02/16: Awards Night photos now online!
Photos of Thursday's Awards Night are now online.
As usual the efforts of Roland and Simonetta Herrera from behind their respective cameras give a fantastic impression of how the evening went.
Bristol Backgammon is very lucky to have such expertise available for occasions like this.
21/02/16: Ian wins February Grand Prix final
Richard Owsley and Ian Tarr met this afternoon at Richard's to fight out the held over main final of the February Grand Prix event.
And a closely fought affair ended when Ian had the breaks in the DMP game.
The pair now share second place in the OGP table, 20 points behind leader Jason Champion.
The result will not be a popular one, given that there will now be no Winner Takes All rollover at the March event.
19/02/16: Thirty attend Annual Awards evening
A throng of thirty players and guests attended the latest Bristol Backgammon Annual Awards Night at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday.
Director Ian Tarr delivered his usual Review of the Year, there was a somewhat surprising buffet, there were photo opportunities, and lots of prizes were dispensed.
The Brunel Trophy first round draw was done, five Premier League matches were completed, and there were chouettes.
Apart from the usual prizes for doing well in the various annual competitions, there were of course the eagerly awaited surprise awards, including Sports Person of the Year (Ismail Yilmaz, prize sponsored by Simonetta Herrera), Rookie of the Year (Ian Hedges, sponsor Paul Gilbertson) and Most Improved Player (Cecilia Sparke, sponsored by Gaz Owen).
Gaz broke Stuart Mann's long time domination of the Year End Rankings Leader prize, while there were also awards to commemorate 100 career Premier League victories for Richard Owsley and Cecilia -- the fourteenth and fifteenth players to reach this milestone.
The league results included a double win for Nick Barham over Steve Morris (moving Nick up to second in Premier One), a long overdue victory for Andy Brown in Premier Two Blue, and a brace of wins for Cynthia Roberts in Premier Two Red.
17/02/16: First league defeat for Andy puts Ed top
The top two players in Premier One met this evening at the Rainbow Casino.
And second placed Ed Turner inflicted the first league defeat of the season on Andy Boysan, winning 11-9.
The win sees Ed leapfrog Andy to the top of the league.
16/02/16: League wins for Simonetta and James
Three Premier Two matches were played today.
In the Red Division Jason Champion and James Lintell-Smith met at Ye Shakespeare, and James registered a much needed 11-2 victory, which was Jason's first league reverse of the year.
And Dave Pym visited Kellaway Avenue, where his hostess Simonetta Herrera inflicted a brace of Blue Division defeats on him.
16/02/16: Gary's five match unbeaten start
There were thirteen players in action on Monday, including the eleven who attended the Monday Club session at the Bristol County Sports Club.
The other two were Drew Caudwell and Gary Plant who met for a Premier Two Red double header at the Post Office Tavern.
And Gary scored a brace of victories to extend his winning start to a five match sequence.
He is now hard on the heels of divisional leader Stephen Little who suffered defeat to Jason Champion before last night's tournament.
Another match which took place before the tournament was the one held over from two weeks previously, and here Chris Hughes scored a win over John Curran to consolidate his narrow lead in the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
The assembled eleven were split into two 3-point round robins -- one group of six, the other of five.
The six player group was won by Nick Barham, while the smaller group, which contained the three SGP leaders, saw the pot split three ways.
The three winners being the top three in the SGP meant an extension of the status quo at the top.
John took over as the competition's leading intermediate.
11/02/16: Nineteen in action despite Gibraltar absences
With several of Bristol's finest players away at the big tournament in Gibraltar, there were still nineteen players in action in Bristol on Thursday.
Sixteen of those were at the Rainbow Casino, where fourteen contested the second of the year's monthly grand prix tournaments.
The main final was held over for another day, with Richard Owsley and Ian Tarr the protagonists.
Richard defeated Steve Morris, Chris Hughes and Bob Markham, while Ian was getting past Ian Hedges and Stephen Little after receiving a bye.
Neutrals will be egging Richard on as he is not in the Winner Takes All pool.
Ed Turner took the consolation flight with victories over Jason Champion, Carwyn Jenkins and Steve Morris.
Five Premier Two matches were completed.
Busiest was Dave Pym in Premier Two Blue, whose 11-9 win over Fred North at Swindon's Hop Inn was followed by a double header against Ismail Yilmaz at the casino.
Dave emphatically won the opener of that, but Ismail edged home to a much needed win in the return match.
Ye Shakespeare in Victoria Street was the scene of the other double header as Mike Smith and James Lintell-Smith met in the Red Division.
Mike won both matches.
07/02/16: Mary and John take Nackgammon honours
There were fourteen players in action at the Monday Club session at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Two of those -- Peter Thistlewood and Ismail Yilmaz -- played out a Premier Two Blue match, where Peter was the 11-8 victor to keep his 100% record going.
The other twelve were split into two Nackgammon round robins, where the group winners were John Chester and Mary French.
For Mary, who has been reading a lot recently, this was a landmark success.
So John and Mary are the first leaders of the Drew Caudwell sponsored Nackgammon Grand Prix, which runs hand in hand with the Monday grand prix competitions.
In the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix there's now a leading group of five players covered by just 25 points, and it's Chris Hughes who currently has his nose in front.
07/02/16: Four GP30 dates switched
In response to understandable criticism Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr has switched the dates of four of this year's GP30 tournaments.
It was pointed out that the January GP30 event was very close to a weekend £40 tournament.
Now the March, May, July and September events have been switched in the calendar to give a bigger interval between these and other £40 weekend events.
07/02/16: Adam and Ian reach the half way mark
Just 38 days into the 335 day Premier League season Ian Hedges and Adam Sinclair have now played exactly half of their scheduled Premier Two Blue matches.
There's a chance that they will both be mighty bored over the last few months of the season!
Boredom will not be concerning Adam at this juncture, however.
Not only is he half way through his league programme, he is still undefeated!
His tenth and eleventh wins came this afternoon at the Brewhouse and Kitchen, Cotham Hill -- older players may remember this establishment as Crockers -- and it now remains to be seen whether or not he will ever be caught.
But backgammon, it should be remembered, has a peculiar way of confounding the most apparently straightforward of predictions.
So the tenth of Adam's wins eclipsed the previous record winning sequence at the start of a Premier League season, and the eleventh moved him to within two of his next target -- Ed Turner's all time Premier Two record winning sequence.
06/02/16: Adam extends league winning sequence
Adam Sinclair continues to sweep all before him as he takes Premier Two Blue by storm.
His second visit to Andy Brown's home this year yielded an 11-10 victory, although such a scoreline looked unlikely when he trailed 5-10 Crawford.
Having already created a new record winning sequence for the start of a Premier Two season, he has now equalled the all time best starting sequence in the entire Premier League's history -- an honour he now shares with Martin Hemming from Premier One in 2004.
There are other targets to aim at.
Ed Turner holds the all time best sequence in Premier Two -- i.e. not just at the start of a season -- which is thirteen, while Stuart Mann's best of fourteen in Premier One is the all time Premier League best.
It doesn't end there, however.
The all time record in all Bristol leagues is that of Rosey Bensley, whose seventeen successive wins came mostly in the 2001 Conference League, but partly in Premier Two in 2002.
05/02/16: League wins for Cecilia and Simonetta
Cecilia Sparke's Premier League title defence gathered some pace tonight when she twice defeated Paul Watts at the Hen and Chicken.
Earlier undefeated Fred North had his fine run ended when he visited Simonetta Herrera at her Kellaway Avenue home.
Simonetta opened her Blue Division account for the season with an 11-7 win.
05/02/16: Fifteen contest the year's first Speedgammon GP evening
Twenty-three players were in action on Thursday -- nineteen of them at the Rainbow Casino, of whom fifteen contested the year's first Speedgammon Grand Prix.
Fifteen equals the record turnout for this type of competition, which has been retitled after going by the name of Clock Blitz Grand Prix in previous years.
It was a useful number logistically, too, as players were drawn into three groups of five players.
There were clean sweeps in two of those groups, where Tim Line and Gaz Owen took the spoils to become the first leaders of this year's competition.
In the other group, the pot was shared between Bob Markham and Ian Tarr.
In Premier One there is a new leader.
While previous leader Ed Turner was suffering a heavy defeat at the casino at the hands of Steve Morris, Andy Boysan was building on his already encouraging start by defeating Steffen Nowak twice at the Star and Dove.
As the division's only rookie, he is doing his best to emulate Cecilia Sparke's epic first season in the top flight.
Stuart Mann was also on the right side of a double header at the Adam and Eve, where he compounded Richard Owsley's early season difficulties by winning twice.
There was also Premier Two action in both divisions at the casino.
James Newman succumbed 9-11 to Ian Hedges in the Blue Division, while Stephen Little was increasing his lead in the Red Division by defeating Cynthia Roberts.
04/02/16: Steve off the mark
Steve Morris scored his first Premier One victory of the season at the Kensington Arms, Redland, yesterday.
Simon Hughes was his victim, losing 6-11.
Meanwhile Stephen Little went to Swindon for a Premier Two Red match, but ended up partially disappointed.
He only had time to fall 4-9 behind to Gary Plant before his return home to deal with a family emergency.
03/02/16: Brace of wins for Nick
Nick Barham and Paul Watts met for a Premier One double header at the Bristol County Sports Club.
And Nick reeled off seventeen straight points to win the opener and go 6-0 ahead in the return, before Paul finally got into gear.
Nick still registered the victory, though, by 11-6.
02/02/16: Adam and Roland win Monday round robins
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, including the eighteen at the Bristol County Sports Club, of whom twelve contested the fifth phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
Six Premier Two matches were played -- the opening two at the Rainbow Casino.
These formed a Premier Two Red double header between leader Stephen Little and Mike Smith, who was opening his league campaign.
Stephen won the opener 11-10, but Mike had his revenge in the return, winning 11-3 to inflict Stephen's first league defeat of the season.
Jason Champion also began his Red Division campaign, and defeated Pearl Foster 11-8.
In the Blue Division Dave Pym was another to kick off his season -- and he did so with a double success against Andy Brown.
The other match in this division saw Ian Hedges getting the better of Ismail Yilmaz.
In the round robins, one match had to be deferred for time reasons, but there were outright winners to the two pools -- Adam Sinclair completing a clean sweep in one group, while four wins were enough for Roland Herrera to win the other.
Simonetta Herrera still leads the SGP table, but her lead has been cut to just two points by Ian Tarr, who would actually overtake her were Chris Hughes to beat John Curran in the outstanding match in the pool.
29/01/16: Daniel marks his debut with a win
There were fifteen players present at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday to contest the first of this year's eight Handicap Trophy tournaments.
Among the field was the latest player to make his Bristol Backgammon debut, Daniel Eldridge.
And Daniel made the most of his introductory handicap of four, taking the main honours.
Indeed, in this sixty-seventh handicap tournament, this was the first occasion when both main flight finalists played off the maximum handicap, with last week's debutant Bob Markham also making the final.
Daniel defeated Simon Hughes, Simonetta Herrera and Tim Line en route to the final, while Bob was disposing of Nick Barham, Roland Herrera and Ed Turner.
Steve Morris took the consolation flight, beating Simonetta, Ian Tarr and Mark Wait.
In Premier Two Blue there was a double header at the Bladuds Head in Bath, where Fred North made it four wins out of four with a brace of wins over Andrew Cobb.
27/01/16: Cecilia's defence starts with a win
Cecilia Sparke kicked off her Premier One title defence in satisfactory fashion at the Watershed this evening.
She defeated Steve Morris 11-8.
27/01/16: Pearl maintains winning start
Pearl Foster and Horst Stenzel met at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday for a Premier Two Red match.
Pearl edged home 11-10 to maintain her winning start to the season.
26/01/16: Lily wins!
For those who voted for our occasional player Lily Owsley in the poll for the FIH Rising Star of 2015, there's good news.
Lily won the award, and you can read all about it here.
26/01/16: Roland wins Monday Tric Trac Tourno
There were twelve players in action on Monday, including the ten at the Bristol County Sports Club who contested the fourth phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
The afternoon had seen a Premier Two Red match played at the Three Brooks, where Gary Plant continued his winning sequence at the expense of Mandy Macdonald.
At the club it was Roland Herrera who emerged from the ten player field to take the pot.
Simonetta Herrera still heads the SGP table, but Chris Hughes has cut her lead to less than 10 points.
24/01/16: Simonetta wins Sunday Rainbow event
There are six such events scheduled this year, and it remains to be seen whether or not the format should be tinkered with.
The single flight £40 entry knock-out event at the Rainbow Casino was contested by just twelve players, and with so few players present there was no real chance to stage any side action.
Of those who did play Simonetta Herrera and Chris Rogers worked hardest, neither benefiting from a bye, but reaching the final nevertheless.
Simonetta edged home.
Drew Caudwell avoided the competition because the timing of his flight north made his participation awkward, but he did manage to get in some league action with Stephen Little.
A match previously adjourned at 5-9 was lost 5-11, and the next also went Stephen's way -- this time 6-11 -- and Stephen takes over at the top of Premier Two Red
24/01/16: Adam creates new Premier Two record
Adam Sinclair's winning sequence in Premier Two Blue has now stretched to eight matches.
His latest success occurred at Andy Brown's home, where he defeated his host 11-8 to create a new all time best Premier Two start of season winning run, eclipsing Simon Baker's record.
23/01/16: Drew defeats leader Cynthia twice
Drew Caudwell visited Cynthia Roberts yesterday for a Premier Two Red double header.
And he inflicted a double defeat on his hostess -- her first league defeats of the season.
22/01/16: Alex takes opening GP30 honours
There were seventeen players in action at the Rainbow on Thursday, including a welcome debut appearance by Bob Markham.
Thirteen of those contested the first of this year's six GP30 tournaments, while four others played league matches.
Another two got their Premier One campaigns up and running at the Adam and Eve -- Andy Boysan celebrating his first top flight action with a double success against Richard Owsley.
In Premier Two Blue Fred North and Peter Thistlewood continued their winning starts with victories over Ismail Yilmaz and Ian Hedges respectively.
In the tournament it was Alex Hodge who prevailed, defeating Carwyn Jenkins, Simonetta Herrera and Roland Herrera in the process.
Roland had arrived in the final via wins over Rob Wills, Tim Line and Simon Hughes.
The consolation flight was won by Rufus Rozelaar, who overcame Carwyn and Adam Sinclair after receiving a bye.
So Alex is the early GP30 leader.
19/01/16: Champions League draw done
The draw for the second UK Champions League was made at the weekend tournament in Brighton.
There are eight Bristol players in the thirty-two player line-up -- one in each of the eight qualifying groups.
You can follow their fortunes through the year long event at the website.
Stuart Mann did best of last year's Bristol entrants -- reaching the final where he was defeated by Peter Bennet.
19/01/16: Ed maintains strong start
Five more Premier League matches were played on Tuesday.
At the Bridge Inn, Yatton, Ed Turner built on his useful start to the Premier One campaign by defeating Stuart Mann twice -- 11-8 and 11-10.
There was another double header at the Bristol County Sports Club, where James Lintell-Smith and Horst Stenzel were both chasing their first Premier Two Red wins of the season.
And both players at least achieved that objective when James' 11-1 victory was followed by Horst's 11-4 win.
The Queens Head, Hanham, played host to a Premier Two Blue match, with Chris Hughes scoring his first league win of the season, too.
This was an 11-7 success against Ian Hedges.
19/01/16: Jason clinches January Grand Prix title
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, including seventeen at the Bristol County Sports Club, where eleven contested the third phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
Amongst that field, which was split into two groups for 3-point round robins, was another welcome newcomer, David Constantine.
There were also six Premier League matches played, as well as both held over finals from Thursday's Grand Prix final.
In the main final of that, played alongside the tournament, Jason Champion scored an emphatic win over Ian Hedges and has a very handy 50 points OGP lead to show for it.
The consolation final, played after the tournament, saw Stephen Little scoring a win over Chris Hughes.
In the round robins the six player group resulted in a shared pot between Chris and Simonetta Herrera, while Carwyn Jenkins won the five player group outright.
Simonetta now has a 22 points SGP lead over second placed Chris, while Carwyn leads the race to be the competition's top intermediate.
There has been a slow start to Premier One this season, with just one match completed prior to last night.
Ed Turner did his bit to change things, however, completing his first three matches of the season.
An 11-9 defeat of Gaz Owen at the Ship, Park Row, was followed by a double header at the club, where the spoils were shared with Simon Hughes.
Horst Stenzel met Gary Plant at the White Lion, Westbury-on-Trym, in Premier Two Red, losing 7-11, and later fitted in the completion of an adjourned match with Stephen, where Stephen managed the tightest of victories.
And in the Blue Division Peter Thistlewood was another to win narrowly, Ismail Yilmaz being his victim.
17/01/16: Four signed up for the Conference -- lots more to come?
Four players have signed up for this year's Bristol Conference League, and as usual more are expected.
Since this particular league is so flexible -- new players can join at any stage, and there is no compulsion to play a particular number of matches during the eleven month season -- it's always difficult to predict how many contestants there will be.
But with the steady influx of new players, it's pretty safe to assume that there will be plenty more joining over the coming months.
And since an opponent can be played up to four times, those who have signed up so far already have the possibility of playing twelve matches.
Anyone interested in joining should email Ian Tarr or ring him on 07940 284652.
16/01/16: Adam makes it seven out of seven
Having experienced disappointment last season, failing to gain automatic promotion from Premier Three, Adam Sinclair is finding life in Premier Two much more to his liking.
With some of last season's Premier Three players, plus new and returning entrants, getting an unexpected opportunity to move up a level thanks to the lower overall entry, it's quite an eye opener to see how some -- like Ian Hedges and Cynthia Roberts -- are grabbing the opportunity with both hands.
Adam is the prime example, however, having today scored his sixth and seventh successes in Premier Two Blue at BSB at the expense of Ismail Yilmaz.
His unbeaten league sequence equals the record -- previously the sole domain of Simon Baker from 2008 -- for the start of a Premier Two season.
His next target (after beating Simon's record) could be Ed Turner's all time Premier Two winning sequence of thirteen from 2010, although that still seems a little way off!
Records, of course, are there to be broken, but more important in the fact that winning the first seven matches of the season gives Adam a great platform from which to mount a sustained promotion challenge.
15/01/16: Jason and Ian reach January GP final
The rejuvenation of our Thursday scene continued apace with twenty-two players participating at the Rainbow Casino.
Two more players -- David Schick and Mark Wait -- made their Bristol Backgammon debuts, and there was evidence of further interest from other casino goers.
In Premier Two Red there was pre-tournament action for four, with James Lintell-Smith and Cynthia Roberts completing a double header -- Cynthia winning both matches to go top of the league.
Stephen Little and Drew Caudwell didn't quite manage to finish their match in time for Stephen to play the tournament, so that one is adjourned for the time being with Stephen 9-5 ahead.
In the tournament it was Jason Champion and Ian Hedges who fought their way through to the final.
Jason had to fight his way through the long part of the draw, defeating Rufus Rozelaar, Cynthia, Steve Morris and Richard Owsley to get there, while Ian's victims were James, Mark and Steffen Nowak.
Ian can gain popularity by winning, as that would trigger a Winner Takes All pool rollover.
The consolation flight final was also held over -- Stephen and Chris Hughes having made it through to this one.
12/01/16: Fred's comeback sinks Ian
Playing a Premier Two Blue match at the Queens Head, Hanham, for the second time in three days, Ian Hedges looked on track to return to winning ways when he went 6-0 ahead of Fred North.
He didn't get another point, however, so Fred starts his 2016 league campaign with a win.
12/01/16: Gary starts with a win; Pearl goes top
Gary Plant opened his Premier Two Red campaign this afternoon at the Three Brooks with an 11-8 victory over Mandy Macdonald.
And this evening, in the same division, Pearl Foster moved to the top of the table with an 11-9 victory over Horst Stenzel.
11/01/16: Twenty-one in Monday action
There were twenty-one players in action on Monday, including the seventeen who contested the second phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Included among that field, which was split into two round robins for DMP Tournos, were no fewer than three welcome debut players -- Oscar Kolkowski, Jess Kolkowska and Jesse Smith.
The larger group saw a split pot, with Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr both winning six of their eight games, while the smaller group was won outright by Horst Stenzel, winning six out of seven.
Simonetta leads the SGP table by eighteen points, with Ian now in second place.
In the Premier League four matches were completed, and these included the first result of the year in Premier One, where Gaz Owen defeated Nick Barham 11-8 before the tournament.
Premier Two Blue saw a first league defeat of the season for Ian Hedges, who lost narrowly to Peter Thistlewood at the Queens Head, Hanham.
And Premier Two Red has a new leader after Stephen Little's emphatic win over Horst.
Pearl Foster had earlier defeated Mandy Macdonald 11-7 at the Three Brooks.
10/01/16: It was a Premier Two Blue weekend
Five matches were completed over the weekend, and every one of them was in Premier Two Blue.
Adam Sinclair and Ian Hedges maintained their 100% starts.
The Lock Keeper, Keynsham, was the venue on Saturday, where Chris Hughes suffered his second successive 10-11 league defeat, Ismail Yilmaz being the beneficiary.
Also on Saturday there was a double header at BSB, Whiteladies Road. Here Adam scored two hard fought victories over James Newman.
Today Ian played host to Andy Brown at his North Common home, and won 11-8 despite only having an 11% chance of winning the match on his final roll.
And the final one of the five was Andrew Cobb's 11-8 win over Ismail at the Talbot, Bath.
With five wins out of five Adam is setting a formidable pace, while Ian's three out of three is also noteworthy.
08/01/16: Twenty enjoy the Rainbow experience
The first ever regular Thursday session to be held at the Rainbow Casino passed off very well, with twenty players toeing the start line for the first of the year's eight GP5 tournaments.
Free parking, free tea, coffee and soft drinks, the availability of a good and reasonably priced menu, a clean and well lit space, and no late night time constraints all contributed to a satisfactory experience.
Amongst the field there were welcome returns for John Plummer and Rufus Rozelaar -- their first outings since November 2012 and April 2010 respectively.
The main flight saw runs to the final for John and Stephen Little.
John eliminated Ian Tarr, Cynthia Roberts and Nick Barham, while Stephen's victims were Tim Line, Richard Owsley and Simonetta Herrera.
Stephen won a close fought final to become the first GP5 leader of the year.
The consolation flight saw a win for apparent GP5 specialist Ian Hedges, who defeated Alex Hodge, Carwyn Jenkins and Chris Hughes before despatching Mandy Macdonald in the final.
There had earlier been some league action.
In Premier Two Blue Simonetta kicked off her campaign with a home double header against Adam Sinclair, going down to 3-11 and 6-11 defeats, results which move Adam to the top of the table.
Mandy and Cynthia took advantage of the new venue by playing their opening Premier Two Red match, Cynthia becoming that division's first leader of the year.
06/01/16: Premier League debut brace for Ian
Ian Hedges played his first two Premier League matches this evening at the Rose and Crown, Larkhall, Bath, and emerged with two victories.
Andrew Cobb was defeated 11-6 and 11-1, and Ian is the latest early Blue Division leader.
05/01/16: 2016 gets off to a flier
The first session since the Christmas break saw a very healthy Monday turnout of fifteen players contest the opening phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Fifteen players -- including welcome debut player Chris Burgess from Yeovilton -- were split into three groups of five for three-point round robins.
Simonetta Herrera won one of the groups outright, another saw the spoils shared between Chris Hughes and Adam Sinclair, while there was a three way split in the third group between Chris Burgess, Ian Preston and Ian Tarr.
So Simonetta is the first SGP leader of the year, 10 points ahead of Adam and Chris Hughes, while Chris Burgess is the first leader in the race to be the competition's leading intermediate.
The first Premier League match of the year sandwiched the competition, and eventually Adam pipped Chris Hughes 11-10 to become the year's first leader of Premier Two Blue.
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