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31/10/25: Stephen wins held over GP20 consolation final
Stephen Little won the held over final of Thursday's GP20 event on Friday afternoon.
The match was played at the Five Zeros Car Barn in Bradford-on-Avon.
31/10/25: Tim takes GP20 title in style
There were twelve players in action on Thursday at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the seventh and final instalment of the year's GP20 series.
Tim Line went into the event with a more than handy GP20 lead, meaning that he needed to have a modest tournament while one of his challengers was going all the way for the title to be wrested from his grasp.
But his victories over second placed Hazel Harper, Chris Rogers and -- in the final -- Gaz Owen made all of that academic.
Gaz, who has not contested many of these events this year, beat Steve Morris, Barry Vasili and Mark Dixon en route to the final.
The consolation flight final -- between Hazel and Stephen Little -- was adjourned until another time, although the outcome will not affect the final table positionally, with Hazel assured of the runner-up spot.
So the fifth incarnation of this series became the first not to have been won by either Gaz or Ian Tarr, who have each won it twice.
30/10/25: Michael clinches Blue Division title; Simon relegated; Phil wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the forty-third of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Phil Doubtfire, who defeated Scott Wood, Ann Pocknell and -- in the final -- Gaz Owen.
Gaz had arrived there via wins over Kev Peters and Elias Hamati.
Kev took the consolation flight by beating Bristol Backgammon debutant Freddy Doubtfire (son of Phil), Scott and Tim Line.
Stephen Little and Ian Tarr joined the fray in the post tournament jackpot, and Ian won it.
Meanwhile important issues were resolved in a pair of Premier Two Blue encounters.
Michael Petrakas scored an emphatic win over Mark Dixon -- a victory which wins him the divisional title, accompanying second placed Chris Rogers into the top flight.
And Simon Tracy's narrow defeat to Steffen Nowak means he can no longer escape the drop to Premier Three.
For Steffen, however, the equation is simple.
A victory over Matt Sharp in his final match would see him into a promotion play-off against the third placed finisher in Premier Two Red.
Steve Pickard, the current incumbent of third place, will be hoping for the other outcome, of course.
28/10/25: Nick fall just short of promotion
There was just one match today, in Premier Two Blue.
And Nick Barham's final match of the season saw him fall to defeat at the hands of Matt Sharp.
Nick needed a win to edge ahead of third placed Steve Pickard, and an emphatic one to put pressure on second placed Michael Petrakas's final match of the season.
Only Steffen Nowak is now in a position to disrupt the top places.
And after a lean spell the win keeps Matt in with a chance to stay clear of relegation trouble.
28/10/25: Eighteen in Monday action
There were eighteen players in action on Monday, fifteen of them competitively.
Eleven of the fifteen formed 3-point round robin groups of six and five for the fourth session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Alan Joicey and Neil Young were the group winners, neither of them investing in the side pools, which were won by Cynthia Roberts and Kev Peters.
Gaz Owen stretched his AGP lead to 24 points, with Alan now in second place.
There was also Premier Three action.
If Simon Blinkhorn is to take the Yellow Division title, he will need to wait a little longer after an emphatic defeat by Barry Vasili.
And in the Purple Division Andy Zographou retained his slim hope of a top three finish with a narrow win over Ben Crowden.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by Penny Walters, who left early to repair a toilet, and Amarvir Singh, who had some interesting games with the host.
26/10/25: Sunday win for Andrew
There was just one Premier Three Purple match played on Sunday.
Andrew Cobb was the victor over Richard Davies.
25/10/25: Nick and Steffen stay in the picture
There were two Premier Two Blue matches played on Saturday.
And victories for Nick Barham (over Mike Smith) and Steffen Nowak (over Kylie Hedges) kept their promotion hopes alive.
The defeats did nothing to help Mike or Kylie in their efforts to avoiod the drop.
25/10/25: Friday Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
Neil Young is clinging on to his Premier One status against the odds.
His defeat of Cecilia Rogers gives him a target of winning both his remaining matches, in the hope that Phil Charlton wins no more than one of his three.
There is even the possibility that someone could get relegated with a 50:50 record!
Meanwhile in Premier Two Blue Steve Pickard rounded off his season by beating Matt Sharp.
Steve is in the playoff spot, and must hope that neither Nick Barham nor Steffen Nowak can overhaul him.
Second placed Michael Petrakas can also be caught by that duo, although Michael can stop that scenario by winning his final match.
24/10/25: Steffen and Ian to meet in GP10 final
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them to contest the seventh session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
Steffen Nowak and Ian Tarr reached the main flight final, and adjourned until another time.
Steffen defeated Tim Line, Simon Tracy and Barry Vasili en route, while Ian made the most of a first round bye, getting past Hazel Harper and Stephen Little.
Alp Ozbas took the consolation flight by beating Rob Clarke and Steve Morris.
Ian and Steffen have dominated the GP20 season to the extent that its unlikely that anyone else will take the title.
Ian leads by 10 points, but the 35 point haul for the final victor will change that, one way or another.
In the race for the added money list for "non Premier One and Two" players, Steve remains in pole position, with Barry -- and possibly Hazel Harper -- within striking distance.
There was also some Premier Three action, with three matches played.
Scott Wood and Neil Edwards scored Yellow Division wins -- Barry and Dom Verrall their victims.
Scott has nearly made sure of accompanying Simon Blinkhorn into next season's Premier Two.
Winning his sole remaining match would clinch it, or alternatively one false step on the part of Simon Hughes.
Dom's chances took a big hit, although a win in his final match might yet yield the desired outcome.
Neil has finished his matches, and sits comfortably in mid-table.
And Simon Dicken defeated Photis Gittoes in the Purple Division.
23/10/25: Jon wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twelve players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the forty-second of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Jon Organ, who defeated Chris Rogers, Gaz Owen and -- in the final -- Elias Hamati.
Elias had arrived there via wins over Stephen Little and Ann Pocknell.
Ian Anderson took the consolation flight by beating Kev Peters and Tim Line.
And Elias took the post tournament jackpot.
Meanwhile Caroline Boulton hauled herself off the bottom of the Premier Three Purple table by defeating Hazel Harper.
21/10/25: Simon simultaneously into Brunel last three and last two!
The outstanding match from the eighth round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was played on Tuesday.
And Simon Blinkhorn defeated Jon Organ to progress to the ninth round, along with Hazel Harper and Gaz Owen.
The odd number once again necessitates a bye, and as all three have received a bye each, the countback system comes into play.
This is where players' opponents throughout the competition have their total wins tallied.
With the scores reading Simon 25, Hazel 22, and Gaz 19, this gives Simon the coveted easy route through to the tenth round, while Hazel and Gaz will meet in the only ninth round match, to be completed by November 23rd.
21/10/25: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in action on Monday, twelve of them competitively.
The twelve formed two 3-point round robin groups for the third session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Stephen Little and Gaz Owen were the group winners, while Kev Peters took the side pool in Stephen's group.
Gaz has increased his AGP lead to 18 points from second placed Andrew Montgomery.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended only by Penny Walters.
19/10/25: Andy up, barring a miracle of unprecedented proportions
There was just one Premier League match played on Sunday.
And Andy Boysan's whitewashing of Richard Owsley in Premier Two Red makes him sure of promotion, barring a ridiculous series of results.
Second placed Alan Joicey can overhaul him, but the only other "threat" to him is Ian Hedges.
Ian could finish dead level with Andy, but only if Andy loses his final match 11-0 and Ian wins all three of his by the same score.
Meanwhile Richard's late season run of defeats is threatening to send him down to Premier Three.
18/10/25: Gaz one step away
There was just one Premier League match played on Saturday.
And despite trailing 1-7 to Natalie Singh at Arbor Ales, Easton, Gaz Owen recovered to win 11-7.
His sixth Premier One title is now one step away, as he can now only be overhauled by Kev Peters.
Gaz would need to lose both of his remaining matches, while Kev was winning his final match and at the same time bridging a points difference gap of 23.
Meanwhile Natalie needs two emphatic wins to stand any chance of top flight survival.
17/10/25: George wins Handicap event
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday, thirteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the eighth and penultimate instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
And the winner this time was George Georgiou, who defeated Ceri Pierce, Stephen Little and Tim Line before overcoming Steffen Nowak in the final.
Steffen had got past John Rixon, Andy Zographou and Steve Morris en route.
John won the consolation flight, beating Ian Tarr, Andy and Alp Ozbas.
Ed's "Golden Zone" sponsorship was again an interesting feature of the tournament, with Stephen's first round win over Alp and George's quarter-final victory over Stephen earning £10 bonuses.
John's HT lead has diminished slightly to 40 points, with Stephen now second and Ian a further 10 behind.
But with Stephen and Ian due to discard 20 and 25 points respectively in November's final leg, they will need at least 60 and 80 points to even stand a chance of overhauling John for the title.
There was also Premier One action online.
And Simon Baker's final match of the season -- a victory over Phil Doubtfire -- made it more likely that Gaz Owen will retain his title.
Just one win from his final three matches would guarantee Gaz second place, while two would guarantee top spot.
15/10/25: Gaz wins Wednesday online tournament
There were just nine players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the forty-first of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Gaz Owen, who defeated Jon Organ, Elias Hamati and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived there via wins over Stephen Little and Scott Wood.
Phil Doubtfire took the consolation flight by beating Stephen and Chris Hughes.
Ian Tarr then joined the fray to win the post tournament jackpot.
14/10/25: Hazel into Brunel Trophy round nine
In the only action of Tuesday, Hazel Harper defeated Phil Doubtfire to progress to the ninth round of the Brunel Trophy.
Phil finishes in equal fourth place.
13/10/25: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in action on Monday, eight of them competitively.
The eight formed a single DMP round robin group for the second session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Gaz Owen was the group winner, beating Simon Tracy and Andrew Montgomery on PR, and takes over leadership of the AGP from Andrew.
Meanwhile six were at Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr.
In attendance were Kev Lee, Penny Walters, Amarvir Singh, Jaz, and first timer Trevor from Bishopsworth.
13/10/25: Sunday win for Andrew
There was just one Premier League match played on Sunday.
Andrew Cobb narrowly defeated Richard Davies in Premier Three Purple.
10/10/25: Steffen wins October Bristol Grand Prix tournament; Phil deals Kev title blow
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the tenth instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Steffen Nowak took the main flight, defeating Hazel Harper, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Tim Line, after receiving a first round bye.
Tim had got past Steve Morris, Stephen Little and George Georgiou en route to the final.
Marcus Evans took the consolation flight, defeating Cynthia Roberts and Steve.
BGP leader Gaz Owen was absent, but his 72 point BGP lead remained intact, as his closest challenger Ian Tarr failed to make inroads.
Ian had arguably been close to quarter-final victory over Savas Christodoulou, but only progressed after Savas absented himself, having found it difficult to accept standard playing rules and etiquette.
Steffen is assured of a place in the 2026 Bristol Masters tournament after his win, as will all of this year's BGP tournament winners.
Earlier there had been a crucial Premier One match played online.
League leader Gaz is a step closer to the title after his two closest challengers met, Phil Doubtfire inflicting a heavy blow on Kev Peters' chances while retaining his own slim title hopes.
08/10/25: Ann wins Wednesday online tournament
There were just nine players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the fortieth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ann Pocknell, who defeated Gaz Owen, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Ian Tarr.
Ian had arrived there via wins over Elias Hamati and Scott Wood.
Gaz took the consolation flight by beating Elias and Jon Organ.
Elias won the post tournament jackpot.
07/10/25: Tuesday Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Ann Pocknell defeated Paul Watts in Premier Two Red, to keep alive her minute chance of automatic promotion.
And in Premier Three Purple Ben Crowden's defeat of Richard Davies achieved the same effect for him.
07/10/25: Eighteen in Monday action
There were eighteen players in action on Monday, eleven of them competitively.
The eleven formed 3-point round robin groups of six and five for the opening session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Andrew Montgomery won the larger group, Gaz Owen the smaller one, so Andrew is the early AGP leader.
Meanwhile there was another fun evening at Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr.
In attendance were Simon Dicken, Titus Simen, Andrea from oop north, Penny Walters, Amarvir Singh and Jaz.
05/10/25: Sunday win for Paul
In the only action on Sunday Paul Watts defeated Frank Jones in Premier Two Red.
05/10/25: Saturday win for Neil
In the only action on Saturday Neil Edwards scored a Premier Three Yellow victory over Mitch Tucker.
03/10/25: One of the Doms wins the inaugural Reunion Tournament
The initiative to spice up our Thursday programme of events at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel with occasional themed events gathered a little pace this week.
The Reunion Tournament was graced by a field of fourteen players, four of whom had their £10 entry sponsored -- either because they were returning to live Thursday action for the first time this year or (in the case of Savas Christodoulou) because they were making their Thursday debut.
The three returnees were Dom Cybulski in his first appearance since 2023, and league players Richard Owsley and Dom Verrall, whose last appearance coincided at December's Steve's Christmas Fizz event.
And on the night the sponsored players all shared the distinction of being undefeated by the remainder of the field!
Richard lost his quarter-final to Savas, Dom V lost his semi-final to Dom C, who then defeated Savas in a final which -- on agreement -- was curtailed to a 1-pointer.
George Georgiou took the consolation flight by beating Stephen Little and Ian Tarr.
All in all a worthwhile exercise, which is intended as an annual feature in our calendar.
01/10/25: Jon wins Wednesday online tournament
There were just twelve players in action on Wednesday to contest the thirty-ninth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Jon Organ, who defeated Stephen Little, James Timoney and -- in the final -- Ian Tarr, after receiving a first round bye.
Ian had arrived there via wins over Scott Wood, Elias Hamati and Gaz Owen.
Scott took the consolation flight by beating Gerald Whitehouse, Stephen and Tim Line.
Tim won the post tournament jackpot.
01/10/25: Ten penalised at September Premier League checkpoint; Yellow Division in disarray
The September 30th Premier League penalty and expungement checkpoint passed at midnight.
Premier Three Green passed the test in exemplary fashion, with no issues at all, and only eight matches to be played out during the two closing months of the season.
But there were issues in all of the other five divisions.
"Normal" penalty points were incurred by Hemal Getalal (one point in Premier One), Mike Smith (one point in Premier Two Blue), and four Premier Three Purple players (Ben Crowden, Richard Davies, Simon Dicken and Andy Zographou one point apiece).
Simon also failed to claw back the single penalty point he incurred in July.
Paul Watts has avoided six "normal" penalty points in Premier Two Red, as some allowance had been made for his absence due to serious illness.
But the situation in Premier Three Yellow is unprecedented, with three players eligible for expungement.
It could be argued that all three deserve expungement in the normal way, but wiping out 39 results would have had a catastrophic effect on the league's other players.
So expungement will not occur, while the three -- none of whom are in contention for honours -- are penalised to the tune of three points apiece (Barry Vasili and Mitch Tucker) and four points in the case of Eamonn Reay.
Furthermore all ten players (who will claw back the "normal" penalties incurred this time if they complete the season on time) are further hit by the unique extra September penalty, where multiples of 5 points are added to their points against column (one multiple for each match in arrears).
29/09/25: Twenty-five in Monday action
There were twenty-five players in action on Monday, sixteen of them competitively.
Eight of the sixteen formed a single 3-point round robin group for the thirteenth and final session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Ian Anderson and Kev Peters were the only two in contention for the SGP title, going into the tournament level on points, while Ian had the advantage of having 7 points to discard, as opposed to Kev's 11.
However it was Kev who won the group, with Ian second, and the eight points differential was enough for Kev to take the title.
There was also Premier League action, with five results reported.
Simon Tracy played two Premier Two Blue matches, in dire need of victories.
But defeats to Pearl Foster and Robin Gunney have left him with only a slim chance of an escape.
Rosemary Whitehouse took another step towards promotion from Premier Three Green, when she defeated second placed Gary Plant.
The top two are already up, and Rosemary's third place is under threat only from Gerald Whitehouse and Fred North.
Dom Verrall played twice in Premier Three Yellow.
Defeat by league leader Simon Blinkhorn was followed by victory over Eamonn Reay.
Simon is now assured of promotion, as either Dom or Scott Wood will lose at least once on the run in.
Meanwhile at Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, there was another healthy attendance.
He was helped by both Alp Ozbas and Simon Dicken, with Ceri Pierce, Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy and Amarvir Singh being joined by first timers Sarah Lyne and Jaz.
29/09/25: Dave relegated
There were four Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Andy Boysan scored a brace of emphatic victories over Paul Wattsin Premier Two Red.
And in the same division leader Alan Joicey defeated Dave Pym, whose last hope of tier two survival disappeared as he wound up his season.
Alan and Andy now stand first and second, as strong favourites to stay there and return to the top flight.
And in Premier Three Green Gerald Whitehouse beat Fred North to stay in promotion contention, while simultaneously denting Fred's chances.
28/08/25: Brunel Trophy eighth round draw made
The draw for the eighth round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The original field of sixty-two is now down to just five, all of whom are now guaranteed to cash.
A bye was needed, the lucky recipient of which was Gaz Owen.
All five players have a single life remaining, so the ninth round will be the penultimate one.
Matches are to be played by November 2nd.
The full draw can be found here.
28/09/25: Saturday results round-up
There were four Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Robin Gunney and Mike Smith shared the spoils of a Premier Two Blue double header.
In Premier Three Green Kev Lee completed a satisfactory first Premier League season, when he was defeated for the first time in six matches (by Fred North).
And Scott Wood closed the gap between second and third in Premier Three Yellow by overcoming Steve Cox.
26/09/25: Friday results round-up
There were four Premier League matches played on Friday.
Natalie Singh kept her Premier One survival hopes alive with an emphatic victory over Michael Corbett.
Mike Smith defeated Pearl Foster in Premier Two Blue, and thought he had another win later, but had already played Matt Sharp twice.
In Premier Three Green Kev Lee scored another win, this time at the expense of Ceri Pierce.
And Simon Hughes's Premier Three Yellow promotion chances are receding after his defeat by Neil Edwards.
26/08/25: Michael relegated; Ian wins September Speedgammon Grand Prix event
There were twenty-one players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the sixth and penultimate session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.
The eight were split into two round robin groups of four, with the top two in each progressing to the final knockout phase.
Group winners were George Georgiou -- returning to live action for the first time since June 2024 -- and Ian Tarr, with runners-up Alp Ozbas and Steve Morris also progressing.
Alp and Penny Walters were making their Thursday Bristol Backgammon debuts, while another new player, Nesta Chinn, came along on a fact finding mission, and will be back.
Ian and Steve won their semi-finals, then Ian clinched the final.
He has moved into a 115 points lead in the SGGP table, and with discards beginning to bite, there will need to be a mega turnout in the seventh and final session for there to be enough points available to prevent Ian winning his seventh annual SGGP title.
There was plenty of league action online.
In Premier One Jim Green played twice, succumbing to Kev Peters before defeating Michael Corbett.
Kev moves level on points with league leader Gaz Owen, but Gaz has a match in hand.
And Michael's defeat means he is relegated back to Premier Two.
Pearl Foster narrowly beat Kylie Hedges in Premier Two Blue.
Promotion chasing Rosemary Whitehouse and Gerald Whitehouse were both on the wrong end of Premier Three Green results.
Rob Clarke beat Rosemary, while Gerald was defeated by Kev Lee.
Assuming the top two, Cliff Blofield and Gary Plant, eventually go up, Rosemary is best placed to secure the third slot, while Gerald and Fred North could still have a say.
Photis Gittoes beat Caroline Boulton in Premier Three Purple, while in Premier Three Yellow Neil Edwards edged past Eamonn Reay
25/09/25: Ian Anderson wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-one players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the thirty-eighth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ian Anderson, who defeated Elias Hamati, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Jon Organ, after receiving a first round bye.
Jon had arrived there via wins over Ann Pocknell, Chris Hughes and Nick Barham.
Elias took the consolation flight by beating Scott Wood and Ian Tarr.
Stephen won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League action.
Michael Corbett kept his Premier One survival hopes tenuously alive by defeating Phil Charlton.
Stuart Mann suffered his fourth successive defeat in Premier Two Red, rounding off his season by losing to Frank Jones, a result which seems to have wiped out any chance of promotion for Stuart.
Beating Jon Organ in Premier Two Blue means that Michael Petrakas now knows that a victory in his final match -- against Mark Dixon -- will secure promotion to the top flight for the first time.
Kev Lee continued his recent surge from the foot of Premier Three Green by beating James Timoney.
And Simon Blinkhorn's defeat by Mandy Macdonald is likely to be only a temporary blip in his quest to get promoted from Premier Three Yellow.
23/09/25: Hazel back in Premier Two
There were six Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Tim Line played his final three Premier One matches, succumbing to Phil Charlton, defeating Jim Green, and finally losing to Adam Sinclair.
Jim had earlier beaten Simon Baker.
Tim stands fourth in the table, and must hope that no more than two of the five players immediately below him can overhaul him to deprive him of a UK Champions league spot.
Nick Barham kept himself in contention for promotion back to the top flight with a Premier Two Blue defeat of Jon Organ.
In Premier Three Purple Hazel Harper met Chris Hughes in a meeting which would secure one or the other promotion back to Premier Two.
Hazel won by the narrowest of margins, but Chris will surely follow her, as only a remarkable sequence of results will oust him from the top three.
22/09/25: Twenty-one in Monday action
There were twenty-one players in action on Monday, fourteen of them competitively.
Seven of the fourteen formed a single 3-point round robin group for the twelfth and penultimate session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Ian Anderson won the group, and edges ahead of Kev Peters in the SGP points table race, on the first level of tie-break, which is the total number of tournaments entered.
Ian and Kev are now the only ones who can take the title, while Ian has the advantage of having 7 points to discard next week, while Kev has 11.
There was also Premier League action, with four results reported.
Cecilia Rogers scored a Premier One victory over Tim Line.
Paul Watts inflicted a blow to Stuart Mann's Premier Two Red promotion chances.
Titus Simen, already assured of promotion from Premier Three Purple, rounded off his season by defeating Caroline Boulton.
And Kev Lee hauled himself off the bottom of Premier Three Green when he beat Rob Clarke.
Meanwhile at Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, there was a healthy attendance, with Simon Dicken, Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy and Susanne Taylor being joined by first timers Alp Ozbas and Amarvir Singh.
Alp is definitely tournament ready, and is likely to make his Thursday debut this week.
21/09/25: Sunday's Premier League action
There were eight Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Four title hopefuls played Premier One matches.
Simon Baker and Kev Peters shared the spoils of a double header, and Simon later defeated Adam Sinclair.
Phil Doubtfire beat Hemal Getalal twice, continuing Hemal's damaging run of defeats, which leave him facing the proverbial mountain to climb if he is to survive in the top flight.
The upshot of the results at the sharp end of the table is that Adam is now reduced to a rank outsider in the title race, while Simon and Phil -- despite their good results -- still have little margin for error.
Kev finds himself still in second place, a win behind leader Gaz Owen, with a points difference deficit which is problematic but not insurmountable.
In Premier Two Red Andy Boysan fell to defeat against Ian Hedges, leaving all of the top six in with a chance of making the leap into the top flight -- Alan Joicey being in pole position.
Chris Hughes's narrow defeat of Richard Davies in Premier Three Purple brought what appears inevitable promotion one step closer.
And in Premier Three Green Kev Lee defeated Pete Boxer.
20/09/25: Saturday's Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Stuart Mann's second defeat in successive days has hit his Premier Two Red promotion chances, especially as this one was against promotion rival Andy Boysan, who now appears to be a favourite to finish in the top two.
And in Premier Three Green Pete Boxer defeated Kev Lee.
20/09/25: Friday's Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
Michael Corbett won a "must win" Premier One encounter with Neil Young to keep his hopes of avoiding relegation still hanging by the flimsiest of threads.
And Neil will also need to reverse his recent run of results to avoid the drop.
Stuart Mann's place in the Premier Two Red promotion bracket became a little less secure when he was defeated by Frank Jones, who moves out of the relegation bracket.
Frank's win means that the best either Dave Pym or Ed Turner can now hope for is a relegation play-off spot.
19/09/25: Hazel wins GP10 tournament
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the sixth session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
Hazel Harper got a belated reward for directing the previous GP10 tournament, winning the main flight by defeating Steve Morris, Andy Zographou and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived there via victories over Cynthia Roberts and Stephen Little.
Simon Tracy took the consolation flight by beating Steve and Ian Tarr.
Despite a poor tournament Ian's GP10 lead over Steffen Nowak increased to 25 points.
Steve, third overall, remains 35 points ahead of Barry Vasili in the "non Premier One and Two" added money list.
There was also some Premier League action, with five matches played.
Tim met Neil Young earlier to pick up their adjourned Premier One match, which Tim won to move into third place.
Simon Hughes and Mandy Macdonald played a Premier Three Yellow double header alongside the tournament, and were still playing when the GP10 action was done and dusted.
Each player had an 11-10 victory to celebrate.
In the same division Steve Cox edged to victory over Mitch Tucker.
And Richard Davies beat Simon Dicken in Premier Three Purple.
18/09/25: Stephen relegated; Titus promoted; Ian wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-seven players in action on Wednesday, just ten of them to contest the thirty-seventh of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ian Tarr, who defeated Chris Rogers, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Tim Line, after receiving a first round bye.
Tim had arrived there via wins over Phil Doubtfire, Ian Anderson and Alan Joicey.
Chris took the consolation flight by beating Phil and Elias Hamati.
Scott Wood joined the fray late to win the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
The last of the four seventh round Brunel Trophy ties took place, Simon Blinkhorn defeating Hazel Harper, a result which sees both players through to round eight.
In Premier One league leader Gaz Owen recovered from a 0-8 deficit to pip Simon Baker, a vital result in terms of continuing his title chasing momentum.
And Stephen Little ended his season with a defeat at the hands of Phil Charlton, a result which consigns Stephen to Premier Two.
Paul Watts and Ed Turner scored Premier Two Red wins, Richard Owsley and Dave Pym their victims.
Ed retains his minute chance of avoiding the drop, and Dave has now joined him in that precarious state.
Titus Simen's Premier Three Purple win over fellow contender Chris Hughes has clinched promotion for him, something he would have had to wait for, but for Simon Dicken's double header defeats by Andrew Cobb.
Gerald Whitehouse remained in contention for promotion from Premier Three Green by beating James Timoney.
And Simon Hughes, in defeating Neil Edwards, did likewise in Premier Three Yellow.
17/09/25: Chris returns to Premier One
There were three matches played on Tuesday.
Pearl Foster became the latest player to exit the Brunel Trophy, losing her seventh round tie to Jon Organ, who is now guaranteed to cash.
And opportunities to extricate himself from the clutches of relegation from Premier One are running out for Stephen Little after his defeat at the hands of Phil Charlton.
He must win his only remaining match -- also against Phil -- to stand any chance of surviving the drop.
But the first issue in this year's Premier League has been decided.
Steffen Nowak's defeat of Nick Barham means that Chris Rogers is confirmed as promoted back to the top flight, a scenario which looked less than certain before Chris won his final seven Premier Two Blue matches.
Only Michael Petrakas can now overhaul him, but anyone in the top eight still has a chance of second or third place.
16/09/25: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in competitive action on Monday.
Eight of the fourteen formed a single 3-point round robin group for the eleventh session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Kev Peters won the group to forge ahead in the SGP points table race, with Gaz Owen and Ian Anderson in pursuit.
There was also Premier League action, with three results reported.
Tim Line scored a Premier One victory over Cecilia Rogers.
Paul Watts defeated Dave Pym in Premier Two Red.
And Simon Blinkhorn got back to winning ways, defeating Marcel Bancroft in Premier Three Yellow.
Meanwhile there were no drop-ins to Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, the first such occurrence since last year.
14/09/25: Alan and Stuart move ahead
There were three matches played on Sunday, all of them affecting the Premier Two Red promotion race.
It was a good day for Stuart Mann, who defeated both Ann Pocknell and Alan Joicey.
Alan had earlier defeated Warner Solomon, and now heads Stuart on average points difference, as the pair have moved ahead of the other contenders.
Warner is also on 45 points but has played two matches more, while fifth placed Andy Boysan can move into the thick of it if he wins his matches in hand.
14/09/25: Saturday results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In Premier One Gaz Owen defeated Natalie Singh at the Windmill Hill City Farm.
The result moves Gaz three points clear at the top of the league, while Natalie's hopes of surviving in the top flight are diminishing.
And there were wins for Ian Hedges and Andy Boysan in Premier Two Red, Alan Joicey and Stuart Mann their victims.
12/09/25: Friday results roundup
There were four matches played on Friday.
Ian Hedges was eliminated from the Brunel Trophy, losing his seventh round tie to Phil Doubtfire, who is now guaranteed to be amongst the prize money winners.
Robin Gunney won two Premier Two Blue matches, overcoming both Pearl Foster and Matt Sharp.
And in Premier Two Red Dave Pym beat Ed Turner.
12/09/25: Stephen wins September Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, just seven of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the ninth instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Stephen Little took the main flight, defeating Hazel Harper, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Safi Tracy.
Safi had got past debutant Ed Collinge and Ian Tarr en route to the final.
Hazel won the consolation flight, defeating Tim and Ed.
BGP leader Gaz Owen was absent, possibly thinking he has already done enough to take the title after his four successive tournament wins had moved him 77 points ahead of second placed Ian.
With discards beginning to bite for some players, Ian was only able to reduce that deficit by five points, and with Hazel now a further 95 points further back, maybe he has a point.
There was also Premier League action.
In Premier One Tim defeated Neil Young at the Pump House, with the return match adjourned half way through, while Jim Green beat Adam Sinclair online.
Alan Joicey moved closer to what appears an inevitable promotion from Premier Two Red by narrowly defeating Richard Owsley.
And Titus Simen did likewise in Premier Three Purple by edging to victory over Photis Gittoes, whose challenge has faded over recent matches.
11/09/25: Ann wins Wednesday online tournament
There were eighteen players in action on Wednesday, just eight of them to contest the thirty-sixth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ann Pocknell, who defeated Ian Tarr, Scott Wood and -- in the final -- Ian Anderson.
Ian A had arrived there via wins over Elias Hamati and Jon Organ.
Stephen Little took the consolation flight by beating Elias and Ian T.
Tim Line won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
The first of the four seventh round Brunel Trophy ties took place, Gaz Owen securing his eighth round place by eliminating Nick Barham.
In Premier One Phil Doubtfire defeated Cecilia Rogers.
Stuart Mann improved his Premier Two Red promotion chances with an emphatic win over Dave Pym.
In Premier Two Blue Steffen Nowak kept his outside chance alive by defeating Matt Sharp.
And Cliff Blofield edged ahead of Gary Plant at the top of Premier Three Green by beating him, although Gary does have two matches in hand.
09/09/25: Tuesday results roundup
There were nine Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Jon Organ played twice in Premier Two Blue, defeating Kylie Hedges before going down to Nick Barham.
In Premier Two Red Ian Anderson beat Ed Turner.
Four results were reported in Premier Three Green.
Pete Boxer scored a brace of wins, first over Ceri Pierce and then over Gerald Whitehouse.
James Timoney beat league leader Gary Plant, and Rob Clarke defeated Rosemary Whitehouse.
Chris Hughes lost his first Premier Three Purple match in eleven, succumbing to Andy Zographou.
And Simon Hughes defeated Simon Blinkhorn in Premier Three Yellow.
09/09/25: Twenty-one in Monday action
There were twenty-one players in action on Monday, seventeen of them competitively.
Six of the seventeen formed a single DMP round robin group for the tenth session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
According to the rules, however, this should not have been the case.
These decree that when a DMP session attracts fewer than seven players, the format should switch to a 3-point round robin.
Possibly because this was the first time such an occurrence had happened, Director Ian Tarr neglected to apply the rule, which subsequently forced him to apply an ad hoc points tariff in line with the official ones.
Gaz Owen won the group, and edged ahead of the absent Kev Peters at the head of the SGP points table, with Stephen Little and Ian Anderson in close attendance.
There was also Premier League action, with seven results reported.
Gaz moved to the top of Premier One by defeating Tim Line, who later beat Phil Doubtfire.
Michael Petrakas leaped into second place in Premier Two Blue, scoring victories over Pearl Foster and Steffen Nowak, the latter match lasting twenty games!
Hazel Harper remains top of Premier Three Purple after her victory over Photis Gittoes.
And Pete Boxer played twice in Premier Three Green, losing tight matches to Ceri Pierce and James Timoney.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Daniel Miles, Penny Walters and Shams El Sawy.
07/09/25: Sunday win for Titus
There was just one matchs played on Sunday, a Premier Three Purple meeting between Titus Simenand Andy Zographou.
Titus prevailed, and along with Hazel Harper and Chris Hughes, is one of the promotion favourites.
Only Photis Gittoes would appear to have a strong chance to crash the promotion party.
06/09/25: Friday results roundup
There were three matches played on Friday, all of them in Premier Two Blue.
Kylie Hedges played twice, defeating Pearl Foster before succumbing to Simon Tracy.
And, with the race to avoid relegation intensifying, Mike Smith scored a vital win over Nick Barham.
That defeat for Nick has brought confirmation of promotion for Chris Rogers one step closer.
Nobody can now surpass his total of 51 points, while Nick, Michael Petrakas and Steffen Nowak can equal it.
Since Michael and Steffen have one remaining meeting, one more false step for either Nick or the winner of that match would seal Chris's return to the top flight.
05/09/25: Tournament wins for Hazel and Stephen
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday, ten of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the seventh instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
And the winner this time was Stephen Little, who defeated Steve Morris and Andy Zographou before overcoming Steffen Nowak in the final, having received a first round bye.
Steffen had got past John Rixon and Ian Tarr en route.
John won the consolation flight, beating Hazel Harper and Nick Barham.
Ed's "Golden Zone" sponsorship was again an interesting feature of the tournament, with Andy's first round win over Hazel and his quarter-final victory over Tim Line earning him two £10 bonuses.
John has increased his HT lead over second placed Ian to 45 points, with Stephen now a further 15 behind.
Before the tournament, Stephen and Hazel fought out the held over main final of last week's GP20 tournament.
And Hazel's win moved her into second place, 40 points behind leader Tim.
There was also Premier League action online.
Premier One leader Kev Peters suffered a heavy defeat to Adam Sinclair, leaving the title race wide open.
And after a lull of five weeks without a match, Premier Three Green sprang back into action with three results.
Rosemary Whitehouse's defeat of Ceri Pierce consolidated her promotion push, while Ceri was also a victim of Rob Clarke.
Rob later succumbed to Fred North.
04/09/25: Ian Anderson wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twelve players in action on Wednesday, just eight of them to contest the thirty-fifth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ian Anderson, who defeated Hazel Harper, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Jon Organ.
Jon had arrived there via wins over Elias Hamati and Ian Tarr.
Hazel took the consolation flight by beating Elias and Scott Wood.
Tim won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier Two action.
A Blue Division double header saw Simon Tracy scoring a brace of victories over Michael Petrakas.
This constituted a serious blow to Michael's promotion hopes, while Simon's slim chance of second tier survival has been revived a tad.
And in the Red Division Warner Solomon moved to the summit after his win over Ian Hedges.
02/09/25: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, sixteen of them competitively.
Eleven of the sixteen formed 3-point round robin groups of six and five for the ninth session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Stephen Little and Steve Pickard were the group winners, Stephen scoring a clean sweep of five victories.
Neil Young took the side pool in Stephen's group despite finishing second.
Kev Peters retains the leadership of the SGP, with Gaz, Stephen and Ian Anderson all within 20 points.
There was also Premier League action.
Before his group win Stephen emphatically defeated Hemal Getalal in a Premier One encounter.
Stephen has only two matches remaining, and will probably need to win both to stand a chance of staying up, while Hemal, who began his maiden top flight season well, is on a worrying sequence of defeats, and will need to turn a corner very soon.
Ian Hedges remained in contention for promotion from Premier Two Red after beating Paul Watts.
And Scott Wood remains on course for promotion from Premier Three Yellow, having narrowly defeated Barry Vasili.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, and assisted by Simon Dicken, was also attended by Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy, Nil Karadag, Susanne Taylor and Tina.
31/08/25: UK Open, Bristol summary
The nation's top annual event, the UK Open, took place at Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa, from Thursday to Sunday, and a handful of intrepid Bristol players made the trip.
There was an exhibition match on the Thursday between Pete Heskett and our very own Gaz Owen.
The central events, main (94 players) and intermediates (85 players), got under way on Friday, accompanied by a full programme of side events.
Best performer in the main, for the UK Open title, was Kev Peters, who ended up ranked in ninth place.
Gaz was runner-up in the second Super Jackpot, from 32 players.
Neil Young won the second Artgammon Freeroll flight, out of a field of 55, winning a board.
And two of the eight Speedgammon heats were won by Michael Petrakas and Tim Line, earning them places in the final Speedgammon heat of eight.
The pair met in the quarter-finals, where Tim prevailed, only to lose out in the semis.
Full results can be found at Mark Calderbank's excellent site.
31/08/25: Sunday league action
There was just one match played on Sunday.
Ian Anderson narrowly defeated Ed Turner in Premier Two Red.
29/08/25: Friday results roundup
There were three matches played on Friday.
Natalie Singh beat Jim Green in Premier One.
In Premier Two Blue Steffen Nowak defeated Kylie Hedges.
And Ian Anderson scored a much needed Premier Two Red victory over Frank Jones.
29/08/25: Hazel and Stephen to contest August GP20 tournament final
There were eleven players in action on Thursday, nine of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the sixth and penultimate instalment of the year's GP20 series.
The main flight final was held over, probably to be played next Thursday.
It will feature Hazel Harper -- who defeated Lulzim Alla and Ian Tarr -- and Stephen Little -- whose victims were Rob Clarke and Tim Line.
Steffen Nowak took the consolation flight with wins over Lulzim and Steve Morris.
With just one tournament remaining, Tim has opened up a very useful 45 point lead, although that could be reduced to 40 if Hazel wins the final.
Should Tim falter in the October finale, there are six players who might sneak ahead of him for the title.
There was also Premier Three Yellow action at the Globe, Newton St Loe, where Mandy Macdonald ended an unfortunate series of defeats at the expense of Marcel Bancroft.
28/08/25: Gaz wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the thirty-fourth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Gaz Owen, who defeated Nick Barham, Ian Anderson and -- in the final -- Tim Line, after receiving a first round bye.
Tim had arrived there via wins over Ian Tarr, Chris Hughes and Elias Hamati.
Jon Organ took the consolation flight by beating Scott Wood, Nick and Ian.
Elias Hamati won the post tournament jackpot.
There was Premier One action earlier, when Cecilia Rogers defeated Natalie Singh to maintain her title challenge.
And Hazel Harper moved to the top of Premier Three Purple by beating Photis Gittoes.
26/08/25: Paul back in action
Paul Watts has had health problems recently, which have curtailed his availability to continue his Premier Two Red campaign.
In conversation with Director Ian Tarr this afternoon, however, he confirmed his desire to complete the season, even inviting Ian to play one of their outstanding league matches.
Ian prevailed after a sequence of five league defeats.
26/08/25: Ten in Bank Holiday Monday action
There were just ten players in action on Monday, eight of them competitively.
The eight formed a single Nackgammon 3-point round robin group for the eighth session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
SGP leader Ian Anderson decided, after playing four of his seven matches, that the potential timespan of the event was unacceptable, and proceeded to resign his final three matches.
While this was regrettable, the situation was in part the fault of Director Ian Tarr, who went against the rules of the competition, which limits the group size for Nackgammon events to seven players.
He should have set up two groups of four.
The ruling was that all of Ian A's matches should be discarded from the results, and that the remaining seven players would be in the same finishing order.
Gaz Owen was the clear group winner, with Kev Peters in second place.
Kev has taken over the lead from Ian A in the SGP points table, with Gaz close behind in third place.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended only by Nil Karadag, who experienced some absorbing match play.
24/08/25: Brunel Trophy seventh round draw made a week early
The draw for the seventh round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
This was brought forward a week, as all sixth round matches were completed well within the five week time allowance.
The original field of sixty-two has been whittled down to just eight, so no bye was needed for this round.
Only Hazel Harper still has both lives remaining, so either four or five players will progress to round eight.
Matches are to be played by September 28th.
The full draw can be found here.
23/08/25: Saturday results roundup
There were two matches played on Saturday.
Neil Young beat Michael Corbett in Premier One.
And Hazel Harper beat Caroline Boulton to move into second place in Premier Three Purple.
Meanwhile, for the second time in four days, a match was played -- this time supposedly in the top flight -- where the protagonists had already played both their allotted matches.
22/08/25: Ian wins August Speedgammon Grand Prix event
There were just ten players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the fifth session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.
The eight were split into two round robin groups of four, with the top two in each progressing to the final knockout phase.
Group winners were Ian Tarr and Simon Tracy, with runners-up Rob Clarke and Lulzim Alla also progressing.
While Ian had a clean sweep in his group, the other was a lot closer, with a three way race for the lead decided on points difference, the unfortunate Tim Line missing out on the knockout phase.
Ian and Rob won their semi-finals, then Ian clinched the final.
Ian has established a 60 points lead in the SGGP table, with Tim now in second place.
There was action earlier online, when Frank Jones pipped Richard Owsley in Premier Two Red.
21/08/25: Scott wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in competitive action on Wednesday -- plus two others who thought they were -- as fourteen of them contested the thirty-third of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Scott Wood -- for the third time this year -- who defeated Rob Clarke, Ann Pocknell, Chris Rogers and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived there via wins over Gaz Owen, Simon Blinkhorn and Chris Hughes.
Gaz Owen took the consolation flight by beating Stephen Little, Elias Hamati and Ian Anderson, who went on to win the post tournament jackpot.
Steve Pickard whitewashed Matt Sharp in Premier Two Blue, and still has a chance to gain promotion.
Meanwhile, two Red Division players contested what they thought was a league match, not noticing that they had already played their two matches.
19/08/25: Thirteen in Monday action
There were thirteen players in action on Monday, ten of them competitively -- in our Monday Summer Grand Prix session at the Heroes website.
The ten were split into 3-point round robin groups of five.
Group winners were Chris Hughes and Ian Anderson.
Ian A's SGP table lead is up to 20 points, with Kev Peters still in second place.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Director Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Shams El Sawy, who completed her first match using the doubling cube, and Penny Walters.
17/08/25: Sunday Brunel Trophy and League roundup
There were two matches played on Sunday.
Hazel Harper beat Tim Line in Shepton Mallet in the sixth round of the Brunel Trophy, eliminating Tim from the competition.
Hazel will be the only player in round seven with both lives intact.
And Natalie Singh beat Jim Green in Premier One.
15/08/25: Friday Brunel Trophy and League roundup
There were two matches played on Friday.
Gaz Owen defeated Ian Hedges in the sixth round of the Brunel Trophy, leaving both players with a single life to take into round seven.
And Ann Pocknell moved to the top of Premier Two Red after a narrow victory over Ian Tarr.
15/08/25: Gaz wins fourth successive monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, thirteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the eighth instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Gaz Owen took the main flight, just as he did in May, June and July, defeating Stephen Little, Steffen Nowak and Steve Morris before despatching John Rixon in the final.
Nobody has ever won four successive BGP tournaments before.
John had got past Ian Tarr and Ian Hedges en route to the final after receiving a first round bye.
Tim Line won the consolation flight, defeating Kylie Hedges, Stephen and Hazel Harper.
Gaz has forged his way to a 77 points BGP lead over second placed Ian Tarr, who had a blank evening.
There was also Premier One action at the Ibis before the tournament, when Phil Doubtfire beat Stephen.
14/08/25: Bradford-on-Avon fills the Bristol Open gap
The loss of our long standing venue, the Rainbow Casino, late last year meant that not only did we need to find a regular new venue for our Thursday meets, but the Bristol Open -- run in recent years by Tim Line and Hazel Harper -- was also minus a prime venue.
With no other Bristol venue apparently ticking all the boxes, Tim was motivated to look for a replacement elsewhere, and his attention finally settled on the Five Zeros Supercar Barn in Bradford-on-Avon.
So the slot on the UKBGF Tour usually occupied by the Bristol Open is filled, and the signs are that it will work really well.
The new event, entitled the Three Zeros Backgammon Tournament, will run from October 31st and November 2nd.
Tim and Hazel will again be in charge, and registrations are now being sought.
13/08/25: Chris wins Wednesday online tournament
There were thirteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the thirty-second of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Chris Rogers, who defeated Scott Wood, Elias Hamati and -- in the final -- Ian Tarr, after receiving a first round bye.
Ian had arrived there via wins over John Curran, Jon Organ and Nick Barham.
Gaz Owen took the consolation flight by beating John and Adam Sinclair.
Jon won the post tournament jackpot.
Gaz had earlier played a Premier One match against Phil Charlton.
Phil's win prevented Gaz from taking over from Kev Peters at the top.
12/08/25: Tuesday Brunel Trophy and League roundup
There were four matches played on Tuesday.
Simonetta Herrera and James Timoney are out of the Brunel Trophy after losing their sixth round ties to Jon Organ and Simon Blinkhorn.
And Nick Barham scored a brace of Premier Two Blue wins, first over Simon Tracy and then against Matt Sharp.
12/08/25: Sixteen in Monday action
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, nine of them competitively -- in our Monday Summer Grand Prix session at the Heroes website.
The nine formed a single DMP round robin group.
Group winner was Andrew Montgomery, with Gaz Owen in second place.
Ian Anderson still holds a seven point lead of the SGP table, with Kev Peters still in second place.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Director Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Neil Young, Nil Karadag and four members of Nil's family, visiting from Turkey.
Nil's father Ugur challenged Ian to a 5-point non-cube match for a pint, and afterwards, with Nil acting as interpreter, he enthusiastically received an introduction to the doubling cube, which he had never before encountered.
10/08/25: Saturday wins for Nick and Frank
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Nick Barham defeated Pearl Foster in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Two Red Frank Jones beat Ian Anderson.
08/08/25: Bristol players' exploits on their travels
The past couple of weeks have seen some notable achievements away from home.
The 2025 World Championships in Monte Carlo featured strong showings from two of our own.
Chris Rogers made it to the quarter-finals of the main event, from a field of 226 players.
And although Gaz Owen didn't get that far, he did win a big side event -- Super Jackpot #2, from a field of 64.
Closer to home was the Worcestershire Open, where Neil Young was runner-up in the consolation flight, while Hazel harper did likewise in the last chance flight.
08/08/25: Barry takes the sartorial elegance prize
There were eleven players in action on Thursday, nine of them to contest the inaugural Summer Shirt tournament at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
As part of a change of emphasis to add a little more variety to Thursday events, this new -- hopefully annual -- tournament is an attempt to mirror the atmosphere and format of the popular Steve's Christmas Fizz tournament, albeit in a more summery setting.
And an important feature was giving every player a vote for the best shirt, blouse or top, with a nice cash prize for the winner, Barry Vasili (pictured left, courtesy of Cynthia Roberts).
Barry polled 55.5% of the popular vote to win convincingly.
Across the board, however, Barry was devoid of wins!
With all matches throughout the evening played to three points, the opening round robin groups of five and four were won by Stephen Little and Tim Line, both of whom recorded clean sweeps.
The second phase, main and consolation knockouts, based on group finishing positions, saw Ian Tarr take the main prize by defeating Steffen Nowak and -- in the final -- Tim.
Ian Anderson took the consolation honours with victories over Hazel Harper and Cynthia.
There was also Premier Two Red action, where Warner Solomon moved to the top of the league by defeating Richard Owsley.
07/08/25: Tim wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the thirty-first of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Tim Line, who defeated John Curran, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Ian Tarr, after receiving a first round bye.
Ian had arrived there via wins over Jon Organ, Chris Rogers and Gaz Owen.
Mark Dixon took the consolation flight by beating John Curran and Jon Organ.
Elias Hamati won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action online.
James Newman exited the Brunel Trophy at the sixth round stage, losing narrowly to Phil Doubtfire in what was effectively a sudden death tie.
And Richard Owsley defeated Frank Jones in Premier Two Red.
06/08/25: Pearl gets two for the price of one
Nick Barham and Pearl Foster met online on Tuesday, having agreed to double up their sixth round Brunel Trophy encounter with a Premier Two Blue match.
Pearl won, so gets two wins to her name.
Both players progress to round seven of the Brunel with a single life remaining, while the league points give Pearl renewed hope of second tier survival.
06/08/25: Ten in Monday action
There were just ten players in action on Monday, seven of them competitively -- in our Monday Summer Grand Prix session at the Heroes website.
The seven formed a single 3-point round robin group, expertly guided by Jon Organ in Ian Tarr's absence.
Group winner was Ian Anderson, who won five of his six matches.
Ian A is back into the lead of the SGP table, with Kev Peters now in second place.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic, nobly hosted by Daniel Miles at Sportsmans, was attended by Penny Walters and Shams El Sawy.
06/08/25: Andy won on Sunday
Andy Boysan defeated Frank Jones in a Premier Two Red match on Sunday.
05/08/25: Eleven penalised at July 31st checkpoint
The third Premier League checkpoint passed at midnight on July 31st, and eleven players were penalised.
All penalties can be clawed back by meeting the September 30th criteria.
Premier Three Green took pride of place, having no penalties docked at all.
05/08/25: Steffen wins GP10 tournament
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday July 31st, ten of them to contest the fifth session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
In Director Ian Tarr's absence Hazel Harper nobly stepped in to fill the breach.
Steffen Nowak was the victor, shrugging off the disappointment of not receiving a first round bye when he beat Tim Line, Cynthia Roberts, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Steve Morris.
Steve had arrived there via victories over Barry Vasili and Mandy Macdonald.
John Rixon took the consolation flight by beating Tim and Andy Zographou.
Ian's GP10 lead is down to just five points, with Steffen moving into second place.
Steve, third overall, has opened up a 35 point lead over Barry in the new "non Premier One and Two" added money list.
There was also some Premier League action.
Cecilia Rogers moved into third place in Premier One by defeating league leader Kev Peters and Phil Charlton.
Steve Cox's unbeaten run in Premier Three Yellow is over, his sequence of eleven victories terminated by Simon Hughes.
And Gerald Whitehouse beat Ceri Pierce in Premier Three Green.
30/07/25: News blackout from now until Tuesday morning
Apologies to all readers of the site.
I am away until late on Monday evening, so there will be no news updates between now and then.
When I return I will get things back on track a s a p.
30/07/25: Scott wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the thirtieth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Scott Wood, who defeated Tim Line, Chris Hughes and -- in the final -- John Curran.
John had arrived there via wins over Hazel Harper and Stephen Little after receiving a first round bye.
Ian Anderson took the consolation flight by beating Hazel and Jon Organ.
Stephen won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also league action online, with six matches played.
Andy Boysan played three Premier Two Red matches, defeating Warner Solomon before losing twice to Ed Turner.
In Premier Three Green Rosemary Whitehouse lost her first league match in ten, against Fred North.
And in Premier Three Yellow Simon Blinkhorn's Premier Three all time record sequence of wins stopped at thirteen when beaten by Marcel Bancroft.
In the same division Dom Verrall beat Mandy Macdonald.
29/07/25: Tuesday results roundup
There were eleven Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Premier One leaders Kev Peters and Gaz Owen maintained their pace with victories, although Kev gained ground in the points difference stakes by whitewashing Phil Charlton, while Gaz was edging home against Cecilia Rogers.
Cecilia later defeated Hemal Getalal, while Simon Baker was beating Michael Corbett.
Winners in Premier Two Red were Dave Pym, Andy Boysan and Alan Joicey, their victims >Ian Hedges, Ann Pocknell and Ed Turner.
Alan's win moved him to the top of the table at Ann's expense.
Premier Three Purple leader Chris Hughes beat Richard Davies.
In the same division Simon Dicken played two close matches, succumbing to Photis Gittoes before beating Andy Zographou.
And Dom Verrall ended a run of 10-11 defeats by scoring a Premier Three Yellow victory over Mitch Tucker.
29/07/25: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, twenty of them competitively, of whom ten featured in our Monday Summer Grand Prix session at the Heroes website.
The ten were split into 3-point round robin groups of five.
Group winners were Kev Peters, who won all five of his matches, and Phil Doubtfire.
Kev has overtaken previous leader Ian Anderson, who wasn't involved this time, at the head of the SGP table, with Gaz Owen in second place.
There was also action in the Premier League, with six matches played.
Kev and Stephen Little met at The George, Norton St Philip, for a Premier One encounter, with Kev prevailing to edge ahead of Gaz at the top of the league.
In the same division Phil Charlton beat Hemal Getalal.
Winners in Premier Two Red were Ian Hedges and Ann Pocknell, Andy Boysan and Frank Jones their victims.
Ann's win catapulted her to the summit of the table.
In Premier Two Blue Pearl Foster defeated Simon Tracy.
And Rob Clarke beat Pete Boxer in Premier Three Green.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Daniel Miles and Marcus Evans, with much discussion around the matches played.
27/07/25: Sunday results roundup
There were six Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Stephen Little defeated Hemal Getalal in Premier One.
Andy Boysan scored a brace of quick-fire victories over Ian Tarr in Premier Two Red.
Rob Clarke played twice in Premier Three Green, losing to Fred North before overcoming James Timoney.
And Chris Hughes won a meeting of Premier Three Purple promotion chasers against Hazel Harper.
27/07/25: Brunel Trophy sixth round draw made
The draw for the sixth round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The original field of sixty-two has been whittled down to just twelve, so no bye was needed for this round.
Three still have both lives remaining, so between six and nine players will progress to round seven.
Matches are to be played by August 31st.
The full draw can be found here.
25/07/25: Friday results roundup
There were four Premier League matches played on Friday.
The two main contenders thus far in Premier One -- Gaz Owen and Kev Peters -- met, and Kev was the winner.
It's far too early to call it a two horse race for the title, though, with Adam Sinclair, Simon Baker, Jim Green and more handily placed to join the battle.
Frank Jones defeated Dave Pym in Premier Two Red.
In Premier Three Yellow Neil Edwards overcame Mandy Macdonald.
And Richard Davies beat Andy Zographou in Premier Three Purple.
25/07/25: Neil wins July Handicap tournament
There were nineteen players in action on Thursday, nine of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the sixth instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
And the winner this time was Neil Young, who defeated John Rixon and Tim Line before overcoming Ian Tarr in the final.
Ian had got past Steffen Nowak, Stephen Little and Cynthia Roberts en route.
John won the consolation flight, beating Hazel Harper, Steffen and Stephen.
Ed's "Golden Zone" sponsorship was again an interesting feature of the tournament, Cynthia's quarter-final victory over Hazel and Ian's semi-final win over Cynthia taking the tenner bonuses.
John still leads the HT standings, but Ian has reduced his lead to 25 points.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Reece Hodges is out of the Brunel Trophy after losing his fifth round tie to James Timoney, who retains a single life.
The original field of 62 players has now been whittled down to the twelve who remain for the sixth round draw.
In Premier One there were wins for Simon Baker, Natalie Singh and Jim Green.
Jim defeated Neil Young at V-Shed, while Simon and Natalie triumphed online against Phil Charlton and Michael Corbett
Alan Joicey and Michael Petrakas enhanced their Premier Two promotion claims.
Alan won his Red Division match against Ian, while Michael was beating Jon Organ in the parallel Blue Division
24/07/25: Ian Anderson wins Wednesday online tournament
There were nineteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the twenty-ninth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ian Anderson, who defeated Stephen Little, Phil Doubtfire and -- in the final -- Jon Organ.
Jon had arrived there via wins over Natalie Singh and Scott Wood.
Stephen took the consolation flight by beating Gaz Owen and Natalie.
Ian Tarr won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also league action online, five matches being played.
Alan Joicey beat Ed Turner in Premier Two Red.
In Premier Two Blue Mike Smith overcame Steffen Nowak.
Hazel Harper scored a brace of wins over Andrew Cobb in Premier Three Purple
And in Premier Three Green Rosemary Whitehouse scored another victory, this time against Pete Boxer.
22/07/25: Tuesday results roundup
There were eight matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier One Simon Baker scored a brace of wins over Stephen Little.
In the same division Jim Green beat Neil Young at the Pump House.
Stuart Mann took another step towards an immediate return to the top flight with an emphatic Premier Two Red win over Ian Tarr.
Premier Two Blue saw wins for Michael Petrakas and Jon Organ over Pearl Foster and Mike Smith.
And Rosemary Whitehouse maintained her push towards tier two with a Premier Three Green victory over Fred North.
Another fifth round Brunel Trophy tie ended in a win for Simonetta Herrera over Simon Blinkhorn, so both players move on to round six with a single life.
22/07/25: Twenty-nine in Monday action
There were twenty-nine players in action on Monday, twenty-five of them competitively, of whom eleven featured in our Monday Summer Grand Prix session at the Heroes website.
The eleven formed 3-point round robin groups of six and five.
Group winners were Ian Anderson and Stephen Little, while Andrew Montgomery won the side pool in Stephen's group.
Ian A has opened up an early lead in the SGP table, with Stephen in second place.
There was online action in the Premier League, with nine matches played.
Simon Baker and Natalie Singh scored Premier One wins over Neil Young and Tim Line.
An unusual double header occurred in Premier Two Blue, where two new venues formed the backdrop for Mike Smith's and Simon Tracy's sharing of spoils.
Edna's-Kitchen hosted Mike's win, while Simon won his home leg at the Second Page bookshop.
In the same division Robin Gunney defeated Dicky Biddle.
Simon Blinkhorn is now the outright holder of the record winning sequence in Premier Three after his Yellow Division victory over Mitch Tucker.
He still has has some work to do if he wants to threaten Chris Rogers' overall Premier League all time sequence of twenty-two, achieved in Premier One during 2020 and 2021, however.
In the parallel Purple Division Ben Crowden suffered mixed fortunes, defeating Caroline Boulton before succumbing to Hazel Harper.
And Photis Gittoes was also a winner, against Richard Davies.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy and new player Nil, who learned the game in her native Turkey.
20/07/25: Sunday results roundup
There were ten matches played on Sunday.
In Premier One there were wins for Adam Sinclair and Stephen Little over Neil Young and Michael Corbett.
Adam's victory moved him into second place.
Dicky Biddle also moved into second place in his division -- Premier Two Blue -- by defeating Simon Tracy, while Kylie Hedges beat Jon Organ.
Ian Tarr overcame Dave Pym in Premier Two Red.
For the second successive day Ceri Pierce had mixed fortunes in Premier Three Green, succumbing again to Gary Plant before emphatically defeating Fred North.
Rosemary Whitehouse also registered a win, over James Timoney, and is now third at the expense of Gerald Whitehouse.
Finally Andrew Cobb and Ben Crowden shared the spoils of a double header in Premier Three Purple.
19/07/25: Saturday results roundup
There were seven matches played on Saturday.
In Premier One Hemal Getalal played twice, suffering defeats to both Kev Peters and Adam Sinclair.
Winners in Premier Two Blue were Jon Organ and Matt Sharp, at the expense of Steve Pickard and Michael Petrakas.
Ian Tarr beat Frank Jones in Premier Two Red.
And Ceri Pierce had mixed fortunes in Premier Three Green, succumbing to Gary Plant before defeating Cynthia Roberts, who has now completed her season.
19/07/25: Friday results roundup
There were two matches played on Friday.
Neil Young defeated Phil Charlton in Premier One.
And Mitch Tucker saw off Neil Edwards in a Premier Three Yellow match.
18/07/25: Simon equalled a record on Wednesday
In yet another previously unreported result, from Wednesday this time, Simon Blinkhorn did something special in Premier Three Yellow.
Playing on Heroes 3, Simon defeated Barry Vasili.
Simon is unbeaten in the league this season, having scored eleven straight wins.
And when you add the victory from his final league match in 2024, this overall sequence of twelve equals the all time Premier Three record, established by Chas Perry in 2019.
This has been quite a season for winning sequences in the Premier Three divisions.
Gary Plant began his season with eleven straight wins before a couple of recent defeats, Steve Cox had a slow start to his campaign but is currently on a winning sequence of eleven, and Chris Hughes is also unbeaten in eight.
This page carries details of all Bristol Backgammon League records and sequences, right back to the year 2000, when it all began.
18/07/25: Andy wins July GP20 tournament
There were thirteen players in action on Thursday, eight of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the fifth instalment of the year's GP20 series.
Andy Zographou was the main flight winner, getting through three gruellingly close encounters against Stephen Little, Tim Line and Hazel Harper.
Hazel got past Steffen Nowak and Barry Vasili en route to the final.
Ian Tarr took the consolation flight with wins over Steffen and Stephen.
Tim Line still heads the GP20 table, his lead extended slightly to 25 points, with Barry now in second place and Steve Morris and Nick Barham all within 40 points of the summit.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Stephen dropped in at the Lodekka before the tournament and pipped Neil Young in a Premier One encounter.
When Ian Hedges and Jon Organ -- both undefeated in their Brunel Trophy campaigns -- met at Sportsmans, it was Ian who prevailed, leaving Jon to take a single life into round six.
And in Premier Two Red Stuart Mann beat Ed Turner.
18/07/25: Barry won on Monday
There was a Premier Three Yellow match played at the Avon Gorge Hotel on Monday.
It was a narrow victory for Barry Vasili over Dom Verrall.
16/07/25: Gaz wins second successive Wednesday online tournament
There were nineteen players in action on Wednesday, fourteen of them to contest the twenty-eighth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Gaz Owen, whose last eight days have encompassed three Bristol tournament wins.
He defeated Nick Barham, Jon Organ, Adam Sinclair and -- in the final -- Cecilia Rogers.
Cecilia had arrived there via wins over Steve Pickard and Kev Peters after receiving a first round bye.
Scott Wood took the consolation flight by beating Chris Rogers and Neil Young.
Elias Hamati won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also league action online.
Stuart Mann beat Richard Owsley in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Green Fred North beat James Timoney.
15/07/25: Tuesday results roundup
There were four matches played on Tuesday, all of them in Premier Three.
Ben Crowden scored a brace of Premier Three Purple wins, Photis Gittoes and Caroline Boulton on the receiving end.
Simon Blinkhorn is still unbeaten in Premier Three Yellow after pipping Dom Verrall.
And Gerald Whitehouse defeated Gary Plant in Premier Three Green.
15/07/25: Just seven in Monday action after DMP event cancellation
There were seven players in action on Monday, four of them competitively, after the cancellation of our Monday Summer Grand Prix session at the Heroes website.
The cancellation occurred as Director Ian Tarr stupidly left his laptop at home!
There was online action in the Premier League.
Adam Sinclair defeated Neil Young in Premier One, while in Premier Two Blue Robin Gunney beat Dicky Biddle.
And Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Penny Walters and Simon Dicken.
Penny had her first experience of cubing in a matchplay scenario.
13/07/25: Saturday results roundup
There were four matches played on Saturday.
Stephen Little and Phil Doubtfire were winners in Premier One, Cecilia Rogers and Michael Corbett their victims.
And Steve Pickard played twice in Premier Two Blue, edging home against Steffen Nowak before suffering a whitewash at the hands of Jon Organ.
11/07/25: Friday results roundup
There were two matches played on Friday.
Nick Barham defeated Pete Boxer in a fifth round Brunel Trophy tie, a result which eliminates Pete while Nick has both lives still intact.
And Robin Gunney defeated Kylie Hedges in Premier Two Blue.
11/07/25: Gaz wins third successive monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were fourteen players in meaningful action on Thursday, ten of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the seventh instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Gaz Owen took the main flight, just as he did in May and June, defeating Andy Zographou and Ian Tarr before despatching Nick Barham in the final.
Nick had got past Stephen Little and Steve Morris en route to the final.
Steffen Nowak won the consolation flight, defeating Andy Zographou and Stephen.
Ian's BGP lead is down to 23 points, with Gaz closing in and having the advantage of having played one event less than Ian.
There was also Premier League action online.
Michael Petrakas defeated Mike Smith in Premier Two Blue, while in Premier Two Red Ian Hedges beat Stuart Mann.
Natalie Singh and Neil Young thought they were in Premier One action, but failed to check their previous meetings.
A shame for Natalie, who won this "non match" 11-0!
10/07/25: Gaz wins Wednesday online tournament
There were eleven players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the twenty-seventh of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Gaz Owen, who defeated Scott Wood, Alan Joicey, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- Ian Anderson.
Ian A had arrived there via wins over Ann Pocknell and Elias Hamati after receiving a first round bye.
It was Gaz's first Wednesday success in twenty-two attempts.
Ann took the consolation flight by beating Ian Tarr and Scott.
Ian T won the post tournament jackpot.
08/07/25: Steve wins again
Premier Three has been the place for long unbeaten runs this year, and Tuesday's only result maintained one such sequence.
Steve Cox's narrow defeat of promotion rival Dom Verrall sees him well placed for promotion from the Yellow Division.
08/07/25: Seventeen in Monday action
There were seventeen players in action on Monday, thirteen of them competitively.
Eleven of the thirteen formed 3-point round robin groups of six and five for the opening session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
It would have been two groups of six, but for internet connectivity problems which ruled one player out.
Group winners were Kev Peters and Ian Anderson, who are thus first and second in the embryonic SGP table.
There was also action in Premier Two Blue, where Steffen Nowak extended his sequence of victories at the expense of Michael Petrakas.
And Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Penny Walters, Roger Selway and first timer Jane Westhead, who was on a fact finding mission for a forthcoming drama project on Charles Darwin!
06/07/25: Sunday results roundup
There were four matches played on Sunday.
Phil Doubtfire defeated Stuart Mann, in a sudden death fifth round Brunel Trophy tie.
Michael Corbett played twice in Premier One, defeating Stephen Little before succumbing to Kev Peters.
And Gary Plant's Premier Three Green winning sequence was ended by James Timoney, his run of eleven wins leaving him just one short of Chas Perry's all-time Premier Three record.
04/07/25: Barry wins GP10 tournament
There were thirteen players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the fourth session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
Barry Vasili was the victor, defeating Steve Morris, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Rob Clarke.
Rob had arrived there via victories over Nick Barham and Stephen Little.
Cynthia Roberts took the consolation flight by beating Steve and Steffen Nowak.
Ian's GP10 lead is up to 75 points, while Steve's lead in the new "non Premier One and Two" added money list has now been totally wiped out by Barry as they share second place overall.
There was also some Premier League action.
The Lodekka was the venue for Neil Young's Premier One victory over Stephen.
Online Ian Hedges beat Dave Pym in Premier Two Red, while in Premier Two Blue Matt Sharp overcame Robin Gunney.
03/07/25: Elias wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the twenty-sixth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner -- for the fourth time this year -- was Elias Hamati, who defeated Phil Doubtfire, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- Stephen Little, after receiving a first round bye.
Stephen had arrived there via wins over Kev Peters, Chris Hughes and Ian Anderson.
Chris Rogers took the consolation flight by beating Phil, Kev and Gaz Owen.
Phil won the post tournament jackpot.
Three other matches were played.
Ian Tarr and Richard Owsley exited the Brunel Trophy at the fifth round stage, Pearl Foster and James Newman each taking a single life into round six.
And Andy Zographou moved into third place in Premier Three Purple, defeating Caroline Boulton at the Post Office Tavern.
01/07/25: Tuesday results roundup
There were five matches played on Tuesday.
Gaz Owen defeated Robin Gunney, in a sudden death fifth round Brunel Trophy tie.
Chris Rogers was Nick Barham's birthday party pooper, whitewashing him in their Premier Two Blue encounter.
It was Chris's final league match of the season, and his unbroken run of seven victories has turned around what looked likely to be a problematic season.
From a potential mid-table berth he is now top, with a very strong chance of remaining in the top two.
One player who stands a chance of overhauling him is Michael Petrakas, who registered a victory at the expense of Mike Smith.
In Premier Two Red Dave Pym defeated Ian Anderson.
And Cliff Blofield's Premier Three Green defeat of James Timoney moved him a step closer to clinching promotion.
01/07/25: Gaz clinches Spring Grand Prix title
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, twelve of them competitively.
Eleven of the twelve formed 3-point round robin groups of six and five for the thirteenth and final session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winners, fittingly, were Gaz Owen and Elias Hamati, the top two in the SGP table.
Gaz had the considerable advantage of not having to discard a low score, and tus clinched the title.
He had earlier extended his Premier One lead by defeating Hemal Getalal at the Jolly Sailor, Hanham.
And Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Ceri Pierce, Penny Walters and Shams El Sawy.
29/06/25: Sunday's Premier One action
There were three Premier One matches played on Sunday.
League leader Gaz Owen defeated Adam Sinclair.
Michael Corbett scored a much needed win over Cecilia Rogers.
And Hemal Getalal beat Tim Line.
28/06/25: Steffen wins on Saturday
In the only action of Saturday Steffen Nowak defeated Robin Gunney in Premier Two Blue.
27/07/24: Tim and Hazel retain annual doubles title
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them to contest the annual Consulting Doubles Championship.
With a title at stake the turnout was encouraging.
Tim Line and Hazel Harper, defending their title, were amongst the four pairings not to get a bye.
No matter, they got past James Timoney and Ceri Pierce before despatching Stephen Little and Andy Zographou.
This brought them to a final meeting with Gaz Owen and Natalie Singh, and again they were victorious.
This was the first successful title defence by a pairing, although Gaz did win the title in successive years, albeit with different partners -- Ian Hedges and Jake Mochnacz.
James and Ceri won the consolation flight by defeating first Steffen Nowak and John Rixon, and then Steve Morris and Barry Vasili.
There was also some Premier League action online, all of it in Premier Two Red.
Richard Owsley played twice, succumbing to Warner Solomon -- who now tops the league -- before defeating Dave Pym, while Ann Pocknell enhanced her promotion hopes by beating Ed Turner.
25/06/25: Ian wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twelve players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the twenty-fifth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ian Tarr, who defeated Elias Hamati, Phil Doubtfire, Nick Barham and -- in the final -- Gaz Owen.
Gaz had arrived there via wins over Jon Organ and Tim Line after receiving a first round bye.
Both finalists had made it to three Wednesday finals this year without managing to win one, so something had to give.
Adam Sinclair took the consolation flight by beating Jon Organ, Elias and Scott Wood.
Tim won the post tournament jackpot.
25/06/25: Neil won on Sunday
Neil Edwards defeated Barry Vasili in Premier Three Yellow on Sunday, and has finally got around to reporting the result.
24/06/25: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Neil Young defeated Natalie Singh in Premier One.
Steve Cox won again in Premier Three Yellow, beating Simon Hughes to go top of the league.
And in Premier Three Green Cynthia Roberts overcame Rob Clarke.
24/06/25: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in action on Monday, eleven of them competitively.
Nine of the eleven formed 3-point round robin groups of five and four for the twelfth and penultimate session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Nick Barham and Elias Hamati.
SGP leader Gaz Owen was otherwise engaged, but still heads the points table, although Elias has cut the margin to a single point.
The first of the fifth round Brunel Trophy ties was played, Tim Line defeating Steve Pickard in what was effectively a sudden death affair.
And Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Roger Selway and first timer Shilpi Gupta.
22/06/25: Sunday's Red Division action
The only action of Sunday was in Premier Two Red.
Dave Pym defeated Ian Anderson, while Ann Pocknell came out on top against Ian Hedges.
22/06/25: Brunel Trophy fifth round draw made
The draw for the fifth round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The original field of sixty-two has been whittled down to just nineteen, the odd number necessitating a bye, the lucky recipient of which is Hazel Harper.
Five still have both lives remaining, and two of those -- Jon Organ and Ian Hedges -- are paired together.
There are six sudden death ties, so between eleven and thirteen players will progress to round six.
Matches are to be played by July 27th.
The full draw can be found here.
21/06/25: Saturday win for Steffen
In the only action of Saturday Steffen Nowak defeated Mark Dixon in Premier Two Blue.
20/06/25: Friday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Friday.
Robin Gunney played twice in Premier Two Blue, defeating Pearl Foster before succumbing to Steffen Nowak.
In Premier Two Red Richard Owsley beat Ian Tarr.
Ian had better fortunes later, in the last of the fourth round Brunel Trophy matches, when a bizarre eight cube ending went his way against Hemal Getalal, who is eliminated.
The final match of the day came in Premier Three Yellow, where Steve Cox's extraordinary sequence of wins continued at the expense of Mitch Tucker.
20/06/25: John Rixon wins June Handicap tournament
There were ten players in action on Thursday at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the fifth instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
And the winner this time was John Rixon, who defeated Cynthia Roberts and Rob Clarke before overcoming Tim Line in the final.
Tim had got past Steffen Nowak and Steve Morris en route.
Ed's "Golden Zone" sponsorship was again an interesting feature of the tournament, Hazel Harper's first round victory over Barry Vasili and Steve's quarter-final win over Hazel taking the tenner bonuses.
Alan Papier, whose only previous Thursday visit to our events was back in December 2001, took the consolation flight by beating Barry, Steffen and Cynthia.
John's win took him to the summit of the HT standings, fifty points ahead of previous leader Ian Tarr.
18/06/25: Phil wins Wednesday online tournament
There were eleven players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the twenty-fourth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Phil Doubtfire, who defeated Ian Tarr, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived there via wins over Chris Hughes and Scott Wood.
Ian took the consolation flight by beating Elias Hamati and Ann Pocknell.
Elias won the post tournament jackpot.
In the only league action of the day Steve Cox scored a Premier Three Yellow victory over Marcel Bancroft.
17/06/25: Brunel exits for Cecilia and Chris
Tuesday's action comprised two fourth round Brunel Trophy ties.
James Newman defeated Cecilia Rogers and Hazel Harper beat Chris Hughes.
Cecilia and Chris are both eliminated, while Hazel and James progress to round five with two lives and one life respectively.
Just one fourth round tie remains, and that is scheduled for Friday.
17/06/25: Nineteen in Monday action amid lost phone drama
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, seventeen of them competitively.
Thirteen of the seventeen formed 3-point round robin groups of seven and six for the eleventh session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Scott Wood and Steve Pickard.
SGP leader Gaz Owen sat this one out, so his points table lead has been reduced to 13 points by Elias Hamati, with Adam Sinclair four further points back.
Two fourth round Brunel Trophy ties were played.
Natalie Singh's title defence was ended by Gaz, while Simon Blinkhorn's unbeaten run continued at the expense of Andy Boysan, who is eliminated.
And Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Daniel Miles, who played a key part in retrieving Director Ian's phone after he had stupidly left it on the bus.
Elias's phone call located said phone, while other players ensured via email that Ian was kept up to date with the entry list for the round robins -- Bristol Backgammon teamwork at its best, ensuring that the tournament went ahead almost on schedule.
15/06/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Sunday.
Phil Doubtfire defeated Kev Peters in Premier One, moving into second place.
In Premier Two Red Warner Solomon scored a brace of victories, first against Dave Pym, then over Andy Boysan.
And there were fourth round Brunel Trophy wins for Pearl Foster and Simonetta Herrera.
Simon Dicken was Pearl's victim after leading 10-1, while Simonetta's win came at Kellaway Avenue over Simon Tracy.
Both Simons exit the competition.
14/06/25: Brunel win for Nick
In the only action of Saturday, Nick Barham narrowly won the only fourth round Brunel Trophy between two unbeaten players.
James Timoney takes one life into round five.
12/06/25: Gaz wins monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were eleven players in action on Thursday, just seven of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the sixth instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Gaz Owen took the main flight, but only needed two victories to do so after being the recipient of the only first round bye.
He beat Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Hazel Harper.
Hazel had got past Barry Vasili and Stephen Little en route to the final.
Ian won the consolation flight, defeating Steve Morris and Barry.
Ian's BGP lead is down to 68 points, with Gaz second and Hazel third.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Jon Organ defeated Warner Solomon in the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy, a result which sees Jon progressing to round five with both lives intact, while Warner is eliminated.
And in Premier One Phil Doubtfire beat Adam Sinclair.
12/06/25: Scott wins his first Wednesday online tournament
There were fifteen players in action on Wednesday, fourteen of them to contest the twenty-third of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Scott Wood, who defeated John Curran, Chris Rogers, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- Ann Pocknell for his first ever Wednesday tournament win.
Ann had arrived there via wins over Phil Doubtfire, Nick Barham and Adam Sinclair.
Phil took the consolation flight by beating John, Chris Hughes and Tim Line.
Elias Hamati won the post tournament jackpot.
10/06/25: Tuesday win for Stuart
In the only action of Tuesday, Stuart Mann defeated Ian Anderson in Premier Two Red.
10/06/25: Sixteen in Monday action
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, ten of them competitively.
Eight of the ten formed a single round robin DMP group for the tenth session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winner was Ian Anderson.
The otherwise engaged Gaz Owen's SGP points table lead has been reduced to a still handy 26 points, with Adam Sinclair now in second place.
One Premier Two Blue match was played, Dicky Biddle's victory over Kylie Hedges elevating him into second place.
And Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Simon Dicken, Scott Wood, Roger Selway and another welcome mother/daughter combination, whose names will be inserted here when known.
08/06/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were three matches played on Sunday.
Phil Doubtfire defeated Michael Corbett in Premier One.
And in Premier Two Blue there were wins for Robin Gunney and Matt Sharp over Steve Pickard and Mike Smith.
08/06/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were four matches played on Saturday.
Cecilia Rogers whitewashed Natalie Singh in Premier One.
In Premier Two Blue there were wins for Dicky Biddle and Kylie Hedges over Matt Sharp and Nick Barham.
And in Premier Three Green Gary Plant scored yet another win, this time against Cynthia Roberts, a result which moves him to the top of the table.
06/06/25: Friday's results roundup
There were two matches played on Friday.
The latest casualty in the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy is Andy Zographou, who was defeated by Phil Doubtfire at the Post Office Tavern.
Phil has one life remaining.
And in Premier Three Green Gary Plant maintained his unbeaten start to the season at Gerald Whitehouse's expense.
06/06/25: Andy wins June Speedgammon Grand Prix event
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the fourth session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.
The eight were split into two round robin groups of four, with the top two in each progressing to the final knockout phase.
Group winners were Barry Vasili and Tim Line, with runners-up Steve Morris and Andy Zographou also progressing.
Barry and Andy won their semi-finals, then Andy took the final with a whitewash.
Ian Tarr and Barry now sit jointly on top of the SGGP table, with Tim Line just five points behind in third place.
There was action earlier online.
Two more sudden death fourth round Brunel Trophy ties took place, Ed Turner and Elias Hamati exiting after defeats at the hands of Steve Pickard and Tim.
Michael Petrakas whitewashed Robin Gunney in Premier Two Blue.
And Ian defeated Stephen Little in the held over final of the Monday night jackpot.
05/06/25: Elias wins Wednesday online tournament; Barry and Gerald exit Brunel Trophy
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the twenty-second of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Elias Hamati, who defeated John Curran, Phil Doubtfire, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Stephen Little.
Stephen had arrived there via wins over Ian Anderson and Simon Tracy, after receiving a first round bye.
Ian Tarr took the consolation flight by beating Jon Organ and Gaz Owen.
The post tournament jackpot was incomplete, with Stephen retiring top his slumbers under the impression that he had won it, despite only reaching the final.
Two other matches were played online, both in the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy.
Both were sudden death affairs, Stuart Mann beating Gerald Whitehouse, Robin Gunney overcoming Barry Vasili.
04/06/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were two matches played on Tuesday.
The held over main flight final of Thursday's GP20 tournament was played at the Red Monkey, Chandos Road.
And Steve Morris defeated Simon Tracy to move into third place in the GP20 points table.
The top four players are covered by just 25 points.
And in Premier Three Green Pete Boxer narrowly beat Gerald Whitehouse.
03/06/25: Sixteen in Monday action, and it should have been seventeen
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, eleven of them competitively.
The eleven were split into 3-point round robin groups of six and five for the ninth session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
It should have been two groups of six, as an unforgiveable clerical error on the part of Director Ian Tarr omitted Kev Peters from the proceedings.
Kev will be recompensed in some way for the disappointment.
Group winners were Chris Hughes and Stephen Little, while Ann Pocknell was the lucky recipient of the side pool in Stephen's group, as neither Stephen nor Simon Tracy were investors.
The otherwise engaged Gaz Owen's SGP points table lead of 32 points remained intact, with Elias Hamati joining Kev in second place.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy, Roger Selway and Ed Collinge.
01/06/25: Sunday win for Stephen
There was just one match played on Sunday.
Stephen Little defeated Phil Doubtfire in Premier One.
01/06/25: Eleven penalised at May 31st checkpoint
The second Premier League checkpoint passed at midnight, and eleven players were penalised, two of them failing to claw back penalties incurred on March 31st.
The single point penalty incurred by both Paul Watts in Premier Two Red and Ceri Pierce in Premier Three Green have become permanent.
As well as Paul and Ceri, nine others have incurred penalties which can be clawed back by July 31st.
Premier Three Yellow and Premier Three Purple both had a clean bill of health.
31/05/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were two Premier Three matches played on Saturday.
Fred North defeated Pete Boxer in the Green Division.
And in the parallel Yellow Division Simon Blinkhorn is still undefeated after beating Neil Edwards.
31/05/25: Fifty-seven days later, here's a Yellow Division result
Apparently Neil Edwards defeated Barry Vasili in Premier Three Yellow on April 4th.
30/05/25: Friday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Friday.
Steffen Nowak defeated Pearl Foster in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Three Green Gerald Whitehouse and Rosemary Whitehouse were winners, over James Timoney and Pete Boxer.
30/05/25: Steve and Simon reach GP20 final
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, ten of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the fourth instalment of the year's GP20 series.
Steve Morris and Simon Tracy made it to the main flight final, which will no doubt be played soon.
Steve got past Nick Barham and Ian Tarr, while Simon's victims were Andy Zographou and Elias Hamati.
Steffen Nowak took the consolation flight with wins over Barry Vasili, Nick and Rob Clarke.
The absent Tim Line still heads the GP20 table, with Nick and Barry close behind, and Steve who will move into third place if he beats Simon.
There was also Premier League action.
Stephen Little scored a much needed Premier One victory over Jim Green at the Rendezvous Cafe.
Warner Solomon and Ann Pocknell were Premier Two Red winners, Alan Joicey and Ed Turner their victims.
And in Premier Three Yellow Eamonn Reay was defeated twice, thanks to Dom Verrall and Neil Edwards.
28/05/25: Jon wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-four players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the twenty-first of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Jon Organ, who defeated Nick Barham, Elias Hamati, Ian Anderson and -- in the final -- Stephen Little.
Stephen had arrived there via wins over Scott Wood and Gaz Owen, after receiving a first round bye.
Ann Pocknell took the consolation flight by beating Nick, Steve Pickard and Warner Solomon.
Elias won the post tournament jackpot.
Six other matches were played online.
Richard Owsley defeated Pete Boxer in the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy, leaving both players with a single life to carry forward to round five.
In Premier Two Red Ian Tarr beat Frank Jones.
Steffen Nowak overcame Pearl Foster in Premier Two Blue.
Ceri Pierce played twice in Premier Three Green, losing to Rosemary Whitehouse before defeating Kev Lee.
And in a top of the table Premier Three Yellow clash Simon Blinkhorn remains unbeaten after his victory against Scott.
27/05/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were seven Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Steffen Nowak defeated Jon Organ in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Two Red there were wins for Ann Pocknell and Ian Tarr over Dave Pym and Ed Turner.
Premier Three Purple leader Titus Simen had mixed fortunes, defeating Richard Davies after being whitewashed by Chris Hughes.
In the same division Photis Gittoes overcame Andy Zographou.
And Gerald Whitehouse beat Ceri Pierce in Premier Three Green.
27/05/25: Eighteen in Bank Holiday Monday action
There were eighteen players in action on Monday, fourteen of them competitively.
Six of the fourteen formed a single Nackgammon 3-point round robin group for the eighth session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Gaz Owen was the group winner, and has opened up a 32 point lead over second placed Kev Peters in the SGP points table.
There were also five Premier League matches and one in the Brunel Trophy played online.
Reece Hodges moved into the fifth round of the Brunel Trophy, whitewashing James Lintell-Smith, whose run is now over.
Premier One saw a flurry of activity with the May checkpoint looming.
Simon Baker played three times, defeating Adam Sinclair and Natalie Singh before succumbing to Hemal Getalal, who had earlier lost to Neil Young.
Meanwhile Premier Three Yellow leader Scott Wood suffered a setback in losing to Simon Hughes.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy and first timer Jo Foster, who is already an accomplshed player.
25/05/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were five Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Natalie Singh defeated Phil Charlton in Premier One.
In Premier Two Red Frank Jones beat Dave Pym.
Premier Three Yellow leader Scott Wood defeated Eamonn Reay for the second succesive day.
And in Premier Three Purple Andrew Cobb finally ended his Premier League record losing sequence with a brace of victories over Caroline Boulton.
24/05/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were eight Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Jim Green defeated Cecilia Rogers in Premier One.
Chris Rogers substantially improved his chances of promotion from Premier Two Blue by winning three times -- twice over Matt Sharp and once over Nick Barham.
In the same division Mike Smith defeated Dicky Biddle.
Alan Joicey chalked up another Premier Two Red win, this time against Frank Jones.
Premier Three Yellow leader Scott Wood defeated Eamonn Reay.
And in Premier Three Green Fred North beat Kev Lee.
23/05/25: Friday's results roundup
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
Simon Baker defeated Cecilia Rogers in Premier One.
And in Premier Three Yellow Simon Blinkhorn maintained his winning start to the season at the expense of Eamonn Reay.
23/05/25: Steffen wins GP10 tournament
There were just nine players in action on Thursday, six of them to contest the third session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
The low turnout, with a few regulars away, necessitated a change of format, with a round robin of 5-point matches.
Steffen Nowak was the victor, winning four of his five matches, while Ian Tarr took second place with a points difference superior to that of Stephen Little.
So Ian's GP10 lead increases to 60 points, with second placed Steve Morris still heading the new "non Premier One and Two" added money list by 75 points from Barry Vasili.
There was also some Premier Three Yellow action, with Simon Hughes defeating both Eamonn Reay and Mitch Tucker.
22/05/25: Ann wins Wednesday online tournament
There were seventeen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the twentieth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ann Pocknell, who defeated Phil Doubtfire, Stephen Little, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- John Curran.
John had arrived there via wins over Gaz Owen and Nick Barham, after receiving a first round bye.
Gaz Owen took the consolation flight by beating Phil and Ian Anderson.
Elias Hamati won the post tournament jackpot.
Three other matches were played online.
Jim Green defeated Phil Charlton in Premier One.
In Premier Two Red Warner Solomon beat Stuart Mann.
And Matt Sharp overcame Pearl Foster in Premier Two Blue.
20/05/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were seven Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Kev Peters and Phil Charlton won Premier One matches, Jim Green and Tim Line their victims.
In Premier Two Blue there were victories for Kylie Hedges, Pearl Foster and Chris Rogers, who defeated Nick Barham, Jon Organ and Steffen Nowak.
Stuart Mann beat Ian Tarr in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Green Rosemary Whitehouse overcame Cliff Blofield.
20/05/25: Twenty-five in Monday action
There were twenty-five players in action on Monday, twenty-one of them competitively.
Ten of the twenty-one formed two 3-point round robin groups of five for the seventh session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Gaz Owen and Adam Sinclair.
Gaz has drawn twelve points ahead of Kev Peters in the SGP leadership race.
There were also seven Premier League matches played online.
Tim Line is emerging as a contender for the Premier One title, having scored a brace of narrow victories over Simon Baker.
And Jim Green is also moving in the right direction after a slow start, Phil Doubtfire his latest victim.
In Premier Two Blue there were wins for Kylie Hedges and Steve Pickard over Matt Sharp and Steffen Nowak.
Steve's win moved him into pole position.
And there were wins for Marcel Bancroft and Mitch Tucker over Dom Verrall and Barry Vasili in Premier Three Yellow.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Ceri Pierce, Titus Simen and Roger Selway.
19/05/25: Brunel Trophy fourth round draw made
The draw for the fourth round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Monday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The original field of sixty-two has been whittled down to thirty-three, the odd number necessitating a bye, the lucky recipient of which is Ian Hedges.
Seven still have both lives remaining, and two of those -- Nick Barham and James Timoney -- are paired together.
There are eleven sudden death ties, so between eighteen and twenty-two players will progress to round five.
Matches are to be played by June 22nd.
The full draw can be found here.
18/05/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were seven Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Tim Line fitted in three Premier One matches, defeating Natalie Singh and Michael Corbett before succumbing to Adam Sinclair.
Busiest in Premier Two Red was Warner Solomon, who suffered defeats at the hands of Ann Pocknell and Dave Pym.
Titus Simen and Scott Wood moved to the top of their respective Premier Three divisions.
In the Purple Division Titus defeated Hazel Harper, while Scott's win in the parallel Yellow Division came at the expense of Simon Hughes.
17/05/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were three matches played on Saturday.
A Premier One match in the sunshine at Arbor Ales probably set a new league record.
Jim Green's narrow victory over league leader took not far short of five hours to complete, bringing to mind Johann Huyck at the 2006 Bristol Open.
And the last two of the third round Brunel Trophy ties took place online.
Andy Zographou beat James Newman, while Gerald Whitehouse overcame Barry Vasili.
All four players move on to round four with one life remaining.
16/05/25: Friday's results roundup
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier Two Red Ed Turner scored a much needed win at thr expense of Ian Tarr.
And Scott Wood moved into second place in Premier Three Yellow by defeating Mandy Macdonald.
16/05/25: Stephen wins May Handicap tournament
There were nineteen players in action on Thursday, nine of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the fourth instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
And the winner this time was Stephen Little, who shrugged off the disappointment of being drawn in the only first round match, defeating Steffen Nowak, Hazel Harper and Steve Morris before overcoming Andy Zographou in the final.
Andy had got past Barry Vasili and Ian Tarr en route.
Ed's "Golden Zone" sponsorship was again an interesting feature of the tournament, Andy's two victories coming up trumps for him with both tenner bonuses.
John Rixon took the consolation flight, beating Barry and Hazel in the process, and closing to within 25 points of HT leader Ian.
There were five Premier League matches played online.
Jim Green beat Phil Charlton in Premier One.
Premier Two Red was the busiest of the divisions, Alan Joicey, Stuart Mann and Ian Hedges registering victories at the expense of Richard Owsley, Ed Turner and Ian Anderson.
And Chris Hughes moved to the summit of Premier Three Purple by defeating Simon Dicken.
15/05/25: Jon wins Wednesday online tournament
There were seventeen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the nineteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Jon Organ, who defeated Ian Anderson, Elias Hamati, Chris Hughes and -- in the final -- Simon Blinkhorn.
Simon had arrived there via wins over Ann Pocknell and Ian Tarr, after receiving a first round bye.
Gaz Owen took the consolation flight by beating Ian A and John Curran.
Ian A won the post tournament jackpot.
Four other matches were played online.
Neil Young exited the BrunelTrophy in a sudden death third round tie against Warner Solomon.
Neil later lost a Premier One encounter with Phil Doubtfire, while Jim Green hauled himself off the bottom of the table by defeating Cecilia Rogers.
And in Premier Two Red Ian A beat Stuart Mann.
14/05/25: Phil also won on Tuesday
One result not reported yesterday was Phil Doubtfire's defeat of Jim Green in Premier One.
13/05/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were six matches played on Tuesday.
In the third round of the Brunel Trophy the winners were Cecilia Rogers, Richard Owsley and John Organ, who beat Simon Hughes, Mike Smith and Simon Baker.
All three losers were eliminated, while Cecilia and Richard go into the third round draw with a single life remaining, and Jon still has both lives intact.
In Premier One leader Gaz Owen suffered a narrow defeat to Phil Charlton.
Stuart Mann scored a Premier Two Red win over Ann Pocknell.
And in Premier Three Yellow Simon was beaten by Barry Vasili.
13/05/25: Nineteen in Monday action
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, fifteen of them competitively.
Nine of the fifteen formed a single DMP round robin group for the sixth session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
The group winner was Gaz Owen, with Kev Peters the runner-up.
The tantalisingly close SGP leadership race still sees the top four covered by just six points, but Kev and Gaz are now first and second.
There were also two Premier League matches and a Brunel Trophy third round tie played.
Simon Tracy's Brunel Trophy victory over Natalie Singh leaves both players with a single life to take into round four.
In Premier One Phil Charlton scored a narrow win against Michael Corbett.
And in Premier Three Purple Caroline Boulton defeated Richard Davies.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Daniel Miles, Penny Walters, Kate Waldron and Scott Wood, although Scott left without partaking of any action.
11/05/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were five matches completed on Sunday.
There were third round Brunel Trophy wins for Robin Gunney and Pete Boxer, their victims Ian Tarr and Ceri Pierce.
Pete remains unbeaten, Robin and Ian have one life remaining, but Ceri is eliminated.
In Premier One Kev Peters played twice, losing to league leader Gaz Owen before defeating Hemal Getalal.
And Ian earlier narrowly beat Dave Pym in Premier Two Red.
Another top flight match reached the latter stages before one player encountered connectivity issues, and they will complete the match some time soon.
11/05/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were four matches played on Saturday.
There were third round Brunel Trophy wins for James Lintell-Smith and James Timoney, their victims Adam Sinclair and Andy Boysan.
James T remains unbeaten, James LS and Andy have one life remaining, but Adam is eliminated.
In Premier Two Blue Steve Pickard moved into second place by beating Kylie Hedges.
And Ann Pocknell defeated Ian Hedges in Premier Two Red.
10/05/25: Gaz wins May BGP final
There were four matches played on Friday.
The Wiper and True Taproom was the venue for the held over final of Thursday's monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournament.
And Gaz Owen emerged the victor over Ian Tarr after narrowly avoiding a match ending quadruple gammon in the opening game.
Ian stays 100 points ahead of the field in the BGP table, with Gaz now just behind Steve Morris in third place.
Online Adam Sinclair defeated Hemal Getalal in Premier One.
In Premier Two Blue Matt Sharp beat Kylie Hedges.
And Ian Hedges continued his winning sequence in Premier Two Red by whitewashing Ian Anderson.
08/05/25: Gaz and Ian reach monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournament final
There were thirteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the fifth instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Gaz Owen and Ian Tarr reached the main flight final, and adjourned until another day.
Gaz made the most of a first round bye by defeating Rob Clarke and Ian Hedges, while Ian T's victims were Barry Vasili, Steffen Nowak and Chris Hughes.
Nick Barham won the consolation flight, defeating Tim Line and Barry.
Ian moves into a 100 points lead in the BGP table, with Steve Morris in second place.
A win in the final would extend that lead to 135 points, while a Gaz win would move him into third place.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Chris met Ian Hedges at the Ibis before the tournament to play their third round Brunel Trophy match, Ian maintaining his unbeaten record while Chris takes a single life into round four.
Ian Tarr had earlier lost a Premier Two Red match against Ann Pocknell online.
08/05/25: Marcel also won on Wednesday
In a late reported result, Marcel Bancroft defeated Mandy Macdonald on Wednesday in Premier Three Yellow.
The match was played in another new Bristol Backgammon venue, the Crown, near Bath.
08/05/25: Adam wins Wednesday online tournament
There were thirteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the eighteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Adam Sinclair, who defeated Ian Anderson, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- Tim Line, after receiving a first round bye.
Tim had arrived there via wins over Rob Clarke, Gaz Owen and Elias Hamati.
Phil Doubtfire took the consolation flight by beating Ian A and Stephen Little.
Stephen won the post tournament jackpot, which had erroneously been set for five point matches.
In other online action Neil Young defeated Natalie Singh in Premier One.
06/05/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were four matches played on Tuesday.
Dom Verrall made his exit from the Brunel Trophy, losing what was effectively a sudden death third round tie against Stuart Mann.
In Premier Two Blue Nick Barham strenghtened his promotion charge by beating Michael Petrakas.
James Timoney narrowly defeated Kev Lee in Premier Three Green.
And in Premier Three Yellow Barry Vasili beat Mitch Tucker.
06/05/25: Twenty-five in Monday action
There were twenty-five players in action on Monday, twenty of them competitively.
Thirteen of the twenty were split into 3-point round robin groups of seven and six for the fifth session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
The group winners were Ian Anderson and Kev Peters.
The SGP leadership is now a close run affair, with three players -- Elias Hamati, Ian and Kev -- covered by just two points.
There were also three Premier League matches and a Brunel Trophy third round tie played.
Rob Clarke exited the Brunel Trophy in a sudden death meeting with Tim Line.
In Premier Two Blue Mike Smith defeated Dicky Biddle.
Ann Pocknell whitewashed Frank Jones in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Yellow Mitch Tucker scored a much needed win over Scott Wood.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Titus Simen, Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy and Roger Selway.
04/05/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were two matches played on Sunday.
Stuart Mann beat Dave Pym in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Purple Andy Zographou defeated Richard Davies.
03/05/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were two matches on Saturday.
Kev Peters is out of the Brunel Trophy after his defeat in what was effectively a sudden death third round tie against Hemal Getalal.
And in Premier Two Blue Steve Pickard defeated Robin Gunney.
02/05/25: Ian wins on Friday
There was just one match played on Friday.
Ian Hedges defeated Paul Watts in Premier Two Red.
02/05/25: Steve wins another low key Speedgammon Grand Prix event
There were just seven players in action on Thursday, five of them to contest the third session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.
The low turnout meant a single round robin group with no subsequent knockout phase.
Steve Morris won the group with three wins out of four, and might have made it a clean sweep as he was 3-0 ahead in his fourth match when he timed out.
Ian Tarr, who had an evening to forget, nevertheless retains the leadership of the SGGP, with Tim Line now in second place.
Before the tournament Tim and Barry Vasili played out the held over final of the previous week's GP20 event, Tim prevailing to move to the head of the GP20 standings.
The only other action was online, where Ian Hedges defeated Richard Owsley in Premier Two Red.
01/05/25: Kev wins Wednesday online tournament
Not counting the two Premier One players who thought they were playing a league match when they had already played both, there were thirteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the seventeenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Kev Peters, who defeated Stephen Little, Nick Barham, Chris Hughes and -- in the final -- Ian Anderson.
Ian had arrived there via wins over Simon Blinkhorn and Jon Organ after receiving a first round bye.
Tim Line took the consolation flight by beating Phil Doubtfire and Simon.
Ian Tarr won the post tournament jackpot.
In other online action Dicky Biddle defeated Michael Petrakas in Premier Two Blue.
29/04/25: Tuesday results roundup
There were four matches played on Tuesday.
Rosemary Whitehouse was eliminated from the Brunel Trophy by a third round defeat at the hands of Hazel Harper, who progresses to round four with both lives remaining.
Phil Charlton defeated Phil Doubtfire in Premier One.
In Premier Two Blue Dicky Biddle beat Jon Organ.
Along with Mark Dixon, Chris Rogers and Steve Pickard, Dicky is well ahead of an even playing schedule, and all four players have done pretty well.
But the fifth and sixth players in the league table -- Nick Barham and Michael Petrakas -- arguably have superior records, while having matches in hand, which points to an interesting second half of the season.
And Ed Turner scored a much needed victory over Paul Watts in Premier Two Red.
29/04/25: Nineteen in Monday action
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, fifteen of them competitively.
Nine of the fifteen were split into 3-point round robin groups of five and four for the fourth session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
The group winners were Kev Peters and Gaz Owen.
Elias moves into an eight point SGP lead over latest second placer Gaz.
There were also three Premier League matches played.
Winners in Premier Two Blue were Michael Petrakas and Kylie Hedges -- their victims Steve Pickard and Mark Dixon.
And in Premier Three Purple Hazel Harper halted Titus Simen's winning sequence.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Penny Walters, Shams El Sawy and debutant Roger Selway.
28/04/25: Saturday results roundup
There were three matches played on Saturday.
Stephen Little was eliminated from the Brunel Trophy by a third round defeat at the hands of Simonetta Herrera, who progresses to round four with one life remaining.
Cecilia Rogers moved into second place in Premier One by defeating leader Gaz Owen.
And in Premier Two Blue Dicky Biddle beat Pearl Foster.
28/04/25: Friday win for Paul
There was just one match played on Friday.
Paul Watts scored a Premier Two Red victory over Ed Turner.
25/04/25: Jim wins second Masters title
There were nineteen players in action on Thursday, ten of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the third instalment of the year's GP20 series.
But before the tournament, Nick Barham and Jim Green fought out the held over final of the previous Thursday's Bristol Masters.
Jim won a tight affair to clinch his second Masters title -- and ironically that original success also came at the expense of Nick.
And on the subject of held over finals, the evening's advertised event followed suit.
Tim Line and Barry Vasili will be contesting it at some stage, Tim having defeated Rob Clarke and Gaz Owen, Barry getting past Ian Tarr and Nick.
Steve Morris took the consolation flight with wins over Rob and Ian.
Nick heads the GP20 table, but whoever wins the held over final will overhaul him.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
In the third round of the Brunel Trophy Ed Turner beat Phil Doubtfire, so both players move on to round four with a single life.
Richard Owsley defeated Ian Anderson in Premier Two Red.
In Premier Two Blue Pearl Foster was beaten by Dicky Biddle.
And Titus Simen moved to the top of Premier Three Purple with a brace of victories over Andrew Cobb.
24/04/25: Nick wins second successive Wednesday online tournament
There were eighteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the sixteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Nick Barham -- for the second successive week and the fourth time this year.
Nick defeated Warner Solomon, Tim Line, Scott Wood and -- in the final -- Gaz Owen.
Gaz had arrived there via wins over Elias Hamati and Ian Anderson after receiving a first round bye.
Warner took the consolation flight by beating Rob Clarke and Elias.
Stephen Little won the post tournament jackpot.
In other online action Pearl Foster scored a third round Brunel Trophy win over Gaz, leaving both players with one life remaining.
And Michael Petrakas got in two Premier Two Blue matches, succumbing to Kylie Hedges before defeating Matt Sharp.
22/04/25: Tuesday win for Matt
There was just one match played on Tuesday.
Matt Sharp scored a Premier Two Blue victory over Dicky Biddle.
22/04/25: Fifteen in Bank Holiday Monday action
There were fifteen players in action on Monday, eleven of them competitively.
Nine of the eleven were split into 3-point round robin groups of five and four for the third session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
The group winners were Elias Hamati and Gaz Owen.
Elias edges into a two point SGP lead over previous leader Ian Anderson, who didn't contest the session.
There were also two other matches played.
A third round Brunel Trophy match resulted in Reece Hodges scoring an emphatic victory over Simon Dicken, a result which sees both players moving into round four with a single life remaining.
And in Premier Three Green Fred North clinched a much needed win over Cynthia Roberts.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Simon, Penny Walters and her daughter Shams.
20/04/25: Pearl wins on Sunday
There was just one match played on Sunday.
Pearl Foster scored a Premier Two Blue victory over Matt Sharp.
20/04/25: Saturday's Blue Division results
There were two matches played on Saturday, both of them in Premier Two Blue.
Steve Pickard continued his assault on the top two positions with victory over Simon Tracy.
And Robin Gunney defeated Kylie Hedges.
20/04/25: Friday results roundup
There were two matches played on Friday.
The second of the third round Brunel Trophy ties saw a victory for Steve Pickard over Eamonn Reay.
As both players had a single life remaining, Eamonn is the one to dip out of the competition.
And in Premier One Adam Sinclair defeated Natalie Singh.
19/04/25: Nick and Jim to fight out Masters final
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, sixteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the twenty-fifth annual Bristol Masters tournament.
Nick Barham and Jim Green made it to the final, which will be played at another date and time.
Nick got past Stephen Little, Tim Line and Ian Hedges en route to the final, while Jim's victims were Ian Tarr, Simon Tracy and Alan Joicey.
For Nick and Jim this will be a re-run of the 2022 final, from which Jim emerged the victor.
That was Nick's only previous final, while Jim also lost the 2023 final to Gaz Owen.
In league action earlier online Ian Hedges defeated Frank Jones in Premier Two Red.
16/04/25: Nick wins Wednesday online tournament
There were just twelve players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the fifteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Nick Barham, who defeated Ian Anderson, Gaz Owen and -- in the final -- Scott Wood.
Scott had arrived there via wins over John Curran and Jon Organ.
Tim Line took the consolation flight by beating John and Ian A.
Elias Hamati won the post tournament jackpot.
And Titus Simen beat Andy Zographou in Premier Three Purple.
15/04/25: Tuesday results roundup
There were three matches played on Tuesday.
The first of the third round Brunel Trophy ties saw a victory for Nick Barham over Elias Hamati.
It was one of the three pairings of thus far unbeaten players.
In Premier Two Blue Mark Dixon extended his lead by beating Robin Gunney.
And Rob Clarke beat Gerald Whitehouse in Premier Three Green.
15/04/25: Brunel Trophy third round draw made
The draw for the third round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Tuesday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The field has been whittled down to forty-five, the odd number necessitating a bye, the lucky recipient of which is Simon Blinkhorn.
Seventeen still have both lives remaining, and six of those are paired together.
There are nine sudden death ties, so between twenty-six and thirty-six players will progress to round four.
Matches are to be played by May 18th.
The full draw can be found here.
15/04/25: Twenty-two in Monday action
There were twenty-two players in action on Monday, sixteen of them competitively.
Ten of the sixteen formed a single DMP round robin group for the second session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
The group winner, for the second successive week, was Ian Anderson, with Jon Organ in second place.
Elias Hamati took the second prize in the side pool.
Ian has extended his SGP lead to twenty points over second placed Phil Doubtfire.
There were also two Premier League matches played, plus one belated Brunel Trophy match.
The last of the second round Brunel Trophy matches saw Andy Zographou and Jordan White granted a 24 hour dispensation to play beyond the deadline after an unfortunate communication breakdown.
Andy won what was effectively a sudden death tie, reducing the number of survivors making it to the third round to forty-five.
In the top flight of the league Phil defeated Natalie Singh, while Michael Petrakas won a Premier Two Blue encounter with Steve Pickard.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Titus Simen, David Bennetto, Penny Walters and her daughter Shams, plus debutant Lawrence Clegg.
13/04/25: Sunday results roundup
There were four matches played on Sunday.
In Premier Two Blue Matt Sharp kick-started what had thus far been an underwhelming start at the level by playing three matches and winning them all.
Mike Smith and Simon Tracy (twice) were his victims.
And Paul Watts defeated Dave Pym in Premier Two Red.
13/04/25: Saturday win for Steve
In the only action of Saturday Steve Pickard moved into third place in Premier Two Blue with a victory over Simon Tracy.
11/04/25: Friday results roundup
There were three matches played on Friday.
In Premier Two Blue Simon Tracy ended Nick Barham's recent run of league victories.
Steve Cox moved to the top of Premier Three Yellow by defeating Neil Edwards.
And in the second round of the Brunel Trophy Rosemary Whitehouse beat Tim Line, a result which leaves both players with a single life going into round three.
11/04/25: Ian wins monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the fourth instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Ian Tarr took the main flight, capitalising on a first round bye by defeating Steffen Nowak, Nick Barham and -- in the final -- Gaz Owen.
Gaz had got past Stephen Little, Hazel Harper and Cynthia Roberts en route to the final.
Steve Morris won the consolation flight, defeating Barry Vasili, Stephen and Andy Zographou.
Ian moves into a 45 points lead in the BGP table, with Steve in second place.
There was also Premier League action.
Gaz and Stephen met at the Marlborough Tavern, Bath, for a Premier One match, Gaz recovering from a 2-7 deficit to win.
Online Phil Charlton defeated Kev Peters.
And Titus Simen scored another Premier Three Purple win, this time beating Richard Davies.
10/04/25: Simon wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-four players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the fourteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Simon Tracy, who came through the long side of the draw, defeating Jon Organ, Stephen Little and Tim Line before overcoming Elias Hamati in the final.
Elias had arrived there via wins over Gaz Owen and Ann Pocknell.
Nick Barham took the consolation flight by beating Jon, Hazel Harper and Gaz.
Tim Line won the post tournament jackpot for the second successive week.
There was also some second round Brunel Trophy action as well as a couple of Premier League matches.
In the Brunel Trophy the Shakespeare, Totterdown, played host to Chris Hughes' defeat of Neil Young, while The Ram, Widcombe, Bath, saw Dom Verrall beating Steve Morris.
Online there were wins for Eamonn Reay and Simon Baker over Hemal Getalal and Mitch Tucker.
Mitch and Steve are eliminated from the event, while Chris has both lives intact.
Neil, Eamonn, Simon, Hemal and Dom each carry a single life into round three.
In Premier One Natalie Singh defeated Phil Doubtfire.
And Titus Simen beat Ben Crowden in Premier Three Purple.
08/04/25: Tuesday win for Chris
In the only Tuesday action Chris Hughes defeated Photis Gittoes in Premier Three Purple.
08/04/25: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, eighteen of them competitively.
Thirteen of the eighteen formed 3-point round robin groups of seven and six for the opening session of our Monday Spring Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Ian Anderson and Phil Doubtfire.
So Ian is the early leader of the SGP table, with Phil in second place.
There were also two Premier One matches played, plus one in the Brunel Trophy.
That Brunel Trophy second round tie was in effect a sudden death tie, and Robin Gunney survived to the third round while Jim Green was eliminated.
In the top flight of the league Gaz Owen defeated Hemal Getalal at another new Bristol Backgammon venue, the All In, Staple Hill Road, while Natalie Singh beat Stephen Little online.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Ceri Pierce, Simon Dicken, Titus Simen and Kate Waldron.
Efforts to introduce Kate to match-play scenarios will continue.
06/04/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were two Premier League matches played on Sunday.
In Premier One Adam Sinclair defeated Natalie Singh.
And Frank Jones beat Warner Solomon in Premier Two Red.
05/04/25: Friday's Brunel Trophy news
There was just one match played on Friday.
In the second round of the Brunel Trophy Jon Organ defeated Paul Watts, a result which eliminates Paul from the tournament while leaving Jon with both lives intact.
04/04/25: Barry wins latest Handicap tournament
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, ten of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the third instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
And the winner this time was Barry Vasili, who capitalised on a first round bye by seeing off Steve Morris and Nick Barham, before edging a nail-biting final against Ian Tarr.
Ian had got past Stephen Little and Hazel Harper en route to the final.
Ed's "Golden Zone" sponsorship was again an interesting feature of the tournament, Marcus Evans winning the first tenner against Tim Line before succumbing to Hazel for the second.
Steffen took the consolation flight via wins over Steve and Stephen.
Previous HT leader John Rixon wasn't present, which gave Ian the chance to move into the lead.
There were four other matches played.
The Brunel Trophy second round accounted for three of those.
There were online wins for Phil Doubtfire and Warner Solomon, over Alan Joicey and Simonetta Herrera.
And Simon Hughes defeated Stuart Mann at the Pump House.
For Alan it was a second defeat, signalling his exit from the competition.
Phil has two lives remaining, while Warner, Simon, Simonetta and Stuart each carry ine life into round three.
The only league action was in Premier Two Blue where Nick's victory over Steve Pickard is establishing him as favourite for the divisional title.
03/04/25: Stephen wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fifteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the thirteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Stephen Little, who made the most of a first round bye, defeating Elias Hamati and Jon Organ before overcoming Gaz Owen in the final.
Gaz had arrived there via wins over Ian Anderson, Ann Pocknell and Adam Sinclair.
Simon Tracy took the consolation flight by beating John Curran, Elias and Ian Tarr.
Tim Line won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some second round Brunel Trophy action.
Holder Natalie Singh defeated Pearl Foster.
And James Timoney got past Matt Sharp.
01/04/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were three matches played on Tuesday.
In the second round of the Brunel Trophy Hazel Harper defeated Reece Hodges, a result which leaves Hazel with two lives remaining and Reece one.
And in Premier One Kev Peters and Tim Line shared the spoils of a double header.
That was enough to edge Kev into the lead in the league table.
01/04/25: Ben Crabb expunged; several penalised at first checkpoint
The first checkpoint of the Premier League season passed at midnight, and several players were penalised, although all points docked can be clawed back by compliance with the terms of the May 31st checkpoint.
More seriously, an expungement has occurred in Premier Three Purple, where Ben Crabb appears to have resigned from the league.
He has opened messages but not responded to them.
This is bad news for the league, which relies on the good faith of all players to fulfil their commitments.
And it's particularly irritating for Ben Crowden and Richard Davies, who each lose a hard earned victory from their records.
The checkpoint criteria for the remainder of the Purple Division season have been amended to reflect the reduced fixure load.
As for those penalised, they are Jim Green, Natalie Singh and Phil Charlton in Premier One; Matt Sharp in Premier Two Blue; Paul Watts in Premier Two Red; Ceri Pierce in Premier Three Green; and Simon Hughes, Eamonn Reay and Mitch Tucker in Premier Three Yellow.
Nobody in Premier Three Purple has been penalised, thanks to the ramifications of the expungement.
01/04/25: Twenty-one in Monday action as absent Adam wins Winter Grand Prix
There were twenty-one players in action on Monday, twenty of them competitively.
Twelve of the twenty formed two 3-point round robin groups of six for the thirteenth and final session of our Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Jon Organ and Steve Pickard, with third placed Scott Wood taking the side pool in Jon's group.
The race for the WGP title proved anti-climactic, as none of those in with chances of overhauling leader Adam Sinclair did enough to boost their points tallies to the required level.
So Adam, not a contestant this time, held his lead of three points to take the title.
There were four other matches played.
Neil Young scored a Premier One victory over Phil Charlton.
In Premier Three Green Gerald and Rosemary Whitehouse played out a local derby in the Tamar Valley, Rosemary prevailing.
Online in the same division Kev Lee defeated Cliff Blofield.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr at Sportsmans, was attended by Simon Dicken and Titus Simen, and after an 11-pointer between Ian and Simon, Simon and Titus turned their attention towards a nail biting Premier Three Purple encounter, which Simon won.
Both 11-pointers provided big cubing lessons for the Purple Division duo.
30/03/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were six matches played on Sunday.
In Premier One league leader Gaz Owen suffered defeat at the hands of Phil Doubtfire, while Simon Baker defeated Michael Corbett.
Mark Dixon and Mike Smith agreed to double up their second round Brunel Trophy match as a Premier Two Blue match.
Mike won, so got two results for the price of one.
Another Brunel match saw a win for Andy Boysan over Ian Anderson.
Mark and Ian are eliminated from the tournament, while Andy has two lives remaining and Mike one.
Ian had better luck in a Premier Two Red meeting with Ian Tarr.
And Fred North scored a much needed Premier Three Green victory over Cynthia Roberts.
30/03/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were four Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Cecilia Rogers scored a brace of wins in Premier One, overcoming Simon Baker and Hemal Getalal, while in the same division Kev Peters beat Michael Corbett.
And in Premier Two Red Stuart Mann defeated Paul Watts.
28/03/25: Friday's results roundup
There were eight matches played on Friday.
In the second round of the Brunel Trophy Pete Boxer defeated Kylie Hedges, a result which eliminates Kylie from the competition, while Pete still retains both lives.
Nick Barham is putting together a fine start to his Premier Two Blue campaign, scoring a potentially important win over Steve Pickard.
Winners in Premier Two Red were Alan Joicey and Ian Tarr, Ian Anderson and Richard Owsley their victims.
James Timoney and Cliff Blofield won their Premier Three Green matches, James beating Cynthia Roberts twice and Cliff overcoming Ceri Pierce.
Steve Cox and Scott Wood fought out a top end Premier Three Yellow match, Steve prevailing.
And Chris Hughes extended his Premier Three Purple lead by defeating Ben Crowden.
28/03/25: Ian wins GP10 tournament
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them to contest the second session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
The main flight of the tournament saw Ian Tarr the victor.
He defeated Cynthia Roberts -- who was fortunate to be admitted to the tournament, having arrived after the draw -- Stephen Little, Jim Green and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had beaten Andy Zographou and Hazel Harper after receiving a first round bye.
Steve Morris took the consolation flight by beating Cynthia, Barry Vasili and Steffen Nowak.
So Ian takes over the GP10 lead with a 40 points cushion over second placed Steve, who now heads the new "non Premier One and Two" added money list by 75 points from Hazel.
There was also some pre-tournament action at the Ibis.
Ian Hedges and Ed Turner played a double header with a difference.
Their second round Brunel Trophy match came first, Ian prevailing with a whitewash, and Ian was the winner again in a Premier Two Red clash.
Stephen then beat Jim in Premier One.
Online Ian Anderson was another Red Division winner, Richard Owsley his victim.
And Dom Verrall defeated Simon Hughes in Premier Three Yellow.
27/03/25: Ann wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the twelfth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Ann Pocknell, who made the most of a first round bye, defeating Stephen Little and Tim Line before overcoming Elias Hamati in the final.
Elias had arrived there via wins over Jon Organ, Ian Anderson and Alan Joicey.
Adam Sinclair took the consolation flight by beating Stephen, Gaz Owen and James Timoney.
Stephen won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League action.
Dicky Biddle scored a narrow Premier Two Blue victory over Steffen Nowak.
Eamonn Reay played three Premier Three Yellow matches, but lost them all, one to the undefeated Simon Blinkhorn and two to Steve Cox.
And Kev Lee defeated Cynthia Roberts in Premier Three Green.
26/03/25: Hemal's Monday win missed out
Due to an administrative error, a Monday Premier One result was omitted from the news and statistics.
This was Hemal Getalal's defeat of Tim Line, further evidence of Hemal's emergence as a contender in his first top flight season.
25/03/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were eight matches played on Tuesday.
In the second round of the Brunel Trophy Barry Vasili defeated Scott Wood at The Canteen, a result which eliminates Scott from the competition, while Barry still retains both lives.
The Wackum Inn played host to Gaz Owen's latest Premier One victory, Neil Young his victim.
And Hemal Getalal is taking to top flight life very well, his latest success coming when visiting Michael Corbett in Fishponds.
Jon Organ got in two Premier Two Blue matches, losing to both Pearl Foster and Robin Gunney.
The Lock Keeper was the day's other live venue, Chris Hughesmoving to the top of a very close Premier Three Purple table by defeating Andrew Cobb.
Ben Crowden defeated Photis Gittoes in the same division.
And Steve Cox beat Mandy Macdonald in Premier Three Yellow.
25/03/25: Twenty-six in Monday action
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, twenty-four of them competitively and two at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Eleven of the twenty-four formed 3-point round robin groups of six and five for the twelfth and penultimate session of our Monday Winter Grand Prix sessions at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Stephen Little and Elias Hamati, with third placed Kev Peters taking the side pool in Stephen's group.
In the race for the WGP title little changed, with discards biting hard.
Adam Sinclair leads by just three points, but that is a deceptively small advantage, and although five others have at least a theoretical chance of taking the title in next week's final session, Adam remains the strong favourite.
There were seven other matches played.
Simon Blinkhorn goes into the third round draw for the Brunel Trophy with both lives intact after his defeat of James Lintell-Smith, who retains one life.
Chance and Counters was the venue for a Premier One encounter, where Gaz Owen's win over Jim Green took him to pole position.
Another live match saw a Premier Three Yellow Barry Vasili defeat of Marcel Bancroft at the Globe, Newton St Loe.
In the same division Eamonn Reay edged past Simon Hughes.
Another close finish occurred in Premier Two Blue, Mark Dixon victorious over Kylie Hedges.
In Premier Three Green Cynthia Roberts defeated Kev Lee.
And Chris Hughes emphatically defeated Ben Crowden in Premier Three Purple
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Ceri Pierce, and two matches provided some quality educational situations.
Jim, Gaz and Neil Young popped in for the social side.
24/03/25: Tim triumphs in Bradford
The weekend's West Yorkshire Open in Bradford was won by a Bristol player!
Tim Line was the champion, defeating Anna Parker in the final.
More details when available.
23/03/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were seven matches played on Sunday.
Ceri Pierce scored a notable second round Brunel Trophy win over Kev Peters, both players progressing to round three with a single life.
She then followed that up with a brace of Premier Three Green wins at the expense of Cliff Blofield and James Timoney, while in the same division Kev Lee beat Rob Clarke.
Another new Bristol Backgammon venue materialised today when the Star, Fishponds, played host to Hemal Getalal's Premier One victory over Jim Green.
In Premier Two Red Dave Pym defeated Ann Pocknell.
And Chris Hughes beat Caroline Boulton in Premier Three Purple.
22/03/25: Awards Night so much better than last year's
The Ibis was the venue for our Annual Awards Night on Thursday.
And after last year's disappointing turnout, the contrast could hardly have been more marked this time, with a total of thirty-three in attendance.
Best of all was the appearance of Roland and Simonetta Herrera.
Roland's stroke, which he did extremely well to survive, was two and a half years ago now, and his steady improvement has been testament to his true grit, stubbornness, and determination to keep going through a very difficult and depressing time.
This was his first time back in the throng, and we will surely see more and more of him and Simonetta as time passes.
He was in great form, and addressed the gathering at the very start, setting a positive tone for what has generally been hailed as a warmly successful evening.
A chess playing couple occupied a table near the front, gradually becoming surrounded by the audience as they assembled in readiness for the presentation.
They stayed for quite a while, only departing after a brief speech from the gentleman, extolling the virtues of a community he had only just encountered minutes previously.
Ian Tarr delivered his usual address, summarising the achievements of all and sundry during 2024, his speech punctuated as always by the awarding of the majority of the 95 prizes which had been earned by 38 different players.
He was progressively more and more embarrassed by the number of prizes he himself had accumulated through the best playing year of his life.
The "routine" rewarding of achievements in our various online and live arenas through the calendar year preceded the "surprises".
It was no surprise that Gaz Owen picked up the award for year end leadership of our rankings.
There were 1,000-1 awards aplenty -- six of them this year -- and Ian scooped the best of these for two separate sequences of thirteen successive wins, which each equate to odds of 8,000-1.
The others -- all for ten wins, i.e. all 1,000-1 -- were earned by Stephen Little and the sadly absent Dicky Biddle, Chris Rogers and Adam Sinclair.
Longevity was also rewarded, following on from Stuart Mann's initial achievement of becoming the first player to register 100 Premier League match victories back in 2007.
The 28th and 29th Premier League Centurions arrived in 2024 -- Cynthia Roberts and Fred North -- while Richard Owsley became the 14th to receive a Double Centurion award.
The Most Improved Player Award went to Natalie Singh, while Rob Clarke was awarded the Rookie of the Year prize.
Oddly the success of the evening can probably best be gauged by the fact that there was precious little backgammon played during the evening, with the social side of the Bristol Backgammon community predominant through the evening.
22/03/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Andy Boysan scored a narrow win over Frank Jones in Premier Two Red.
In Premier Two Blue Steffen Nowak beat Mike Smith.
And Eamonn Reay became the last of the seventy-five Premier League players to get under way, beating Mandy Macdonald in Premier Three Yellow.
22/03/25: Friday win for Rosemary
In the only action of Friday, Rosemary Whitehouse edged to a Premier Three Green victory over league leader Cliff Blofield.
21/03/25: Thursday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Thursday.
Richard Owsley met at the Ibis for a Premier Two Red clash, played out before and after the Awards Night ceremony, and Richard was the victor.
Steve Pickard strengthened his Premier Two Blue promotion challenge with a narrow victory over Pearl Foster.
And Simon Hughes defeated Marcel Bancroft in Premier Three Yellow.
19/03/25: Tim wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the eleventh of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Tim Line, who made the most of a first round bye, defeating Stephen Little and Gaz Owen before overcoming Kev Peters in the final.
Kev had arrived there via wins over John Curran, Ian Tarr and Nick Barham.
Jon Organ took the consolation flight by beating Elias Hamati and John, and followed up by winning the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
In the second round of the Brunel Trophy Gaz Owen beat Frank Jones at the Rose and Crown, eliminating Frank from the competition while preserving both his own lives.
Online there were wins for Cecilia Rogers over Stephen Little and for Rob Clarke over Richard Owsley.
Cecilia, Stephen, Rob and Richard each have one life remaining.
Phil Charlton scored a narrow Premier One victory over Natalie Singh.
Photis Gittoes had the better of a double header with Andrew Cobb in Premier Three Purple.
And Scott Wood moved to the top of Premier Three Yellow by defeating Mandy Macdonald.
18/03/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were seven matches played on Tuesday.
In the second round of the Brunel Trophy Nick Barham retained both his lives in defeating Phil Charlton, a result which eliminates Phil from the competition.
Elias Hamati played his three remaining Premier Two Red matches, sharing the spoils of a double header with Stuart Mann, before losing narrowly to Ian Tarr.
It took Elias just 77 days to complete a campaign where he finishes with a break even record.
Steve Cox and Neil Edwards were winners in Premier Three Yellow, their victims being Barry Vasili and Mandy Macdonald.
And in Premier Three Purple Andy Zographou defeated Andrew Cobb at the Talbot, Keynsham.
18/03/25: Twenty-six in Monday action
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, nineteen of them competitively and seven at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Thirteen of the nineteen formed 3-point round robin groups of seven and six for the eleventh of our Monday Winter Grand Prix sessions at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Steve Pickard and Jon Organ, with Gaz Owen taking the side pool in Jon's group.
The race for the WGP title has intensified, with Adam Sinclair the latest to edge in front, while six others are still in contention in varying degrees.
There were also three Premier Three matches played.
Steve Cox and Simon Hughes were winners in Premier Three Yellow, Mandy Macdonald and Marcel Bancroft their victims.
In Premier Three Green Rosemary Whitehouse defeated Kev Lee.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was an atmospheric session attended by Ceri Pierce, Titus Simen, David Bennetto, Penny Walters and her daughter Shams, plus a late appearance from Molly Collins.
16/03/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were six matches played on Sunday.
Another of the second round Brunel Trophy ties saw James Newman defeat Steve Pickard.
James still has both of his lives, while Steve is down to one.
Tim Line scored two narrow Premier One wins, Michael Corbett and Phil Doubtfire his victims.
Elias Hamati played again, and suffered a late night defeat to Ian Tarr in Premier Two Red.
Gerald Whitehouse moved into third place in Premier Three Green by beating Kev Lee.
And in Premier Three Purple Ben Crowden beat Titus Simen.
16/03/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Saturday.
Two more second round Brunel Trophy ties were played.
Simon Dicken defeated Cynthia Roberts, a result which signalled Cynthia's exit from the competition, while Simon retains both lives.
Adam Sinclair was the other winner, beating Simon Tracy to leave both players with one life remaining.
Adam also scored a Premier One win, arresting a run of league defeats by overcoming Cecilia Rogers.
Elias Hamati has moved to within four results of completing his Premier Two Red season.
His defeat at the hands of Andy Boysan, however, means he will probably need to win all his remaining matches to stand a realistic chance of promotion.
And Cliff Blofield moved to the top of Premier Three Green by beating Fred North.
14/03/25: Hazel wins monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, just eight of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the third instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Hazel Harper took the main flight, defeating Tim Line, Steve Morris and Nick Barham.
Nick had got past Gaz Owen and Ian Tarr en route to the final.
Tim won the consolation flight, defeating Rob Clarke and Gaz.
Steve and Ian were joint leaders after the February event, and still are, although Hazel has moved to within 10 points of them.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Ben's Farm Shop, Yealmpton, Devon, is the latest venue for a Bristol Backgammon match.
The venue hosted a second round Brunel Trophy tie, Gerald Whitehouse recovering from an early deficit to eliminate Dicky Biddle from the tournament.
Gerald has one life remaining.
Tim and Gaz played a Premier One match, Gaz winning narrowly to move into second place in the league.
In Premier Two Red Richard Owsley scored a win over Elias Hamati.
And Titus Simen beat Simon Dicken in Premier Three Purple.
13/03/25: Nick wins Wednesday online tournament
There were eighteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the tenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was Nick Barham, who defeated Neil Young, Ian Tarr and Tim Line before overcoming Elias Hamati in the final.
Elias had arrived there via a first round bye and wins over Alan Joicey and Ian Anderson.
Neil took the consolation flight by beating Ann Pocknell, Adam Sinclair and Jon Organ.
Stephen Little won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League action.
Alan scored an emphatic win over Ian T in Premier Two Red, and is looking like a prime contender in the promotion race.
Simon Blinkhorn moved to the top of Premier Three Yellow by defeating Mandy Macdonald, and is still unbeaten.
And Titus Simen scored his first Premier League win against Caroline Boulton in Premier Three Purple.
11/03/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were nine matches played on Tuesday.
The first two of the thirty-one second round Brunel Trophy ties saw Ian Tarr and Elias Hamati win, each preserving both of their lives.
However their victims -- Chris Rogers and Steffen Nowak -- are the first to have been eliminated from the event, having lost both of theirs.
Simon Baker played twice in Premier One, losing to Gaz Owen before beating Phil Charlton.
Dicky Biddle of Premier Two Blue was another to get two matches played, losing to Nick Barham before defeating Simon Tracy.
The other winner in that division was Steve Pickard, who beat Kylie Hedges.
Elias won a Premier Two Red match against Ed Turner, and with just six matches to play, he is in a position to set an interesting promotion target for those who prefer more conservative time scales for their campaigns.
And in Premier Three Purple Titus Simen kicked off his campaign with defeat at the hands of Photis Gittoes.
11/03/25: Twenty-four in Monday action as Gaz celebrates
There were twenty-four players in action on Monday, twenty-one of them competitively and three at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Fifteen of the twenty-one formed a single DMP round robin group for the tenth of our Monday Winter Grand Prix sessions at the Heroes website.
And there was a surprise sponsorship attached to the DMP group, when Gaz Owen paid for side pool entry for all fifteen contestants as a celebration of his achievement in reaching GM1 status.
There are only 21 players worldwide with this status or above.
WGP table toppers Kev Peters and Ian Anderson finished first and second to maintain the status quo.
There were also five Premier League matches played.
Simon Baker suffered a brace of defeats in Premier One, succumbing to both Neil Young and Hemal Getalal.
In Premier Three Green there were victories for Ceri Pierce -- her first in league competition -- and Gerald Whitehouse.
Their respective victims were James Timoney and Cynthia Roberts.
And at the Talbot, Bath Road, Keynsham, Andy Zographou defeated Andrew Cobb in Premier Three Purple.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Titus Simen and Chris Lewis, with plenty of five point match action for all.
09/03/25: Brunel Trophy second round draw made
The draw for the second round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The field of sixty-two players remains intact, although of course half of them now have only one life remaining.
Six ties this time are effectively sudden death affairs, while six involve players who both have their two lives left.
Matches are to be played by April 13th.
The full draw can be found here.
09/03/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Sunday.
The last of the thirty-one first round Brunel Trophy ties saw Simon Blinkhorn victorious over Eamonn Reay.
Simon Baker kicked off his Premier One campaign with a narrow win over Phil Doubtfire.
Frank Jones and Elias Hamati scored Premier Two Red wins, Paul Watts and Dave Pym their victims.
And in Premier Three Yellow Neil Edwards defeated Steve Cox.
09/03/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Warner Solomon suffered a Premier Two Red setback, losing to Paul Watts.
Scott Wood beat Neil Edwards in Premier Three Yellow.
And in what seems to be becoming the tightest of this year's divisions -- Premier Three Purple -- Ben Crowden defeated Richard Davies.
07/03/25: Warner wins again
In the only action of Friday Warner Solomon defeated Ed Turner in Premier Two Red.
Warner is fast becoming a favourite for promotion.
07/03/25: Nick also won the GP20 event
Before Thursday's Speedgammon event Nick Barham and Tim Line found the time to play the held over final of last week's GP20 event.
Nick was the victor, and takes the GP20 lead, with Tim and Barry Vasili 20 points behind.
It's comparatively rare for a player to clinch two tournament victories in a single session.
07/03/25: Nick wins low key Speedgammon Grand Prix event
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, just five of them to contest the second session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.
The low turnout meant a single round robin group with no subsequent knockout phase.
Nick Barham won the group with a superior points difference to second placed Ian Tarr.
Ian assumes leadership of the SGGP, with January winner Phil Doubtfire in second place.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Pete Boxer and Reece Hodges were first round Brunel Trophy winners, their opponents Andy Zographou and Steve Morris.
Reece and Steve played at another new Bristol Backgammon venue -- the Lamb, Newport.
There were four Premier One matches, involving just three players.
Stephen Little succumbed to Kev Peters and Natalie Singh.
Then Kev and Natalie met online for the latest of late double headers, Kev winning both to go top of the league.
Elias Hamati and Warner Solomon scored Premier Two Red victories, over Richard Owsley and Ed Turner.
And in Premier Three Purple Simon Dicken defeated Ben Crowden.
05/03/25: Elias wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-three players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the ninth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner, Elias Hamati has become the first player to win two of these events this year.
Given his efforts in attempting to stimulate interest in Wednesday events, few would begrudge him that success.
Elias made the most of a first round bye, going on to defeat Stephen Little, Jon Organ and, in the final, Ian Tarr.
Ian had arrived there via wins over Ian Anderson, Nick Barham and Tim Line.
Alan Joicey took the consolation flight by beating John Curran, Adam Sinclair and Ian Anderson.
Ian Tarr won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
First round Brunel Trophy winners were Gaz Owen and Pearl Foster.
Pearl defeated Jim Green online, while Gaz overcame Jordan White at the Rose and Crown, Kingswood.
There was a Premier One double header at the Harvester Crown, Longwell Green, where Neil Young and Kev Peters won one apiece.
In Premier Two Red Stuart Mann suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Warner Solomon.
Cliff Blofield kept up the pressure on Premier Three Green leader Gary Plant by beating Gerald Whitehouse.
And Andy Zographou edged to victory over Premier Three Purple leader Hazel Harper.
04/03/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were ten matches played on Tuesday, in the Brunel Trophy and all six divisions of the Premier League.
First round winners in the Brunel Trophy were Neil Young, Jon Organ and Stuart Mann -- their victims Scott Wood, Gerald Whitehouse and Simon Baker.
Phil Charlton narrowly defeated Hemal Getalal in Premier One.
Nick Barham maintained his recent run of good form by defeating Dicky Biddle in Premier Two Blue.
Premier Two Red leader Elias Hamati beat Ed Turner.
Cynthia Roberts played twice in Premier Three Green, defeating Rosemary Whitehouse before succumbing to Rob Clarke.
Dom Verrall moved to the top of Premier Three Yellow by defeating Marcel Bancroft.
And Simon Dicken whitewashed Richard Davies in Premier Three Purple.
04/03/25: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, twenty-one of them competitively and two at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Sixteen of the twenty-one formed two eight player 3-point round robin groups for the ninth of our Monday Winter Grand Prix sessions at the Heroes website.
One player had to be excluded for failing to adhere to guidelines, and in the same group one match was not played for some obscure reason.
Group winners were Adam Sinclair and Kev Peters.
Kev has edged ahead of Ian Anderson at the head of the WGP table.
There were also five Premier League matches played.
Nick Barham scored a brace of victories over Robin Gunney in Premier Two Blue, where Steffen Nowak was also a winner over Mark Dixon.
And Hazel Harper was another double winner, against Simon Dicken in Premier Three Purple.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended only by Titus Simen, who was eager to get some practice in for an upcoming trip to a tournament in the North East.
02/03/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were four results to report from Sunday.
Tim Line and title holder Natalie Singh are the latest winners of first round Brunel Trophy ties, at the expense of Cecilia Rogers and Mark Dixon.
Mark had earlier lost a Premier Two Blue match, narrowly to Mike Smith.
And Scott Wood defeated Mitch Tucker in Premier Three Yellow.
02/03/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were three results to report from Saturday.
In Premier Two Blue there were wins for Mark Dixon and Steve Pickard, over Pearl Foster and Mike Smith.
And Simon Blinkhorn continued his winning Premier Three Yellow sequence against Steve Cox.
02/03/25: Dom went top on Wednesday
One result omitted from regular reports came from the Ram, Widcombe, Bath, on Wednesday.
And Dom Verrall's defeat of Barry Vasili moved him to the top of the Premier Three Yellow table.
28/02/25: One in and one out of the Yellow Division
Julian Tucker has resigned from Premier Three Yellow for pressing personal reasons.
This necessitates the expungement of his only completed match, unfortunately for Mitch Tucker, who was the victor.
As this has occurred this early in the season, it gave Director Ian Tarr the opportunity to fill the vacancy with a player -- Steve Cox -- who wanted to return to the league, but missed the December 21st entry deadline.
28/02/25: Friday's results roundup
There were three results to report from Friday.
Warner Solomon was on the wrong end of two of them.
A Premier Two Red defeat at the hands of Ian Tarr was followed by a first round Brunel Trophy loss to James Newman.
And Ceri Pierce made her league debut in Premier Three Green, losing to Cynthia Roberts.
28/02/25: GP20 final deferred
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, fourteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the second instalment of the year's GP20 series.
Among the field there was a welcome competitive debut for Klajdi Deda.
The main flight was not completed on the night, as Nick Barham needed to catch his bus back to Weston-super-Mare, so this is likely to be played next Thursday.
Nick's route to the final took him past Jordan White, Stephen Little and Kian Sabet, while his final opponent Tim Line defeated Ian Tarr, Gaz Owen and Barry Vasili.
Hazel Harper took the consolation flight with wins over Andy Zographou, Jordan and Neil Young.
Tim and Barry jointly head the GP20 table, with Nick in third place.
Whoever wins the final will have an outright lead.
There was also Premier League action, all of it in Premier Two Red.
Ian Hedges experienced two emphatic score-lines, losing to Alan Joicey before beating Ian Tarr.
And Ed Turner defeated Richard Owsley.
27/02/25: Nick is the latest Wednesday tournament winner
There were eighteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the eighth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
And this week's winner was the eighth of the year -- Nick Barham, who made the most of a first round bye to defeat Stephen Little, Ian Anderson and, in the final, Gerald Whitehouse.
Gerald had arrived there via wins over Elias Hamati and Adam Sinclair.
Stephen took the consolation flight by beating Elias and Tim Line, who won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
First round Brunel Trophy winners were Hemal Getalal (over Rosemary Whitehouse) and Simon Tracy (over Dicky Biddle).
Tournament winner Nick had earlier notched his first Premier Two Blue victory of the season, defeating Michael Petrakas.
Warner Solomon was once again the less than perfect host in Totnes, beating Ian A in Premier Two Red.
And Cliff Blofield was back to winning ways in Premier Three Green at Rob Clarke's expense.
25/02/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were eight matches played on Tuesday.
Chris Hughes and Phil Doubtfire were first round Brunel Trophy winners over, respectively, Cynthia Roberts and Frank Jones.
Cecilia Rogers, already top of the Premier One table, defeated Phil Charlton.
There were three matches in Premier Two Red, where Frank had mixed fortunes, losing to Ian Hedges before defeating Elias Hamati.
Richard Owsley was the other Red Division winner, over Ann Pocknell.
In Premier Three Purple Richard Davies beat Hazel Harper.
And Cliff Blofield's winning Premier Three Green sequence came to an end, whitewashed by James Timoney.
25/02/25: Twenty-two in Monday action
There were twenty-two players in action on Monday, seventeen of them competitively and five at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Eight of the seventeen formed two four player Nackgammon round robin groups for the eighth of our Monday Winter Grand Prix sessions at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Nick Barham and Kev Peters.
Ian Anderson still heads the WGP table, but Kev has now slashed his lead to just two points.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Ian A was in Totnes, where he lost to host Warner Solomon in Premier Two Red.
Online in the same division league leader Elias Hamati was defeated by Alan Joicey.
And in Premier Three Green Rob Clarke notched his first league win of the season at the expense of James Timoney.
The Brunel Trophy ties featured a win for Hazel Harper over Steffen Nowak online.
While Barry Vasili and Simon Hughes boosted the backgammon presence at Sportsmans, Barry narrowly depriving Simon of one of his two lives.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Simon Dicken, Ceri Pierce, Penny Walters and Penny's daughter Shams, a promising beginner.
24/02/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were four Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Michael Corbett scored his first Premier One win since his re-emergence into the top flight, Adam Sinclair his victim.
In Premier Two Red Paul Watts was another to register his first league win of the season, beating Elias Hamati.
Maintaining the theme, Chris Hughes' first win of the Premier Three Purple season came at the expense of Caroline Boulton.
And Simon Blinkhorn continued his unbeaten start to the Premier Three Yellow season, defeating Neil Edwards.
21/02/25: Friday's results roundup
There were two matches played on Friday.
The top two in Premier Two Blue -- albeit partly by virtue of having played a large number of matches -- met, Chris Rogers defeating Mark Dixon.
And although both retain high hopes of filling the two promotion slots at the end of the season, it will be interesting to see what kind of targets they can set the remainder of the field, as they adhere to more traditional timescales.
Meanwhile players are getting around to playing their first round Brunel Trophy ties, the latest being Ed Turner and Dom Verrall, Ed prevailing narrowly.
21/02/25: Kian's flying visit yields dividends
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, ten of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the second instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
Kian Sabet was the star of the show.
Now living in Dubai, we can now expect to see him on his occasional visits to the UK.
After a first round bye, he saw off John Rixon and Ian Tarr, before despatching reigning Handicap Trophy holder Hazel Harper in the final.
Hazel had got past Steffen Nowak and Stephen Little en route to the final.
Ed's "Golden Zone" sponsorship worked well for Ian, who grabbed both £10 spot prizes.
John took the consolation flight via wins over Steffen and Steve Morris, a run which ensured that he retains the HT lead he gained in January's opening instalment.
There were five other matches played.
The Brunel Trophy first round is gathering pace.
Ian Hedges, Richard Owsley and Nick Barham all moved to the second round with both lives intact, while their victims -- Paul Watts, Robin Gunney and Kylie Hedges respectively -- are reduced to single life status.
In Premier Three Green Cliff Blofield extended his winning league sequence to seven when he edged past Kev Lee.
And in Premier Three Yellow Barry Vasili's second trip to Windmill Hill had a better outcome than last time with his defeat of Mandy Macdonald.
20/02/25: Steve's good Wednesday
There were fifteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the seventh of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
This week it was Steve Pickard who won the main flight, making the most of a first round bye to defeat Ian Anderson, Kev Peters and Stephen Little.
Stephen had arrived in the final via wins over Ian Tarr, John Curran and Gerald Whitehouse.
Adam Sinclair took the consolation flight by beating the two aforementioned Ians.
There was also some Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
The prelude to Steve's tournament win was a narrow Premier Two Blue victory over Mark Dixon.
And in the first round of the Brunel Trophy there was a win for Simonetta Herrera over Phil Charlton.
19/02/25: Awards Night put back to March 20th
The Bristol Backgammon Awards Night, originally scheduled for March 6th, has been put back a fortnight to March 20th.
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr offers his whole-hearted apologies for this change, and regrets any inconvenience caused.
The reason for the change is that the order to the trophy supplier was not submitted in an acceptable time frame.
The Speedgammon Grand Prix event previously scheduled for the 20th has been brought forward to the 6th.
18/02/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Tuesday.
Two first round Brunel Trophy ties were played, Elias Hamati defeating Alan Joicey, and James Timoney beating Mitch Tucker.
Stuart Mann won a Premier Two Red meeting with Richard Owsley.
And in Premier Three Purple there were victories for Andy Zographou and Caroline Boulton, their victims being Photis Gittoes and Simon Dicken.
18/02/25: Twenty-five in Monday action
There were twenty-five players in action on Monday, twenty of them competitively and five at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Sixteen of the twenty formed two eight player round robin groups with 3-point matches the theme of the session -- the seventh of our Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Dom Verrall and Stephen Little, neither of whom invested in the optional side pools, which was to the benefit of Kev Peters, Adam Sinclair and Ian Anderson.
Ian A still heads the WGP table, but Kev has now cut his lead to 10 points.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Steve Pickard won his first round Brunel Trophy tie against Rob Clarke, but also suffered a Premier Two Blue defeat at the hands of Dicky Biddle.
Dicky, however, was another to suffer mixed fortunes on the day, when he lost to Mark Dixon.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Ceri Pierce, Hannes on a flying visit from Germany, and later on -- after a concert visit -- Ian and Kylie Hedges.
16/02/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were six matches played on Sunday.
In the Brunel Trophy Ian Tarr defeated Adam Sinclair in their first round tie.
Premier Two Red was the busiest of the leagues with three matches.
Warner Solomon was involved in two of those, defeating Ann Pocknell before suffering a whitewash at the hands of Frank Jones.
League leader Elias Hamati pipped Paul Watts in the other.
Jon Organ beat Matt Sharp in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Three Green Cliff Blofield won his sixth successive match, Rob Clarke his victim.
15/02/25: Saturday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Saturday.
Another first round Brunel Trophy tie saw Simon Dicken defeating Mike Smith.
A Premier Two Red double header resulted in Andy Boysan and Alan Joicey sharing the spoils.
Scott Wood beat Neil Edwards in Premier Three Yellow.
And in Premier Three Purple there was a victory for Richard Davies over Caroline Boulton.
14/02/25: Friday's results roundup
There were two matches played on Friday.
The latest of the first round Brunel Trophy ties saw Stephen Little register a win at the expense of Ian Anderson.
And in Premier Two Red Warner Solomon defeated Paul Watts.
14/02/25: Steve wins again
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, fourteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the second instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Steve Morris took the main flight -- having done the same at last week's GP10 event -- defeating Jim Green, Rob Clarke and Simon Tracy before overcoming Andy Zographou in the final.
Andy had made the most of a first round bye, beating Tim Line and Steffen Nowak en route.
Nick Barham won the consolation flight, getting past Tim, Hazel Harper and Cynthia Roberts.
Steve has drawn level with January winner Ian Tarr at the head of the BGP standings.
There was also Premier League action.
Jim and Tim had met at the Rendezvous Cafe for a pre-tournament Premier One meeting, which Jim won.
Richard Owsley scored a Premier Two Red win over Ann Pocknell.
Kev Lee gained his first Premier League victory at the expense of Rosemary Whitehouse in Premier Three Green.
And a battle of the two Ben C's in Premier Three Purple ended with Ben Crowden defeating Ben Crabb.
13/02/25: Elias cleans up
There were twenty players in action on Wednesday, fourteen of them to contest the sixth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
This week it was Elias Hamati's turn to take the honours, winning both the main tournament and the post-tournament jackpot.
In the tournament main flight Elias defeated Nick Barham, Ann Pocknell and Jon Organ, before beating Ian Tarr in the final.
Ian's victims were John Curran, Gaz Owen and Kev Peters.
Alan Joicey took the consolation flight by beating Ian Anderson and Nick.
There was also some Premier League action.
Michael Petrakas defeated Dicky Biddle in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Two Red Richard Owsley beat Ian Hedges.
And Cliff Blofield continued his good start to the Premier Three Green season by overcoming Fred North.
12/02/25: Tuesday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Sunday.
Another first round Brunel Trophy tie saw James Lintell-Smith defeat Chris Rogers.
The Wackum Inn was the latest new venue for a Bristol Backgammon match, and Hemal Getalal celebrated his Premier One debut with a narrow victory over Neil Young.
Jon Organ won a Premier Two Blue match against Steffen Nowak.
And in Premier Three Yellow there were wins for Simon Blinkhorn over Scott Wood and Dom Verrall over Neil Edwards.
11/02/25: Twenty-four in Monday action
There were twenty-four players in action on Monday, twenty-one of them competitively and three at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Twelve of the twenty-one formed a single round robin group with DMP matches the theme of the session -- the sixth of our Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Nick Barham was the group winner, pipping Kev Peters on the PR tie-break.
The absent Ian Anderson still heads the WGP table, although Kev has now reduced his lead to 15 points.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Kev won his first round Brunel Trophy tie against Matt Sharp.
In Premier Two Blue Dicky Biddle defeated Steffen Nowak.
Barry Vasili visited Marcel Bancroft in Premier Three Yellow and notched an away win.
Richard Davies and Simon Dicken were winners in Premier Three Purple, Ben Crabb and Ben Crowden their victims.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Chris Lewis and first time visitor David in what was a productive session.
09/02/25: Sunday's results roundup
There were three matches played on Sunday.
The first of this year's Brunel Trophy first round matches saw a win for Andy Boysan over Ceri Pierce.
Steffen Nowak defeated Simon Tracy in Premier Two Blue.
And at the Post Office Tavern Caroline Boulton beat Andy Zographou in Premier Three Purple.
09/02/25: Saturday's Premier League action
There were seven Premier League matches played on Saturday.
And Adam Sinclair's promising start to the Premier One season has apparently stalled.
Three emphatic wins have been followed by four defeats, two of which occurred on Saturday, both 2-11 reverses, first to Cecilia Rogers and then to Phil Doubtfire, who had earlier been beaten by Gaz Owen.
Chris Rogers registered his twentieth Premier Two Blue result of the season, beating Pearl Foster, while second placed Mark Dixon suffered a setback against Simon Tracy.
Elias Hamati edged home against Frank Jones in Premier Two Red.
And Marcel Bancroft had the honour of being the first player to inflict a league defeat on Scott Wood, whose four Feeder League victories last year had been followed by two more in Premier Three Yellow.
08/02/25: Neil's win passed me by
A Premier Three Yellow result from February 1st somehow slipped through Director Ian Tarr's net.
Neil Edwards defeated Marcel Bancroft.
The league table page has now been updated accordingly.
07/02/25: Robin kick starts his league season in style; Simon wins held over final
There were three matches played on Friday.
Having lost his two opening Premier Two Blue matches, Robin Gunney reversed those fortunes in the best possible way by inflicting two defeats on Chris Rogers, conceding only a single point in the process.
Meanwhile the main flight of Wednesday's online tournament was completed when Simon Tracy defeated Gaz Owen in the final.
The five Wednesday tournaments so far this year have featured ten different players in the main flight finals.
07/02/25: Steve wins opening GP10 tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them to contest the opening session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
The main flight of the tournament saw Steve Morris triumphant.
Making the most of a first round bye, he defeated Cynthia Roberts and Stephen Little before overcoming Ian Tarr in the final.
Ian had beaten Steffen Nowak, Hazel Harper and Simon Tracy en route.
Rob Clarketook the consolation flight by beating Andy Zographou and Steffen.
So Steve takes a 20 point GP10 lead into the next event in the series, and he also heads the new "intermediates" added money list by 50 points from Rob.
There was also a Premier Two Blue match played earlier online, where Michael Petrakas beat Robin Gunney.
06/02/25: GP10 prize boost for "intermediates"
The GP10 series of Thursday tournaments is being given a boost for new and improving players in the form of year end cash prizes.
Players in the top two tiers of the Bristol Premier League, and those non-league players identified by Director Ian Tarr, are exempt from this.
The Thursday calendar features five year long grand prix series, which are all being given more distinct identities, with a view to enabling occasional players to target those which particularly appeal to them.
The GP10's, the first of which is this evening at the Ibis, are being portrayed as more "intermediate friendly" as a part of this strategy.
05/02/25: Simon and Gaz adjourn Wednesday final
There were seventeen players in action on Wednesday, fourteen of them to contest the fifth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
Once again Elias Hamati generously added a nice amount (again £60) to the tournament prize pot, and entries are considerably ahead of last year's Wednesday average.
This week the final was adjourned, as Elias's efforts to spark some life into the post tournament jackpot made it a busy evening.
Simon Tracy and Gaz Owen will contest that final another day.
Gaz had got past John Curran, Nick Barham and Adam Sinclair to get there, while Simon's victims were Chris Hughes, Tim Line and Elias.
Chris H took the consolation flight by beating Stephen Little, Scott Wood and Neil Young.
The post-tournament jackpot, with entry at £25, attracted eight entries, and Simon took the honours.
There was also some Premier League action.
Adam and Stephen finished off a Premier One match, recently adjourned at 8-8 at the Ibis, by playing a 3-point decider on Heroes, Stephen winning for the first time in this season's league.
Earlier Mark Dixon beat Matt Sharp in Premier Two Blue.
04/02/25: Tuesday Premier League roundup
There were six Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Adam Sinclair lost for the first time this season in Premier One, edged out by Kev Peters.
Mark Dixon defeated Michael Petrakas in Premier Two Blue, where Simon Tracy was also a winner, at the expense of Jon Organ.
Alan Joicey beat Stuart Mann in Premier Two Red.
Marcel Bancroft moved back to the top of Premier Three Yellow by defeating Mitch Tucker.
And Photis Gittoes marked his Premier League debut with a victory, Chris Hughes being his victim in Premier Three Purple.
04/02/25: Sixteen in Monday action
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, twelve of them competitively and four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
The twelve were split into two round robin groups of six with 3-point matches the theme of the session -- the fifth of our Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
And Gaz Owen and Nick Barham were the group winners.
The absent Ian Anderson still heads the WGP table, although Adam Sinclair has reduced his lead to 17 points.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Mathew Nicholls, Ceri Pierce and Stelian from Romania.
Stelian arrived with good checker play but no knowledge of the cube. By the time he left, he was proficient with that implement. One to watch.
03/02/25: Sunday Premier League roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Adam Sinclair continued his bright start to the Premier One season by defeating Michael Corbett.
Two of the early Premier Two Blue front runners met, Mark Dixon beating Dicky Biddle.
And Gary Plant scored his ninth successive Premier Three Green victory, at the expense of Rob Clarke.
02/02/25: Brunel Trophy first round draw made
The draw for the first round of the twelfth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The entry has surpassed the previous record, with sixty-two toeing the start line this time.
Matches are to be played by March 9th.
The full draw can be found here.
02/02/25: Mark wins on Saturday
In the only Saturday Premier League action, Mark Dixon defeated Nick Barham in Premier Two Blue.
01/02/25: Another win for Gary
In the only Friday Premier League action, Gary Plant scored his eighth successive Premier Three Green victory, his victim this time being Rob Clarke.
31/01/25: Phil wins January Speedgammon Grand Prix event
There were twelve players in action on Thursday, nine of them to contest the opening session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.
The nine formed round robin groups of five and four.
Group winners Ian Tarr and Jordan White scored clean sweeps to progress to the knockout phase with ease.
Ironically both players lost their initial knockout matches to players they had defeated in the round robins.
Phil Doubtfire and Tim Line made it to the final, where Phil was the victor.
So Phil takes a handy 45 point lead into the next event.
There was also some Premier League action.
Phil and Neil Young fitted in a Premier One match before the tournament, which Neil won narrowly.
And Gary Plant continued his winning streak in Premier Three Green by beating Fred North -- also narrowly -- at Brookmans Farm, Swindon.
30/01/25: Stephen arrests bad run of results to win Wednesday event
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday to contest the fourth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
For the third successive week Elias Hamati generously added a nice amount (again £60) to the tournament prize pot, and the added money continues to attract greater participation.
This week Stephen Little took the main flight honours, which would have been a welcome relief after beginning the year with a string of defeats.
He defeated Simon Tracy, Chris Hughes, Hazel Harper and, in the final, Neil Young.
Neil had arrived there via victories over Kev Peters, Phil Doubtfire and Ian Anderson.
Nick Barham took the consolation flight by beating Alan Joicey, Ian Tarr and Adam Sinclair.
Elias won the post-tournament jackpot.
28/01/25: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were five Premier League match played on Tuesday.
In Premier Two Red Alan Joicey defeated Ann Pocknell.
Gary Plant won another in Premier Three Green, this time against Kev Lee, while in the same division Cliff Blofield defeated Gerald Whitehouse.
Scott Wood overcame Marcel Bancroft in Premier Three Yellow.
And in Premier Three Purple Hazel Harper narrowly beat Andy Zographou
28/01/25: Twenty-four in Monday action
There were twenty-four players in action on Monday, twenty of them competitively and four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Fifteen of the twenty formed round robin groups of eight and seven with 3-point matches the theme of the session -- the fourth of our Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
And Ian Anderson and Stephen Little were the group winners, with Neil Young scooping the side pool in Stephen's group.
Ian A has stretched his lead in the WGP table to 27 points, with Kev Peters now in second place.
There were three Premier League matches played.
Premier Two Red was the most active, with a brace of results.
Winners were Alan Joicey, over Dave Pym, and Warner Solomon over Elias Hamati.
And Premier Three Purple finally got under way, Hazel Harper defeating Richard Davies.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Simon Dicken, Dan Buchanan and Chris Lewis, with lots of friendly matches and lots of talking points.
26/01/25: Mixed fortunes for Cecilia
There were two Premier One matches played on Saturday.
Both featured Cecilia Rogers, who lost to Phil Doubtfire before defeating Stephen Little.
25/01/25: Saturday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League match played on Saturday.
In Premier Two Red Ann Pocknell defeated Elias Hamati.
Gary Plant made it five wins out of five in Premier Three Green by beating Pete Boxer.
And Marcel Bancroft overcame Neil Edwards in Premier Three Yellow.
24/01/25: Friday's Premier Two Red action
There was just one Premier League match played on Friday, a Premier Two Red encounter between Ian Anderson and Ann Pocknell.
Ian was the victor.
24/01/25: Adam wins opening GP20 event
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the opening instalment of the year's GP20 series.
Among The field there was a welcome competitive debut for Dan Buchanan, who forms the third generation of an eminent Bristol Backgammon family.
His father Blaine Buchanan was a founder member of the Bristol Premier League back in 2000, and he also introduced his mother Anne Buchanan to us later that decade.
The main flight was won by Adam Sinclair, who won the last of last year's series.
Adam made the most of a first round bye, then defeating Hazel Harper and John Rixon before despatching Barry Vasili in the final.
Barry had arrived there by getting past Ian Tarr, Steve Morris and Tim Line.
Ian took the consolation flight with wins over Rob Clarke and Stephen Little.
So Adam has a 20 points lead in the opening GP20 table, with Barry in second place.
There was also Premier League action.
Adam scored a Premier One victory over Stephen before the tournement, and a return match was tantalisingly adjourned at 8-8.
Premier Two Red leader Elias Hamati scored a win over Alan Joicey.
And Gary Plant continued his unbeaten run in Premier Three Green at the expense of Kev Lee.
A half reported result in this division also came to light. Gerald Whitehouse apparently won 11-8 last Friday, but didn't mention who his opponent was.
Rob owned up last night.
23/01/25: Sixteen in Wednesday action; James returns to good effect
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the third of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
For the third successive week Elias Hamati generously added a nice amount (£60 this time) to the tournament prize pot, and the added money has proved effective in stimulating interest.
This week James Newman -- an infrequent participant in our events these days -- took the main flight honours with victories over Ann Pocknell, Ian Anderson, Nick Barham and, in the final, Gerald Whitehouse.
Gerald had arrived there via a first round bye and victories over John Curran and Simon Tracy.
John took the consolation flight by beating Stephen Little, Elias and Chris Rogers.
The post-tournament jackpot, with stakes raised to £20 on Elias' suggestion, saw a win for Stephen, bringing some respite after a forlorn string of results since the new year arrived.
There was also some Premier League action online.
In Premier Two Blue Mark Dixon defeated Jon Organ.
And Simon Blinkhorn beat Mitch Tucker in Premier Three Yellow.
21/01/25: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Simon Tracy suffered a brace of Premier Two Blue defeats, going down to Chris Rogers and Mark Dixon.
In Premier Three Yellow Dom Verrall made an early move to the top of the league by pipping Mandy Macdonald.
And the Lamb Inn, Wantage, was the venue for Gary Plant's equally narrow win over Fred North.
21/01/25: Twenty-six in Monday action
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, twenty-two of them competitively and four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Thirteen of the twenty-two formed round robin groups of seven and six with 3-point matches the theme of the session -- the third of our Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
And Adam Sinclair and Chris Hughes were the group winners.
Ian Anderson's lead in the WGP table is reduced to three points by Adam.
There were five Premier League matches played.
Premier Two Blue was the most active, as it has been for most of the first twenty days of the competition, and every player in that division has played at least one match.
One of them -- Chris Rogers -- has played sixteen!
Chris narrowly defeated Jon Organ, while the division's other two winners were Kylie Hedges and Mark Dixon, with Simon Tracy and Robin Gunney their victims.
Pete Boxer is another eager to play his matches at the earliest opportunity, and he moved back to the top of Premier Three Green by beating Rob Clarke.
And Dom Verrall beat Mitch Tucker in Premier Three Yellow.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by three.
New players Oliver Smith and Ciara McGreavy played some thought provoking friendly matches, Ian getting welcome assistance on this occasion from Chris Lewis.
20/01/25: Sunday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Mark Dixon and Simon Tracy were winners in Premier Two Blue, over Matt Sharp and Chris Rogers.
In the parallel Red Division Dave Pym defeated Elias Hamati.
And Cliff Blofield moved to the top of Premier Three Green at the expense of his victim Pete Boxer.
19/01/25: Saturday's Premier League action
There were seven Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Chris Rogers won two Premier Two Blue encounters for the second successive day.
This time it was a double header against Mike Smith.
Jon Organ was also a Blue Division winner, narrowly defeating Simon Tracy.
In the parallel Red Division Andy Boysan and Ian Anderson shared the spoils of their double header.
And Gary Plant got his Premier Three Green campaign nicely under way by defeating both Cynthia Roberts and Pete Boxer.
19/01/25: Friday's Premier League action
Four Premier League matches were played on Friday.
Chris Rogers scored a brace of victories in Premier Two Blue, overcoming Kylie Hedges and Mark Dixon.
In the same division Steve Pickard beat Pearl Foster.
And Pete Boxer suffered his first Premier Three Green defeat, at the hands of Cliff Blofield.
19/01/25: John Rixon wins opening Handicap tournament
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, eleven of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the opening instalment of our 2025 Handicap Trophy series, sponsored as ever by Ed Turner.
John Rixon, who we had met for the first time a week previously, made the most of a 4 handicap which made him more than dangerous, given his level of competence.
And after a first round bye, he saw off Tim Line and Barry Vasili, before despatching Ian Tarr in the final.
His first two wins also netted him a pair of £10 bonuses.
Ed's determination to add a different slant to his sponsorship has resulted in the "Golden Zone".
At each Handicap Trophy event an opening match is drawn at random to be the subject of a £10 bonus for the winner, and the winner's next match attracts a similar bonus.
The two matches are highlighted on the draw sheet in gold (or a colour as close to gold as possible!).
Ian had come through the long part of the draw, defeating Jim Green, Steffen Nowak and Nick Barham.
Steffen took the consolation flight via wins over Rob Clarke and Jim.
So John has a 20 points lead in the first Handicap Trophy table.
There were also four Premier League matches played.
Dave Pym defeated Richard Owsley in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Three Green there was a win for Cynthia Roberts over Rosemary Whitehouse.
And Premier Three Yellow saw two results, Scott Wood beating Dom Verrall, while Barry Vasili's trip to Windmill Hill resulted in defeat by Mandy Macdonald.
15/01/25: Twenty-two in action as John Curran wins the latest Wednesday event
There were twenty-two players in action on Wednesday, sixteen of them to contest the second of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
Once again Elias Hamati generously adding a nice amount (£70 this time) to the tournament prize pot, and the added money is proving effective in stimulating interest.
The event once again featured a full draw of sixteen.
This week John Curran took the main flight honours with victories over Stephen Little, Elias Hamati, Kev Peters and, in the final, Ian Tarr.
Ian had begun to feel invincible in seven point knockout matches -- always a dangerous sentiment -- having won his last three such live tournaments.
And victories over Gaz Owen, Chris Hughes and Tim Line continued the run.
John proved to be a step too far for him in the final, however.
Ian Anderson took the consolation flight by beating Gaz, Nick Barham and Chris Rogers, and followed this by taking the post-tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League action online.
In Premier Two Blue there were wins for Michael Petrakas over Kylie Hedges and Jon Organ over Matt Sharp.
And Mitch Tucker scored his first competitive victory, defeating namesake Julian Tucker in Premier Three Yellow.
14/01/25: Tuesday's Premier Two action
There were five Premier Two matches played on Tuesday.
Chris Rogers continued his rapid start to the Blue Division season, losing to Kylie Hedges and Michael Petrakas before defeating Jon Organ.
And the Red Division saw Ann Pocknell score a brace of victories, over Alan Joicey and Ian Anderson.
13/01/25: Seventeen in Monday action
There were seventeen players in action on Monday, fifteen of them competitively and two at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Thirteen of the fifteen formed a single robin groups with DMP matches the theme of the session -- the second of our Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
And Ian Anderson took the honours, winning eleven out of twelve games, with Andrew Montgomery just one behind in second place.
Ian A moves into the lead in the WGP table, with Tim Line five points behind in second place.
One Premier Two Red match was played, leader Elias Hamati defeating Ian Hedges.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by just Kate Waldron, who was introduced to match play cubing.
12/01/25: Premier League weekend action
There were nine Premier League matches played over the weekend.
Michael Corbett began his first top flight campaign since 2009, taking on two of the division's previous champions, losing to Gaz Owen on Saturday and Cecilia Rogers on Sunday.
Premier Two Blue was the busiest division, Mark Dixon playing twice, defeating Nick Barham before losing to Jon Organ.
Dicky Biddle (over Chris Rogers at the Dumb Post) and Mike Smith (over Pearl Foster) were the division's other winners.
Two Premier Two Red pace setters met, Andy Boysan defeating Elias Hamati.
And Cynthia Roberts fitted in two Premier Three Green matches, succumbing to Cliff Blofield and Pete Boxer, who has started his maiden season really well.
11/01/25: Friday's Premier League round-up
There were four Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier Two Red Elias Hamati continued his promising start to the season with victory over Ian Hedges.
Michael Petrakas began his Premier Two Blue campaign by beating Chris Rogers.
Pete Boxer won again in Premier Three Green, Fred North his victim this time.
And the first match of the Premier Three Yellow season saw Marcel Bancroft beating Mitch Tucker.
10/01/25: Ian begins BGP title defence with a win
There were twelve players in action on Thursday at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the opening instalment of our 2025 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
The field of twelve included John Rixon, who appeared out of the blue to make a welcome competitive debut.
Ian Tarr took the main flight, defeating Steffen Nowak, Gaz Owen and Tim Line before overcoming Rob Clarke in the final.
Rob, a new Premier Three player, had beaten Hazel Harper and Steve Morris en route.
Hazel won the consolation flight, getting past Elias Hamati and Cynthia Roberts.
Having won the BGP title twice in succession, this was the ideal start to Ian's title defence, and he has a handy 50 point lead over Rob as this year's series gets under way.
09/01/25: Nineteen in Wednesday action as Elias boosts the online event
There were nineteen players in action on Wednesday, sixteen of them to contest the first of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
The decision to reinstate these events -- they were suspended back in August -- was due in no small measure to Elias Hamati's generosity in adding £80 to the tournament prize pot, and this is only the beginning of his plan.
Added money was proven to work, as a nicely symmetrical full draw of sixteen saw Kev Peters taking the main flight honours with victories over John Curran, Tim Line, Chris Rogers and, in the final, Ian Anderson.
Ian had arrived there by getting past Simon Tracy, Elias Hamati and Adam Sinclair.
Hazel Harper took the consolation flight by beating Stephen Little, Simon and Gerald Whitehouse.
Ian Tarr won a post-tournament jackpot.
The only other action was a significant one in Premier Two Red.
It was Stuart Mann's first taste of second tier Bristol league competition, after his previous 552 league matches had all been at the highest level.
And he began the season with a win over Ian Hedges.
07/01/25: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier One Gaz Owen defeated Stephen Little.
And in Premier Three Green Pete Boxer celebrated his league debut by beating Cynthia Roberts.
07/01/25: Twenty-six in action on the year's opening Monday
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, seventeen of them competitively and nine at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
The seventeen formed three round robin groups with 3-point matches the theme of the session -- the first of our slightly revamped Monday Winter Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Split into two groups of six and one of five, the group winners were Cynthia Roberts and Tim Line -- who each managed a clean sweep of wins in the larger groups -- and Ian Anderson in the group of five.
So Cynthia and Tim are the initial WGP leaders.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by eight others, including promising return visits by Isidoro Sorbello and Kate Waldron, and an equally promising debut appearance by Nicola A.
05/01/25: Sunday's Premier Two action
There were six matches played on Sunday, all in Premier Two.
In the Blue Division Chris Rogers suffered mixed fortunes in close matches, losing to Pearl Foster before defeating Steffen Nowak.
Steve Pickard and Dicky Biddle were also victors in that division, Mike Smith and Kylie Hedges their victims.
And Andy Boysan scored a brace of wins over Dave Pym in the Red Division.
05/01/25: Saturday's Premier Two action
There were three matches played on Saturday, all in Premier Two.
In the Red Division there were wins for Ann Pocknell (over Andy Boysan) and Elias Hamati (over Warner Solomon).
And Steve Pickard defeated Mark Dixon in the Blue Division.
03/01/25: Friday win for Cynthia
In the only action from Friday Cynthia Roberts scored a Premier Three Green victory over Cliff Blofield.
03/01/25: Ian wins last year's GP10 series
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, nine of them to contest the tenth and last of last year's GP10 tournaments at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.
The tournament had been postponed on the closure of our long-time casino venue, and was rearranged for Thursday to enable a fair conclusion to the series.
Ian Tarr went into the tournament with a near decisive lead over the only player in with a chance of overhauling him, Steffen Nowak.
However, as soon as the draw was made that possibility disappeared, as Steffen's bye deprived him of the possibility of gaining the 100 points he needed.
Ian and Steve Morris were the only two to avoid byes, and Ian's win was followed by further victories over Umut Bilge, Steffen and -- in the final -- Barry Vasili.
Barry had arrived in the final by defeating Hazel Harper and Tim Line.
Nick Barham took the consolation flight by beating Umut and Stephen Little.
So Ian's 95 point GP10 lead was stretched to to 130, having won three of the series.
Meanwhile, the 2025 Premier League sprung into action.
Gaz Owen's Premier One title defence didn't begin well when he suffered a whitewash at the hands of Adam Sinclair.
But Adam's early divisional lead didn't last long, as Tim scored a double success over Stephen at the Globe.
Chris Rogers lost no time in getting his Premier Two Blue season up and running, fitting in three matches.
Two narrow wins over Steve Pickard were followed by an emphatic loss to Dicky Biddle.
Elias Hamati beat Ann Pocknell in Premier Two Red.
And Gerald Whitehouse defeated Cynthia Roberts in Premier Three Green.
01/01/25: The first event of 2025 wraps up our 2024 competitions
After the customary seasonal break, Bristol Backgammon springs back into action on Thursday with the opening event of the year.
It's actually the final event of 2024, the postponed final leg of the GP10 series.
When we were between venues the December 5th event was a casualty, so this is to tie up the final loose end of 2024.
Thursdays will continue for the foreseeable future at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel, which served us well in December after the casino's closure.
31/12/24: Record Premier League entry of seventy-five!
The 2025 Bristol Premier League tables are in situ on the site.
The all time record entry of seventy-five players are arranged into a single division top tier (Premier One), a two division second tier (Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red), and a three division third tier (Premier Three Green, Premier Three Yellow and Premier Thre Purple).
The top two tiers have fourteen in each division, while in the third tier there are eleven in each.
Playing one another twice, that equates to a 26-match season in Premier One and Premier Two, and a 20-match season in Premier Three.
A third of the membership of the third tier are making their Bristol Premier League debuts.
Much has been made of the extraordinary 2024 season, which saw an astonishingly close top tier, with four top players -- former league champions Stuart Mann, Chris Rogers, Nick Barham and Andy Boysan -- all suffering relegation.
The division has increased in size this time with five taking their places, including one, Hemal Getalal, who is playing in the top flight for the first time.
A new feature of Premier Two this season will mean a promotion play-off for the two third placed players, and a survival play-off for the two fifth from bottom players.
So while the Bristol Backgammon league scene is flourishing, Director Ian Tarr faces challenges on several other fronts.
Details of forthcoming changes will be announced shortly.
24/12/24: Ten in Monday action; Gaz takes AGP title
There were ten players in action on Monday, seven of them competitively and three at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
The seven formed a single round robin group with 3-point matches the theme of the session -- the tenth and last of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix at the Heroes website.
Nick Barham was the winner with Scott Wood as runner-up, while only two of the four theoretical title contenders made it to the start line.
And since neither Gaz Owen nor Kev Peters did enough to add to their points tallies, the status quo at the top was maintained, with Gaz taking the title, Kev second, and Nick third.
Gaz thus won three of our four quarterly Monday titles this year.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was attended by Simon Dicken and Adam Sinclair, who gave Simon some valuable experience of facing a Premier One player.
20/12/24: Steve wins his own fizz!
There were twenty-three players in action at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel, bringing the curtain down on a year of Thursday competitions.
The tournament was the thirteenth incarnation of Steve's Christmas Fizz Tournament, and the event was as enjoyable as any of its predecessors, albeit tinged with sadness and shock at the news -- brought by his Weston-super-Mare friend Nick Barham -- of the passing of Tom Chapman.
After a spell of indifferent health, Tom suffered a fatal heart attack this week at the tender age of 50.
He will be remembered as an affable, if idiosyncratic, member of our community.
A jobbing gardener, he was into amateur dramatics and art, while in backgammon he was notably unafraid of using the doubling cube, and happily won his first ever tournament just three months ago.
R I P Tom.
The twenty-three tournament contestants fitted snugly into the area behind the bar, and the vibe was positive, with the customary format comprising 3-point matches all the way.
The opening phase, with three round robin groups of five and two of four, proceeded well, apart from the "Group of Death" -- a slow, tortuous one, as someone remarked.
Group winners -- Steve Morris, Jim Green, Gaz Owen, Derek Clew and Richard Owsley -- received their £15 cash rewards.
Thirteen progressed to the main knockout, ten to the consolation.
In the main flight Steve, Jim and Gaz were the seeds to receive byes to the quarter-finals, Steve and Gaz then making it all the way to the final.
And Steve -- the architect of this happy, traditional, seasonal event, where he provides various bottles of bubbly for the four finalists -- took the title.
Contrary to popular opinion, this was not the first time Steve had won one of his own bottles.
Back in 2016 he won the consolation flight, while he was runner-up in the main flight in 2019.
But this was the first occasion where he took the main prize.
Hemal Getalal was the consolation flight winner and Barry Vasili the runner-up.
The novel side issue this time was Gaz Owen's generous offer of a £50 bounty to anyone beating him during the tournament.
Barry took this in Gaz's opening group match -- nobly redirecting the amount to charity -- but three group matches and two in the main knockout passed without further impacting Gaz's wallet.
Then Steve took full advantage in the final.
17/12/24: Eighteen in Monday action; Natalie wins Brunel Trophy
There were eighteen players in action on Monday, fourteen of them competitively and four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
The day's major action was at lunchtime on Heroes, where Miles Farren and Natalie Singh fought out the eleventh and final round of the 2024 BrunelTrophy.
Miles went 4-0 ahead after the opening game, but that was as good as it got for him as Natalie scored her biggest success yet, having already finished in the top six of Premier One.
Her opponent, who may one day return to grace the Premier League, it was just one step too far after an incredible run of results.
Twelve played out the ninth and penultimate session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in a pair of six player 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Kev Peters and Adam Sinclair were the group winners.
AGP leader Gaz Owen was an also ran on this occasion, so Kev, Ian Anderson and Adam all retain varying degrees of hope as the title race reaches its conclusion next week.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was a productive session, with lots of matches and learning opportunities for Ceri Pierce, Kev Lee and Ed Collinge.
13/12/24: Ian wins December BGP tournament and confirms successful title defence
There were just seven players in action on Thursday at our new, possibly temporary, venue, the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel, to contest the twelfth and final instalment of our 2024 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Given the fresh new venue the turnout was a little disappointing, but next week's event should remedy that, and show the full potential of the venue to us and, just as importantly, the hotel management, who have certainly proved accommodating thus far.
Before the tournament the destiny of the Bristol Grand Prix title looked to be in Ian Tarr's hands.
And the low turnout confirmed that the BGP points available would be insufficient for second placed Tim Line to have any chance of overhauling Ian's points tally.
Ian then proceeded to take the main flight, defeating Steve Morris, Tim and then Nick Barham in the final.
Nick had arrived there with wins against Stephen Little and Hazel Harper.
Rob Clarke won the consolation flight, beating Hazel and Steve M.
Ian, having won four of the twelve events in the series, thus took the BGP title by 155 points from runner-up Tim, with Stephen a further 95 points behind in third.
He has also equalled Roland Herrera's record of four career BGP titles, and successfully defended the title he won last year.
2025 Bristol Masters qualification is almost complete.
The failure of any Feeder League contestant to breach the required 20 points threshold has enabled all eight BGP tournament winners to qualify.
So the only outstanding qualification place is that of this year's Brunel Trophy winner, who will be either Miles Farren or Natalie Singh.
10/12/24: Phil beats Phil in tier two championship play-off
The winners of Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red met online on Tuesday to decide the destiny of the outright Premier Two championship title.
And it was Blue Division's Phil Charlton who defeated Phil Doubtfire to win the crown.
He thus becomes the first player to win the divisional title three times.
His first win came in 2006, when there was a single Premier Two division, while his second success came in a 2012 play-off victory against Simon Baker.
10/12/24: Nineteen in Monday action
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, twelve of them competitively and seven at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
The twelve played out the eighth session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in a DMP round robin at the Heroes website.
Chris Hughes won the group, with John Curran in second place, while Nick Barham, in third, took a cut of the side pool.
Gaz Owen didn't have his best event, but still did enough to extend his leadership of the AGP table, moving twenty-one points ahead of second placed Kev Peters, although third placed Ian Anderson arguably poses a greater threat to the leadership since he has one more opportunity to add to his points tally before discards kick in.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, was a productive session, with lots of matches and learning opportunities for Simon Dicken, Titus Simen, Pete Boxer, Ceri Pierce and Kev Lee, not to mention Kate Waldron who was making her first appearance.
10/12/24: Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to host December Thursday tournaments
As the hunt for a permanent Thursday venue continues, the two remaining December Thursday events now have a host.
The Ibis Bristol Centre hotel in Explore Lane, just a stone's throw away from the now closed Rainbow Casino, will be the setting for this Thursday's final instalment of the 2024 Bristol Grand Prix event and next Thursday's fun finale to the season, Steve's Christmas Fizz tournament.
Director Ian Tarr is grateful to have received many suggestions for possible Thursday venues, this one having been proposed by Gerald Whitehouse.
06/12/24: Ian Hedges wins Premier Three title
The final of the Premier Three play-offs was played online on Friday.
And Green Division winner Ian Hedges defeated Purple Division winner Alan Joicey to take the overall Premier Three title.
04/12/24: Premier League entries flooding in
With seventeen days until the entry deadline, forty-six players have already committed themselves to the 2025 Premier League.
Director Ian Tarr is anticipating that number will rise to more than seventy for the first time ever.
03/12/24: Rainbow Casino closing at midnight, for good
Our Thursday venue, the Rainbow Casino, is closing for good at midnight on Wednesday.
While we knew it was almost inevitable, the suddenness of the announcement leaves us without a venue for our regular Thursday play a little sooner than we had envisaged, having had the privilege of playing there for almost nine years.
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr was this afternoon at the casino to retrieve the various items of equipment stored for us in their poker cupboard.
And he has today taken a few decisions:
- to postpone this Thursday's GP10 tournament until such time as a venue can be found. This final instalment of the GP10 series will be rescheduled to enable those in with a chance of taking the annual title one final stab at success;
- to endeavour to find a venue or venues for our December 12th and 19th events;
- to seek out a permanent Thursday venue for next year's events and for the future;
A new permanent venue would ideally mirror the attributes of the Rainbow.
A free of charge, dedicated playing space; unlimited playing time; free parking; central, easily accessible location; free tea, coffee and soft drinks; storage area for equipment.
If anyone can think of a venue which even comes close to offering these benefits, please contact Ian a s a p.
03/12/24: Eleven in Monday action
There were eleven players in action on Monday, seven of them competitively and four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
The seven played out the seventh session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in a 3-point round robin at the Heroes website.
Ian Anderson won the group.
Second placed Gaz Owen resumed the leadership of the AGP table, moving eleven points ahead of previous leader Kev Peters.
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, saw some absorbing matches involving Simon Dicken, Chris Lewis, new player Debby Gard and the host.
01/12/24: Scott takes Feeder League title
Along with the official end of the Premier League season when November passed, the end of the Feeder League season came too.
Which signalled a maiden title for Scott Wood, whose efficient negotiation of just four matches -- all victories -- took him to the league's summit.
Simon Dicken as runner-up and Julian Tucker as third placer completed the roll call of prize winners.
But all seven participants will be invited to join next year's Premier League.
29/11/24: Premier League pyramid formats reworked for the 2025 season and beyond
The criteria for populating the various divisions of the Premier League have been upgraded in time for the 2025 league season.
When, many years ago, the conditions were instigated, the provisions for higher numbers of entries were almost an afterthought, with little likelihood of their being used in the foreseeable future.
However, the system has stood up well to the test of time, having provided for up to 91 players in three tiers.
This year's competition began with 68 players in six divisions, and it appears probable that this number will rise in 2025.
And while the focus has been primarily on divisions of twelve or thirteen players, giving 22 or 24 fixtures per year, some divisions in recent seasons have comprised fourteen or even fifteen players.
This has proved successful, so the updated criteria are henceforward focussed on the premise that thirteen or fourteen players should now be the norm.
That means that the new criteria provide for up to 98 players, a number which should see us through the next two or three years at least, or until a fourth tier might be needed.
29/11/24: Alan through to Division Three play-off final
Friday's only action was the semi-final of the Premier Three play-offs.
As there are three third tier divisions, the championship play-offs are a three way affair, with the divisional champion having the best statistical record during the regular season -- Ian Hedges of the Green Division -- earning a bye to the final.
So the Yellow Division's Dicky Biddle and the Purple Division's Alan Joicey met today for the right to play Ian, and it was Alan who prevailed 11-6.
28/11/24: Cynthia wins Handicap tournament, but Hazel takes title
There were just nine players in action at the Rainbow Casino on Thursday to contest the ninth and final instalment of our 2024 Handicap Trophy series.
Hazel Harper went into the tournament with a 60 points lead in the HT table, and second placed Ian Tarr was given an outside chance of catching Hazel when drawn into the only first round match.
A win from there would have given Ian 100 points on top of his 25 points discarded, forcing Hazel to add to her points tally by winning two main flight matches.
Hazel was able to achieve that, although Ian's second round exit rendered that unnecessary, and her ultimate winning margin was a handsome 85 points.
With that title under her belt, Hazel will henceforward be a zero handicap player, as decreed by event sponsor Ed Turner.
While Hazel was beating Steffen Nowak and Andy Zographou en route to the main final, Cynthia Roberts was similarly eliminating Stephen Little and Steve Morris.
And Cynthia prevailed in the final.
Stephen took the consolation flight via wins over Ian and Barry Vasili.
28/11/24: Gaz is champion; Chris relegated
Is the Bristol Premier League the world's greatest league?
If not, please, somebody, provide the evidence.
The top flight reached a gripping finale on Thursday with the much anticipated double header between Simon Baker and Chris Rogers.
With both players desperate for a brace of victories -- for very different reasons -- the outcome, as foreshadowed in yesterday's article, saw both falling agonisingly short of their objectives.
The first of two extremely tight matches saw Chris's hopes of survival still alive, while Simon's title hopes were dashed.
But Simon's revenge saw Chris relegated, much to the relief of Neil Young.
So ends an astonishing campaign where so much sat in the balance with even a handful of matches remaining.
Gaz Owen has retained his title, and with five now under his belt has moved to within one of Stuart Mann's record haul.
But with just seven matches remaining Gaz had been haunted by the spectre of a maiden relegation, until a strong finish delivered him to the summit.
His triumph is a narrow one, given that second placed Jim Green, third placed Adam Sinclair and fourth placed Simon all finished level on points, separated only by points difference.
The nature of the league in this incredible season can best be illustrated by the fact that the margin between first and twelfth was just nine points, or three victories.
And the strength of the division can best be illustrated by the roll call of the relegated.
Stuart, six times a champion, will face second tier backgammon for the first time after an unbroken run of twenty-five seasons.
Chris, a UK team regular and until recently captain, was runner-up last season after two successive title wins.
Nick Barham was champion in 2017.
And Andy Boysan, who won the title with the all-time best record in 2022, completes the illustrious quartet.
In Premier Three Purple the regular league season curtain came down when Ben Crabb defeated Andrew Cobb twice in what was effectively a sixth place shoot-out.
Now only the second and third tier title play-offs, remain, and this year's Premier League is over.
With participation levels set to rise in 2025, who can wait for the new season?
But with invitations for the new season imminent, and close of entries as far away as December 21st, we will have to.
27/11/24: Jim misses out on league title
In the only Premier League match played on Wednesday, Adam Sinclair defeated Jim Green.
A win for Jim would have moved him back to the summit of Premier One.
The defeat means Gaz Owen, Jim and Adam all finish on 42 points, but in that order because of average points difference.
All that remains of the top flight season is a double header between Simon Baker and Chris Rogers.
A win apiece is of no use to either player, as Simon would fail to take the title and Chris would be relegated.
26/11/24: Tuesday's Premier League roundup
There were two Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Stuart Mann shrugged off his relegation from the top flight by defeating Tim Line in their final Premier One match.
The defeat was bad news for Tim, in that he has been ousted from the sixth and final UK Champions League place, having slipped below Natalie Singh on points difference.
And the Premier Two Blue season was brought to a close when Rosemary Whitehouse defeated Neil Edwards.
26/11/24: Andy, Stuart and Nick relegated; Gaz goes top; Nick wins Nackgammon title; Brunel goes to round eleven
There were twenty players in action on Monday, thirteen competitively and another seven at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Seven contested the eleventh and final session of our Monday Nackgammon Grand Prix in a 3-point Nackgammon round robin at the Heroes website.
Gaz Owen was the group winner, his PR being decisive over second and third placed Adam Sinclair and Nick Barham.
But Nick did just enough to hold on at the top of the NGP table, taking the annual title by a single point with Gaz in second place.
It's more than possible that the Nackgammon sessions will be discontinued next year, as numbers have been down when compared to the other Monday offerings.
Meanwhile there were other momentous issues resolved.
Andy Boysan needed a brace of emphatic wins to stand a chance of top flight survival, and this no doubt contributed to the emphatic defeat he suffered at the hands of Gaz, who now sits atop the division after completing his programme.
Andy's subsequent defeat by Neil Young at the Arnos Manor Hotel was thus more important for Neil, whose win confirmed the relegations of both Nick and Stuart Mann.
The remaining Premier One issues are now distilled into three of the four outstanding matches.
Gaz's win has now ruled Adam out of the title equation, as only Jim Green and Simon Baker can now overhaul Gaz.
Jim's task is to defeat Adam, while Simon needs a brace of wins over Chris Rogers.
Should both players achieve those objectives Jim would prevail, as his points difference cannot be matched by Simon's.
The Baker-Rogers double header is also the crucial factor at the foot of the table, where Chris needs to win both to thwart Neil's impressive escape.
In Premier Three Purple Simon Blinkhorn defeated Richard Davies, thus rounding off their debut Premier League campaigns.
The tenth round of the Brunel Trophy was played, and Miles Farren's epic undefeated run has come to an end.
Natalie Singh's win means that both she and Miles have one life remaining, so the competition moves on to an unprecedented eleventh round, where the destiny of the title will become clear at last!
Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr with the welcome assistance of James Timoney, was one of the best to date.
Three new players have passed Ian's rigorous vetting process and will be Premier League debutants next year.
Stepping up to the challenge will be Ceri Pierce, Pete Boxer and Mitch Tucker.
24/11/24: Saturday's Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Gaz Owen scored another Premier One win to keep the pressure on the other three title contenders.
His victim Andy Boysan now needs wins from his final two matches to stand a chance of staying up, and is even then at the mercy of other results.
The other match brought the Premier Three Yellow season to a close, Caroline Boulton defeating James Timoney.
22/11/24: Hazel wins November Speedgammon Grand Prix event, Ian takes title, Hemal promoted
There were nine players in action on Thursday, seven of them to contest the eighth and final session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Rainbow Casino.
The seven formed a single round robin group, thus obviating the need for a knockout phase.
Hazel Harper won five of her six matches to win the competition, Ian Tarr shading second place from Steffen Nowak on the head-to-head tie break.
As far as the annual SGP title went, there were two realistic contenders going into the event.
Barry Vasili and Ian were level on points, but Barry took precedence because he had entered one tournament fewer than Ian.
Both players had a potential discard of 40 points, so it was a matter of winning more than two matches during the event for either player to add to their points tallies.
Barry had an unhappy event, losing every match until -- ironically -- beating Ian in their final match.
By that time Ian had already won four times, so the title was his.
At least Barry had the satisfaction of preventing a tournament win for Ian.
For Ian, who also recently won the Bristol Open Speedgammon title, this was the sixth title success in the fourteen year history of the event.
Meanwhile there was an important Premier Two Blue match played online.
And Hemal Getalal's defeat of Warner Solomon clinched the second promotion slot for him at Stephen Little's expense.
21/11/24: Wednesday's league round-up
There were nine league matches played on Wednesday.
Gaz Owen kept his hopes of claiming the Premier One title alive by defeating Simon Baker, who will now need to win both remaining matches to also have a chance.
With four results Premier Two Blue was busiest.
Champion Phil Charlton led his match with Simon Tracy only at the end to complete a season of remarkable consistency.
Chris Hughes began the day needing two wins to stand a chance of survival, but defeats at the hands of Mike Smith and Hazel Harper consigned him to the third tier.
And Jon Organ rounded off his best season yet with a narrow win over Ian Tarr, whose season was statistically his worst ever.
Paul Watts defeated Eamonn Reay, the final result of the Premier Two Red season.
James Timoney scored a Premier Three Yellow victory against already promoted Matt Sharp.
And Scott Wood, with a brace of wins over Dom Verrall, soared to the summit of the Feeder League.
19/11/24: Tuesday's Premier League round-up; Alan wins Purple Division
There were four Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Alan Joicey and Steve Pickard met for their final Premier Three Purple match, which was effectively a play-off for the divisional title.
Alan was the winner, taking the verdict on a sixteen cube, and will now enter the Premier Three play-off drama.
Otherwise the focus was on the lower half of Premier Two Blue.
Mike Smith and Robin Gunney scored valuable wins in their respective bids to escape the drop, Mike defeating Hazel Harper -- whose relegation is now confirmed -- while Robin was beating Simon Tracy.
The crucial matches now involve Chris Hughes.
With Neil Edwards, Rosemary Whitehouse and now Hazel consigned to the drop, Chris currently occupies the fourth relegation slot.
He will probably need to defeat both Mike and Hazel to reach safety.
The evening's other match saw Jon Organ beating Rosemary.
19/11/24: Seventeen in Monday action
There were seventeen players in competitive action on Monday, although the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans was cancelled, thanks to an injury to the host.
Eleven contested the sixth session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Ian Anderson in the group of six and Kev Peters in the group of five.
In AGP leader Gaz Owen's globe trotting absence, Kev has taken over the lead.
There were three league matches played, two of them with particular significance -- both with twists of fate at the death.
Stephen Little led 10-8 against Robin Gunney in a match where victory would have sealed his promotion from Premier Two Blue, but Robin recovered to give himself a real chance of avoiding the drop, while Stephen must now await Hemal Getalal's final match, where a Hemal win would clinch second place.
In Premier Two Red Paul Watts had the clearest of objectives -- win his final two matches to claim the second promotion place at the expense of Michael Corbett.
And he too led 10-8 against Dave Pym before the tables turned.
So Paul misses out, Michael is back in the top flight for the first time since 2009, and Dave -- just like Robin -- now has the chance of preserving his second tier status, with Eamonn Reay the threat.
Meanwhile Fred North and Simon Hughes played their final match of the Premier Three Yellow season, Fred prevailing.
18/11/24: This Monday's clinic cancelled!
This Monday's Ian's Backgammon Clinic is cancelled.
Ian has suffered a pulled calf muscle and will be resting it for a couple of days at least.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
17/11/24: Michael goes second at the expense of Michael!
There were two results on Sunday, both in Premier Two Red.
Ben Crowden ended his season with matches against Pearl Foster and Michael Corbett, who were also finishing their campaigns.
Pearl and Michael were the winners.
Pearl's campaign ends in the near certainty of safety in the second tier -- unless Dave Pym wins his final match 11-0, in which case Pearl's fate would depend on a comparison with the record of the fifth bottom player in Premier Two Blue.
Ben is in the bottom four, but all is not yet lost, as a defeat for Dave by a margin wider than 11-9 would elevate Ben to fifth from bottom.
For Michael it's a far more optimistic scenario, as he has pushed Michael Petrakas into third place, and will gain promotion unless Paul Watts can defeat both Dave and Eamonn Reay.
17/11/24: Big win for Jim
There was just one result from Saturday.
And Jim Green's victory over Cecilia Rogers has shortened the odds against him taking the coveted Premier One crown.
Cecilia finishes -- like most of this year's contenders, it seems -- amongst a congested mid table.
But the fourteenth win of Jim's campaign, means that only three are now in a position to overhaul him.
Simon Baker, who has three to play, has the best chance, but will need to score two more wins than Jim can manage in his only remaining match.
Adam Sinclair can surpass Jim's record, but when the two meet in their final match only a whitewash victory would be good enough for Adam, while 11-1 would see them level and facing a play-off.
The other contender is Gaz Owen, who needs to win all three of his outstanding matches while relying on Jim to lose.
Three wins for Simon, however, would eclipse all contenders, no matter what.
15/11/24: Friday's Premier League round-up
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
Phil Charlton may already be champion of Premier Two Blue, but there is no let up as he completes his fixtures.
His narrow victory over Ian Tarr stretches his lead to twelve points.
And Steve Pickard's defeat of Mark Dixon moved him to the top of Premier Three Purple.
Steve and second placed Alan Joicey each have one match remaining, and it's the same one.
Whoever wins will take the divisional title.
15/11/24: Steffen wins for the second Thursday running
There were ten players in action on Thursday at the Rainbow Casino, nine of them to contest the eleventh instalment of our 2024 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.
Pre-tournament Jon Organ thwarted Stephen Little's attempt to clinch the second Premier Two Blue promotion slot.
After that narrow defeat Stephen can still confirm his elevation by winning his final match.
If he doesn't, Hemal Getalal can leapfrog him with a win in his.
In the tournament Steffen Nowak was the main flight winner, defeating Hazel Harper, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Simon Tracy.
Simon had arrived there by getting past Ian Tarr and Stephen.
Steffen is currently on a roll, having won the previous week's GP10 event.
Cynthia Roberts took the consolation flight with wins over Hazel, Barry Vasili and Ian.
Ian's BGP points table lead over second placed Tim Line has reduced to 85 points, with just one tournament remaining.
Only second placed Tim can overhaul Ian, but he will need to win that final tournment to stand a chance.
Steffen must wait to find out whether or not he qualifies for the 2025 Bristol Masters.
13/11/24: Wednesday league action
There were eight league matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One Adam Sinclair's victory over Stuart Mann kept his slim title chance alive while pushing Stuart perilously close to a first ever relegation.
Meanwhile Phil Charlton is champion of Premier Two Blue with two matches to spare after beating Neil Edwards from 0-7 in arrears.
In the same division Simon Tracy's defeat of Warner Solomon extinguished Warner's chance of claiming the second promotion slot, while Mike Smith's defeat by Rosemary Whitehouse means he is not yet safe from the drop.
In Premier Two Red Paul Watts retained his chance of overhauling second placed Michael Petrakas after his victory over Eamonn Reay while Ben Crowden beat Gerald Whitehouse.
Eamonn and Ben are in the thick of the survival battle.
Mark Dixon can no longer take the Premier Three Purple title after losing to rival Alan Joicey, who is now top.
And Scott Wood beat Dom Verrall in the Feeder League.
12/11/24: Michael beaten, so can only wait
The only result from Tuesday was an important one in Premier Two Red.
Steffen Nowak and Michael Petrakas played out their final match of the season, which had more riding on it for Michael than for Steffen.
Steffen finishes in a respectable top half berth, but the defeat was bad news for Michael, who can now only wait for the closing results of Michael Corbett and Paul Watts, each of whom has the chance to claim the second promotion slot off Michael P.
12/11/24: Nineteen in Monday action; Matt promoted
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, fifteen competitively, including two of the six at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Seven contested the fifth session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in a DMP round robin at the Heroes website.
Alan Joicey won the group, although Kev Peters was the side pool winner.
Kev has cut the AGP lead of the absent Gaz Owen to sixteen points.
There were five league matches played, plus yet another late reported result from Saturday.
That was Simon Hughes' narrow victory over Fred North in Premier Three Yellow.
And Simon added three more Monday victories, one over already champion Dicky Biddle and a brace against Kylie Hedges, who has just fallen short of promotion after a very creditable season.
Kylie's defeats have confirmed Matt Sharp in that third promotion place, adding to his Feeder League title win last year.
Ben Crabb defeated Simon Blinkhorn in Premier Three Purple.
And at Sportsmans Kev Lee scored a win over Titus Simen in this year's Feeder League.
Also present at Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, were three first timers.
To call Alan Papier a new player is in fact a lie, but his only previous visit came nearly twenty-three years ago!
Bristol Uni student Dan Buchanan arrived for the first time, and if the surname seems familiar, it should.
Dan's father is Blaine Buchanan -- now a Taunton resident -- who was one of the ten founder members of the Bristol Premier League.
Also there was Jacob Milner, a visitor to the area from North Wales.
The seeds have been planted in Jacob's mind regarding starting a group where he lives, something typical of the wider remit of the Clinic.
11/11/24: Matt on the brink after Saturday result revealed
Another hitherto unreported result from Saturday has emerged.
And Matt Sharp's narrow victory over Caroline Boulton has moved him to the brink of claiming the third Premier Three Yellow promotion slot.
10/11/24: Michael stays in contention
There was just one match played on Sunday.
And the result report came hand in hand with another which occurred the day before.
The matches were effectively a slightly spreadeagled Premier Two Red double header.
And Michael Corbett's brace of wins over Ismail Yilmaz ensured that he remains in contention for the division's second promotion slot.
Michael Petrakas is the current incumbent of second place, and he can go a long way towards cementing that place by winning his final match.
In that scenario only a run in of three victories by Paul Watts would threaten him.
But should he lose he would be vulnerable to the challenges of both Paul and Michael C.
10/11/24: Natalie into Brunel Trophy round ten
There were two matches played on Saturday.
The ninth round of the Brunel Trophy saw Reece Hodges pitted against Natalie Singh in the only match of the round, since the competition had only three survivors.
This was a repeat of their round eight meeting, where Natalie won.
And the result was the same this time too.
So Reece is eliminated, finishing third, leaving Natalie and Miles Farren as the last man and woman standing.
And because Miles has two lives remaining and Natalie just the one, the pair will need to meet either once or twice to decide the destiny of the title.
Meanwhile in Premier Three Purple Richard Davies scored a victory over Andrew Cobb.
08/11/24: Steffen wins GP10 tournament
There were twelve players in action on Thursday, ten of them to contest the ninth of the year's ten GP10 tournaments at the casino.
Steffen Nowak was the main flight winner, defeating Tim Line, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Cynthia Roberts.
Cynthia had arrived in the final via victories over Hazel Harper and Rob Clarke.
Tim took the consolation flight by beating Stephen Little and Steve Morris.
Steffen's win has reduced Ian's GP10 lead to 95 points, and with just one session remaining only a further tournament win with four victories for Steffen can wrest the title from Ian's grasp.
There was also a Premier League match played online.
Cliff Blofield rounded off his Premier Three Yellow season with a win over Caroline Boulton.
06/11/24: Jim misses chance to extend lead
There were three Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
The Pump House played host to a crucial top flight encounter.
Neil Young defeated league leader Jim Green, and while Jim is still top, second placed Simon Baker now has a match in hand.
Neil needed the victory to keep his survival chances alive.
Alan Joicey beat Simon Blinkhorn to join Premier Three Purple leader Steve Pickard on 45 points.
And in Premier Three Yellow Matt Sharp's defeat of Fred North moved him into the promotion bracket at Kylie Hedges' expense.
05/11/24: Hemal keeps slim promotion hopes alive
In the only action on Tuesday Hemal Getalal defeated Chris Hughes in Premier Two Blue.
While Stephen Little remains clear favourite to join Phil Charlton in promotion to the top flight, Hemal can still overhaul him, although he needs all three relevant outstanding results to go his way.
For Chris, however, the priorities are different.
He is still not clear of the spectre of relegation, which could happen either with a bottom four finish or a fifth bottom finish with an inferior statistical record to the equivalent player in Premier Two Red.
05/11/24: Fifteen in Monday action
There were fifteen players in action on Monday, thirteen competitively, including two of the four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Nine contested the fourth session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Group winners were Kev Peters in the group of five and Gaz Owen in the group of four.
Gaz has extended his lead in the AGP table to thirty points, with Kev now second.
There were two league matches played.
Steffen Nowak defeated Ismail Yilmaz in Premier Two Red, a result which rules Ismail out of the promotion race.
And at Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, there were four present, two of whom -- Simon Dicken and Titus Simen -- took advantage of the opportunity to play a Feeder League match.
Simon's win moved him to the top of the league, and the race is now on to win enough points to qualify for next year's Bristol Masters.
Ian played some friendly games with Simon Griffiths.
04/11/24: Brighton's Tim Parfitt wins Bristol Open
The eleventh Bristol Open reached its conclusion on Sunday.
Despite the attendance being a little lower than in previous years, the event was a resounding success, thanks to the outstanding Tournament Direction of Tim Line and the assistance of Hazel "Perpetual Motion" Harper. Not to mention the IT side of the operation, undertaken superbly once again by Manchester's Mark Calderbank.
The main prize, the Masters category, went to Brighton's Tim Parfitt, who defeated Julian Minwalla in a close and entertaining final.
Reigning champion Gaz Owen didn't have his best weekend, exiting early, while Bristol's highest finisher was Elias Hamati in equal sixth place.
The Intermediates category saw total domination from the home players, with Reinhold Heinlein, who lives in Fishponds but was totally unknown to our community, taking the title, Alan Joicey second, Phil Doubtfire third, and Steffen Nowak equal fourth.
The Friday Warmup was won by Italy's Walter Busato, with Dan Rovira runner-up. The two finalists had got past Stephen Little and Ian Tarr in the semis.
The Super Jackpot had just nine entrants, and saw Emad Salib defeat Neculai Axinte in the final. Adam Sinclair was a semi-finalist.
Ian won the Speedgammon, albeit with a couple of strokes of good fortune.
The schedule allowed for eight heats, with the winners of each progressing to the grand final.
However there was only time for six, so this meant byes for two of the heat winners, and Ian was one of the lucky two.
Then, having made it to the final, his opponent, Cat Bucur, had to leave for home, so the players agreed a split of the prize money, while Ian took the title by default.
The Tombstone Trophy, for those with no further interest in the two main events come Sunday morning, saw a split between Will Cockerell from the Masters and Phil Tutchings from the Intermediates.
The Consulting Doubles, with 16 pairs, featured team "Chaos", a k a Gerald and Rosemary Whitehouse, who made it to the final.
The DMP shoot out with rebuys saw Warner Solomon defeat himself in the semi-finals before moving on to win the final.
And an emotional Warner was voted "Spirit of the Event".
The winners (Bristol players are in BLOCK CAPITALS):
MASTERS (43 players):
1st: Tim Parfitt; 2nd: Julian Minwalla; 3rd: Chris Jones; 4th=: Sean Jones, Paul King.
Intermediates (30):
1st: REINHOLD HEINLEIN; 2nd: ALAN JOICEY; 3rd: PHIL DOUBTFIRE; 4th=: Aydin Kolcak, STEFFEN NOWAK.
SUPER JACKPOT (9):
1st: Emad Salib; 2nd: Neculai Axinte.
SpeedGammon (48, including rebuys):
1st: IAN TARR; 2nd: Cat Bucur (defaulted).
Friday Warm-up (43):
1st: Walter Busato; 2nd: Dan Rovira; 3rd=: STEPHEN LITTLE, IAN TARR.
Tombstone Trophy (Last Chance) (42):
1st (Masters: 26): Will Cockerell; 2nd: Cat Bucur; 1st (Intermediates: 16): Phil Tutchings; 2nd: Fraya Dravern.
DMP (64, including multiple rebuys) :
1st: WARNER SOLOMON.
"Spirit of the Event": WARNER SOLOMON.
Most match results are browseable at Mark Calderbank's excellent site.
03/11/24: Stephen and Robin closer to sealing their respective fates
Stephen Little and Robin Gunney found the time between Bristol Open involvement to fit in a Premier Two Blue encounter.
And Stephen's win moved him closer to claiming that second promotion slot, while Robin's second tier survival is now looking precarious.
03/11/24: Bristol Open continues: Saturday news
The Bristol Open got into full swing on Saturday.
Notable news from a Bristol perspective:
In the Masters there are no Bristol players in the last eight of the main bracket, but Elias Hamati and Ian Tarr still retain hopes of taking the title via the fighters bracket.
The only two players remaining in the main bracket of the Intermediates are both from Bristol -- one we have known for a long time, Steffen Nowak, and one we were unaware of, Reinhold Heinlein.
One of them will win the main bracket to fight for the title with the fighters bracket winner, where the loser will join Phil Doubtfire and Alan Joicey.
Steffen and Stephen Little are still awaiting their quarter-final of the Friday Warm-up.
The Whitehouses -- Gerald and Rosemary -- have made it to the final of the Consulting Doubles.
And Ian is one win away from reaching the final heat of the Speedgammon.
01/11/24: Bristol Open begins: Friday news
The opening events of the Bristol Open saw a few Bristol players making good progress.
The Friday Warm-up had 43 players participating, and by close of play the field had been reduced to eight.
In the quarter-finals Stephen Little must meet Steffen Nowak, so at least one of our number will get to the last four.
Ian Tarr has also made it to the last eight.
And in the nine player Super Jackpot Adam Sinclair has reached the semi-finals.
Saturday will see the main events -- for Masters and Intermediates -- get well under way.
01/11/24: Bristol Open: the fun starts today
Friday marks the beginning of this year's Bristol Open.
And there's still time, right up to Saturday morning, to get involved in Bristol's biggest event of the year.
Alongside final preparations for the event director Tim Line and his trusty assistant Hazel Harper, there will be some preliminary action on Friday afternoon, with satellites and possibly Speedgammon.
There's the complimentary buffet at 6pm, followed by the traditional warm-up tournament and the start of the Super Jackpot.
And Saturday sees the main events -- for both Masters and Intermediates -- move into full swing.
News will appear here if I get the time between sleeping, eating and playing the great game!
01/11/24: Adam wins GP20 event, Gaz takes the title
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday at the casino to contest the eighth and final instalment of the year's GP20 series.
The field, a handy sixteen, was bolstered by a few visiting players limbering up for the weekend's big event, and there were Bristol Backgammon debuts for Italy's Walter Busato, Melbourne's Pollyanna Whitehouse, Dunbar's Derek Nisbet, and Bridgwater's Rob Clarke.
Adam Sinclair was the main flight winner, defeating Steve Morris, Hazel Harper, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Rosemary Whitehouse.
Rosemary had arrived there via victories over Gerald Whitehouse, Stephen Little and Walter.
The consolation flight saw a rare occurrence in the final, when Gerald and South Molton's Jules Smith reached 5-all before deciding not only to split the prize money but also to call a halt to the match at that score.
This meant foregoing GP20 points, but since the series was drawing to a close and neither player was in contention for honours, Director Ian Tarr decided to waive tradition and not insist upon a proper conclusion.
Gaz Owen was absent -- no doubt in preparation for his title defence over the weekend -- but his GP20 lead of ninety points over second placed Ian remained intact as none of the contenders even for second place was able to alter the top standings.
29/10/24: Ten in Monday action
There were ten players in action on Monday, seven competitively and another three at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Five contested the tenth session of our Monday Nackgammon Grand Prix in a 3-point Nackgammon round robin at the Heroes website.
Since players inevitably vote with their feet, there is a distinct possibility that the equivalent November tournament will signal the end of the NGP.
Nick Barham was the group winner, and has moved 25 points ahead of the absent Gaz Owen in the NGP table.
There was just one Premier League match played, and the award for the first Premier League division to complete this season goes to Premier Three Green after Andy Zographou defeated Mandy Macdonald.
At Ian's Backgammon Clinic, hosted by Ian Tarr, Alon Shaltiel made his first visit, and played some enjoyable games with Kev Lee and Ian.
27/10/24: Sunday results round-up
There were three matches played on Sunday, including two in Premier Two Red.
Phil Doubtfire and Ed Turner rounded off their respective campaigns in contrasting styles.
While Phil's late surge has propelled him from mid table to the divisional title, Ed's season has petered out after a very strong start to the season.
And today's results served only to emphasise those trends.
Phil scored his seventh successive victory, denting Ben Crowden's efforts to pull out of relegation trouble.
Whereas Ed was suffering a whitewash in his vital meeting with Michael Petrakas, who has moved into the second promotion slot.
Ed can no longer win the automatic promotion that had seemed even a probability not too long ago, although Michael is still catchable by any of Ismail Yilmaz, Paul Watts or Michael Corbett.
The other match saw the completion of the eighth round of the Brunel Trophy, with Reece Hodges falling to his first defeat in this year's competition against Natalie Singh.
This leaves three players progressing to round nine -- Reece and Natalie with one life apiece, while Miles Farren still retains both of his.
Since all three players have received a single bye, the ninth round bye goes to the player with the best record, so Miles will progress to round ten to face the winner of the Reece-Natalie rematch.
25/10/24: Ian wins October Speedgammon Grand Prix event, but Barry still heads the table
There were just seven players in action on Thursday to contest the seventh session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Rainbow Casino.
The seven formed a single round robin group, thus obviating the need for a knockout phase.
Ian Tarr and Tim Line each won five of their six matches, Ian taking first place by virtue of a marginally superior points difference to claim his ninth Thursday tournament win of the year.
But he may well have cause to regret his single match loss.
He and Barry Vasili have been dominating the SGGP season from the start, and only Tim has the slenderest of chances to break into the top two places.
And when Ian lost to Barry by timing out, he effectively forewent the opportunity to take a 30 points lead into November's SGGP finale.
As things now stand, however, the two are level on points, but Barry holds the significant tie-break advantage of having contested one tournament fewer than Ian.
23/10/24: Bristol Open registrations up to eighty
Registrations for this year's Bristol Open have reached eighty.
And with just over a week to go there must be a chance that entries will move into three figures.
23/10/24: Gerald defeats Pearl
The only match reported on Wednesday was a Premier Two Red meeting between Pearl Foster and Gerald Whitehouse.
Gerald, already consigned to relegation, scored the win, which sucks Pearl deeper into the battle to escape the drop.
22/10/24: Eleven in Monday action
There were eleven players in action on Monday.
Nine of those contested the third session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Ian Anderson won the group of five while Gaz Owen did likewise in the group of four.
And Gaz's AGP lead is now up to twenty points.
Meanwhile the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic was quieter than the previous week, with Titus Simen playing some friendly matches against Director Ian Tarr.
20/10/24: Neil wins Irish Open
Four Bristol Premier League players ventured across the water to Dun Laoghaire for the 32nd Irish Open at the weekend.
It's another of those tournaments which professes to be "open", but in fact is only open to the first sixty-four players to sign up.
Nevertheless it holds a proud place as one of the highlights of the backgammon year in these islands.
The main event saw the 64 whittled down by means of a Swiss Format eliminator to Sunday's last sixteen, and all four of our representatives made it that far.
Dicky Biddle and Kev Peters got no further, while Warner Solomon made it to the last eight.
But Neil Young made it all the way to the final where he triumphed over Daniel Lynch to score the greatest title win of his career.
Bristol's successes didn't end there, however.
The Friday Warmup competition saw Kev and Warner reach the final, where Kev prevailed.
Neil follows in the footsteps of two previous Bristol representatives who won the Irish Open title -- John Slattery in 2004, and Stuart Mann in 2020.
19/10/24: Ben can still escape
Things were looking bleak for Ben Crowden in terms of Premier Two Red survival, when he lost twelve of his first sixteen matches.
But Saturday's victory over Pearl Foster was his fourth in succession, and he now has a realistic chance of staying up.
Whereas Pearl, who has been comfortably in mid table for most of the season, has slipped uncomfortably close to the dotted lines.
18/10/24: Ian wins Handicap tournament, but Hazel closes on title
There were just six players in action on Thursday to contest the eighth and penultimate instalment of our 2024 Handicap Trophy series at the Rainbow Casino.
The low turnout prompted a switch to round robin format for the second time this season, although interestingly Director Ian Tarr was the only player to contest both.
And Ian was the tournament winner with four wins from his five matches, edging out Hazel Harper on the points difference tie-break.
Hazel's points tally was enough to extend her HT lead to 60 points, with Ian now in second place.
Taking into account discards, it will take something extraordinary to stop Hazel winning the title.
16/10/24: Gerald defeats Ed
There was just one match played on Wednesday.
And Ed Turner's defeat by Gerald Whitehouse leaves the Premier Two Red promotion door open for four of Ed's pursuers.
One of Ed, Michael Petrakas, Ismail Yilmaz, Paul Watts and just possibly Michael Corbett will be accompanying divisional champion Phil Doubtfire into the top flight.
Meanwhile Gerald's recent run of form has come a little too late to give him a chance of second tier survival.
15/10/24: Tuesday results roundup; Frank promoted
There were three matches played on Tuesday.
Kev Peters suffered defeat in the eighth round of the Brunel Trophy at the hands of the unbeaten Miles Farren.
Miles proceeds to the ninth round, while Kev is eliminated with both lives lost.
Warner Solomon whitewashed Hazel Harper in Premier Two Blue, leaving Hazel with the slimmest of chances to escape relegation.
Warner and Hemal Getalal are now the only players with a realistic chance of overhauling Stephen Little for the second promotion slot, although Stephen can put matters beyond doubt with two wins from his final three matches.
And the exciting finale of the Premier Three Green promotion race ended when Barry Vasili's last ditch effort to overtake Frank Jones for the third place foundered on defeat by the already promoted Ian Anderson.
15/10/24: Twenty-one in Monday action
There were twenty-one players in action on Monday.
Ten of those contested the second session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in a single DMP round robin at the Heroes website.
Gaz Owen and Nick Barham finished first and second, separated only by PR.
And Gaz has opened up a twelve point lead in the AGP table.
Meanwhile the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic was the busiest yet, with eleven players enjoying some action, which included two Feeder League matches -- Dom Verrall winning both, at the expense of Aditya Narayanan and Titus Simen.
And there was a crucial Premier Two Blue meeting online, where Warner Solomon's defeat of Hemal Getalal keeps Warner in promotion contention while denting Hemal's chances.
11/10/24: Chris wins October BGP event
There were thirteen players in action on Thursday, eleven of them to contest the tenth instalment of our 2024 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series at the Rainbow Casino.
Chris Rogers was the main flight winner, defeating Steffen Nowak, Steve Morris and -- in the final -- Yuri Cherkasenko.
Yuri had arrived there by getting past Gaz Owen and Tim Line.
Ian Tarr took the consolation flight with wins over Cynthia Roberts, Hazel Harper and Steffen.
Ian's BGP points table lead over second placed Tim Line holds firm at exactly 100 points, with two tournaments remaining.
One Premier League match was played.
In Premier Two Blue Warner Solomon defeated Neil Edwards.
09/10/24: Barry sets up dramatic finale
There were two Premier League match played on Tuesday.
Ben Crowden defeated Dave Pym in Premier Two Red, and can still escape the drop.
Dave, however, now needs to win his final match to stand a chance of staying up.
Frank Jones had the opportunity to clinch the third promotion place in Premier Three Green.
Victory over Barry Vasili or even a narrow defeat would have done it for him.
Barry's 11-5 success, however, has given him the chance to overtake Frank at the death.
A win by 11-9 or better over the already promoted Ian Anderson in their final match would see Barry take that vital third place.
08/10/24: Seventeen in Monday action
There were seventeen players in action on Monday.
Twelve of those contested the opening session of our Monday Autumn Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Split into two groups of six, the winners were Gaz Owen and Adam Sinclair, who jointly take the early lead in the AGP table.
And the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic was attended by five players, who enjoyed some thought provoking action.
04/10/24: Ian wins GP10 tournament
There were eleven players in action on Thursday, nine of them to contest the eighth of the year's ten GP10 tournaments at the casino.
Ian Tarr was the main flight winner, defeating Cynthia Roberts, Barry Vasili and Steve Morris, who had arrived in the final via victories over Nick Barham and Steffen Nowak.
Tim Line took the consolation flight by beating Yashar Habibi and Cynthia.
Ian's GP10 lead has increased to 115 points, with Tim in second place.
There was also a Premier League match played online.
Richard Owsley rounded off his Premier Two Blue season with a win against Neil Edwards.
02/10/24: Matt still on track
In the only Premier League match played on Wednesday, Matt Sharp defeated Cliff Blofield.
The result keeps Matt on course for promotion from Premier Three Yellow.
01/10/24: Adam clings on to outside chance
In the only Premier League match played on Tuesday, Adam Sinclair defeated Natalie Singh.
The result keeps Adam in the Premier One title race, albeit with only an outside chance.
For Natalie it was the end of her first season in the top flight, which she has come through well with a mid table finish.
01/10/24: Five penalised at the September 30th checkpoint
The September 30th Premier League checkpoint has passed and there were five players penalised.
This particular checkpoint is the last at which a player can be expunged from the league, and thankfully all players avoided that fate.
In Premier Three Yellow Simon Hughes failed to claw back the three penalty points he incurred at the July checkpoint and incurred two more this time.
Matt Sharp incurred a single point penalty.
Others to incur fresh penalties -- all of which can be clawed back by finishing the season on time -- were Ben Crowden (three points in Premier Two Red), Warner Solomon and Neil Edwards (two and one points respectively in Premier Two Blue).
All five players have incurred permanent penalties to their points difference, a special feature of this final checkpoint of the season.
01/10/24: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in action on Monday, seven competitively and another seven at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Five contested the ninth session of our Monday Nackgammon Grand Prix in a 3-point Nackgammon round robin at the Heroes website.
Nick Barham was the group winner, gaining enough points to edge ahead of the absent Gaz Owen in the NGP table.
There was just one Premier League match played, a Premier Two Red encounter between Steffen Nowak and Paul Watts.
Steffen's promotion challenge has evaporated in recent weeks, but his win has diminished Paul's chances of elevation to the top flight.
At Ian's Backgammon Clinic hosted by Ian Tarr, Ceri Pierce and Alex made their first visits, while Ben Crabb, Titus Simen, Kev Lee and Chris Lewis also enjoyed some friendly action.
29/09/24: Sunday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Mike Smith defeated Simon Tracy in Premier Two Blue.
That result diminished Simon's slim promotion chances, but also condemned Rosemary Whitehouse and Neil Edwards to relegation.
Alan Joicey's win against Richard Davies keeps him well and truly in contention for the Premier Three Purple championship, especially as he still has to meet the other two contenders.
And in Premier Three Yellow Caroline Boulton played twice, beating James Timoney before succumbing to Fred North.
29/07/24: Brunel Trophy eighth round draw made
The draw for the eighth round of the eleventh incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Tuesday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The initial field of fifty-eight is now down to just four after four fell by the wayside during round seven.
Both ties match unbeaten players with "single lifers", so there could be two, three or four players surviving to round nine.
Matches are to be played by November 3rd.
The full draw can be found here.
28/09/24: Nick's defeat means he must sit and wait
In the only match on Saturday Andy Boysan defeated Nick Barham in Premier One.
It was the final match of Nick's campaign, and as he has lost thirteen times he is in danger of being sucked into the bottom four as the remaining results come in.
Andy remains bottom of the league, and is in similar peril, needing a minimum of two victories from his three outstanding matches to stay up.
28/09/24: Hemal's double success omitted and Phil's promotion overlooked
A clerical error at Bristol Backgammon HQ resulted in the omission of two results from last Monday.
Hemal Getalal and Mike Smith played a Premier Two Blue double header, and Hemal prevailed twice.
This news makes the promotion battle in that division a little clearer, and apart from slim chances for Simon Tracy, Warner Solomon and Jon Organ, it looks like a two horse race for the second promotion slot between Stephen Little and Hemal.
At which point it should have been noted that Mike's defeats finally rubber stamped what has appeared inevitable for months -- Phil Charlton's elevation to the top flight after an absence of four seasons.
27/09/24: Friday's Premier League action
There were five Premier League matches played on Friday.
Jim Green caught up on a couple of Premier One fixtures with a defeat at the hands of Natalie Singh followed by victory over Neil Young.
Neil thus hits what must -- in this most closely contested season -- be regarded as the danger zone of thirteen defeats, leaving him needing nothing less than a winning run in to have a chance of survival.
In contrast Natalie's win sees her into the "safe haven" of twelve wins.
Jim goes top and, barring something extraordinary, it now looks like a straight fight between him and Simon Baker for the title.
Jon Organ dented Simon Tracy's Premier Two Blue promotion charge.
Alan Joicey has finally clinched a return to the second tier with his Premier Three Purple win over Cynthia Roberts.
And in Premier Three Yellow Simon Hughes avenged the previous day's defeat by James Timoney.
27/08/24: Dicky, en route to Italy, wins GP20 event
There were eighteen players in action last Thursday at the casino to contest the seventh and penultimate instalment of the year's GP20 series.
Among the field were Dicky Biddle, en route to a backgammon holiday in Italy, and welcome debut player Yashar Habibi.
And Dicky was the main flight winner, defeating Hazel Harper, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Steffen Nowak, after receiving a first round bye.
Steffen had arrived there via victories over Steve Morris and Tim Line.
Steve took the consolation flight by beating Barry Vasili and Ian Tarr.
The absent Gaz Owen had his GP20 lead cut to 90 points by Ian who, with just one session remaining, is the only player within striking distance, albeit remotely.
There was also Premier League action, with six matches played.
Stephen defeated Ian pre-tournament, and is now close to claiming the second Premier Two Blue promotion slot.
Hemal Getalal, now arguably Stephen's greatest rival for that slot, beat Richard Owsley, improving his already impressive points difference in the process.
Robin Gunney enhanced his chances of avoiding the drop with a double over Mike Smith.
In Premier Two Red Michael Petrakas suffered a whitewash at the hands of promotion rival Paul Watts.
And James Timoney beat Simon Hughes in Premier Three Yellow.
25/09/24: Wednesday's results round-up
There were eight matches played on Wednesday.
The fourth and last of the seventh round Brunel Trophy ties saw a narrow victory for Natalie Singh over Neil Young.
Neil is eliminated, while Natalie joins Miles Farren, Reece Hodges and Kev Peters in round eight, where Miles and Reece hold the advantage of having both of their lives intact.
Jim Green met Kev in a Premier One double header at the Globe.
Kev cancelled out Jim's opening win and has a great chance of avoiding the drop, something which looked like a tall order early in the season when he suffered eight successive defeats.
Jim's title chances remain good as he closes on leader Simon Baker.
Michael Petrakas's Premier Two Red promotion campaign was boosted by defeating Steffen Nowak.
He is three points behind second placed Ed Turner with a match in hand and a superior points difference.
The two also have an outstanding encounter on the run in.
In the same division Mathew Nicholls, already relegated, ended the season in defeat to Eamonn Reay, having undergone a traumatic end of season run of defeats.
Gerald Whitehouse had his relegation rubber-stamped by Dave Pym's Monday win, while Eamonn can still escape the drop.
Matt Sharp's bid to oust Kylie Hedges from the third promotion slot in Premier Three Yellow was dented by a loss to Simon Hughes.
And in Premier Three Purple Simon Blinkhorn preserved his minuscule chance of beating Alan Joicey to the third promotion slot by scoring a double success over Andrew Cobb.
24/09/24: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Jim Green's Premier One title campaign hit a snag when he was defeated by Cecilia Rogers, although he still has his fate in his own hands.
And in Premier Three Purple there were wins for Alan Joicey and Cynthia Roberts over Andrew Cobb and Richard Davies.
Alan is close to confirming promotion, as only a miraculous run of results in favour of Simon Blinkhorn can thwart him.
24/09/24: Twenty-seven in Monday action
There were at least twenty-seven players in action on Monday.
Thirteen of those contested the tenth and final session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Kev Peters won the group of seven, while Chris Hughes took the honours in the group of six.
Kev had already won the SGP, so this latest success only served to emphasise his dominance.
There was also league action, with nine matches played.
Michael Petrakas and Paul Watts, both in with a chance of claiming the second promotion slot in Premier Two Red, met.
And Paul prevailed, leaving Ed Turner as the new favourite to move up with the already promoted Phil Doubtfire.
In the same division Dave Pym scored a much needed win over Steffen Nowak.
Dicky Biddle's Premier Three Yellow win over Simon Hughes sees him on the brink of claiming the divisional title, as only a miraculous set of results could see Matt Sharp depriving him of the honour.
And Marcel Bancroft completed her Premier Three Green season with a double success over Mandy Macdonald at the Globe, Newton St Loe.
And the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, was dominated by a plethora of Feeder League matches, although there was other "educative" action.
Leader Julian Tucker and second placed Simon Dicken consolidated their positions with wins, while Titus Simen and Kev Lee suffered mixed fortunes, as Aditya Narayanan fell to two defeats.
24/09/24: Ben beat Dave on September 16th
A previously unreported Premier Two Red result from September 16th has come to light.
This was a win for Ben Crowden over Dave Pym.
22/09/24: Phil clinches promotion
There were three Premier League matches played on Sunday.
And Phil Doubtfire's Premier Two Red victory over Michael Corbett means he will be playing Premier One backgammon next year.
The three points have moved him out of range for all bar Michael Petrakas and Paul Watts, but since they still have to meet twice only one of them can do it.
Meanwhile Cecilia Rogers has moved closer to safety in the top flight with her win over Andy Boysan, whose position now looks precarious.
And in Premier Three Green Barry Vasili kept his chance of overhauling third placed Frank Jones alive with a narrow victory over Flora von Michel.
22/09/24: Simon and Jim converting possibilities into reality
There were six Premier League matches played on Saturday, five of them in the top flight.
The Premier One season has thus far been the closest ever, with all contenders beating one another to the extent that the various issues at the top and bottom of the table are in an exciting state of flux.
Two players, however, have been so far behind with their fixtures that they were threatening to take the league by the scruff of the neck, assuming they could catch up and avoid penalty points.
Jim Green and Simon Baker have had -- percentage wise -- the best records of all.
But matches in hand cannot be counted as points won, especially in the cauldron of possibly the most competitive league in the world.
Yesterday, however, both players began to convert those possibilities into reality, especially Simon.
He played two double headers and registered three wins to storm to the top of the table, sharing the spoils with Cecilia Rogers before getting the double over Nick Barham.
He can now put the title out of reach of all bar one of the other contenders by winning his final three matches.
That one, of course, is Jim, whose victory yesterday over Andy Boysan kept him well on track, standing two wins behind Simon with five matches in hand and a superior points difference.
Simon's surge has now ruled the title out for at least five others, but the situation at the foot of the table is just as intriguing.
As things stand, the bottom four positions are filled by a mind-blowing array of talent, and you just know that the run in will provide more twists and turns.
Not forgetting, of course, that the top six places in the division are qualification slots for the 2025 UK Champions League, so for all players there's plenty to play for.
The other match played yesterday was between two major contenders for promotion from Premier Two Red.
And Michael Petrakas's emphatic victory over Ed Turner moves him right into contention, although not quite as much as he might have expected, as the modest Ed has just reported a Friday win over Steffen Nowak.
Please, PLEASE, everyone: report results before bedtime on the same day..... Thank you ;-)
20/09/24: Kylie exits Brunel Trophy
There were two matches played on Friday.
Kylie Hedges' outstanding run in the Brunel Trophy is over.
Her defeat by Kev Peters means she finishes equal fifth in a competition which began with 58 players.
Kev, with one life remaining, progresses to the eighth round as one of just four survivors.
And in Premier Three Yellow Fred North defeated James Timoney.
20/09/24: Barry retakes Speedgammon Grand Prix lead
There were nineteen players in action on Thursday, eight of them taking part in the sixth session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Rainbow Casino.
The eight formed two round robin groups of four, which saw group wins for Ian Tarr and Hazel Harper.
Ian and Hazel progressed to the knock-out phase, along with group second placers Simon Tracy and Barry Vasili.
Ian and Barry won their semi-finals, and it was Barry who won the final.
All season long Ian and Barry have been leapfrogging one another at the top of the SGGP table, and now it's Barry's turn, with a fifteen points lead plus a more advantageous next discard.
There was also Premier League action in Premier Two and Premier Three, with eight results reported.
Stephen's pre-tournament win over consolidates his second place in Premier Two Blue, where there were online victories for Richard Owsley, Ian and Hemal Getalal, their respective victims being Neil Edwards, Richard and Rosemary Whitehouse/
For Neil and Rosemary their tier two survival is now looking tenuous at best.
In Premier Two Red Ed Turner arrested his recent run of defeats against Eamonn Reay and is still well placed for promotion, Michael Petrakas being arguably his greatest threat.
Simon Hughes is back in Premier Three Yellow action, playing a double header against Cliff Blofield.
Cliff won both, however, and Simon's slim chance of affecting the promotion race has now disappeared.
And in Premier Three Purple Ben Crabb scored his third successive win, Andrew Cobb his victim.
18/09/24: Wednesday's league results round-up
Twenty-one players were in league action on Wednesday, playing a total of thirteen matches.
Contenders for the honours in Premier One keep pegging one another back.
Jim Green and Simon Baker are behind with their matches, but both have a big chance to stake their title claims on the run in.
Today's match saw Nick Barham defeat Gaz Owen.
The busiest division was Premier Two Blue, where six results were recorded.
Leader Phil Charlton is close to guaranteeing not only a return to the top flight after a gap of four seasons, but also the divisional title after his latest success, against Simon Tracy.
Only second placed Stephen Little and ninth placed Mike Smith have a mathematical chance of catching Phil.
The defeat was a blow to Simon's promotion hopes, but he remains well in contention.
Robin Gunney and Chris Hughes sharing the spoils of their double header left both wanting, with Chris's promotion chances dwindling, along with Robin's survival hopes.
Another to win one and lose one was Rosemary Whitehouse who, along with bottom placed Neil Edwards, is running out of matches to secure her Premier Two status.
Hazel Harper is similarly challenged, after losing to Ian Tarr.
Ian, along with Rosemary's victim Warner Solomon, is struggling to stay with the promotion contenders.
In the parallel Red Division Gerald Whitehouse's win over Steffen Nowak at least kept his survival hopes hanging by a mere thread, while Steffen now has a lot to do to challenge the promotion contenders.
Frank Jones scored what may be a crucial win over Andy Zographou in Premier Three Green, as only Barry Vasili can now deprive him of the third promotion slot.
Fred North's chance of automatic promotion from Premier Three Yellow disappeared when he was whitewashed by Matt Sharp, who can now be considered the favourite to pip Kylie Hedges for the crucial third spot.
Meanwhile Ben Crabb had his best league day yet, when he scored a brace of Premier Three Purple wins, at the expense of Richard Davies and Simon Blinkhorn.
And the Feeder League has a new leader after Julian Tucker's victory over Dom Verrall.
18/09/24: The Bristol Open is on!
The Bristol Backgammon Open is back!
Directed again by Tim Line, you are urged to visit the link in the previous sentence on a regular basis, as the full details will emerge over the coming days/weeks.
Meanwhile, Friday November 1st, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd are dates for your diary.
It's your chance to experience a top international tournament on your very own doorstep.
17/09/24: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Andy Boysan continued his bid to extricate himself from Premier One relegation trouble by beating Chris Rogers at the Lock Keeper.
And Rosemary Whitehouse suffered mixed fortunes in Premier Two Blue, losing to Chris Hughes before defeating Ian Tarr.
17/09/24: At least twenty-four in Monday action; Kev takes Summer Grand Prix title
There were at least twenty-four players in action on Monday, although it was hard to keep count.
Eight of those contested the ninth and penultimate session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in a 3-point round robin at the Heroes website.
Ian Anderson was the group winner, while second placed Kev Peters, already well ahead in the SGP table, garnered enough points to make sure of the title with one session to spare.
There was also league action, with seven matches played.
Andy Boysan defeated Stuart Mann in Premier One, where it's likely that all issues at top and bottom will go to the wire, the way the table appears at the moment.
Stephen Little moved into second place in Premier Two Blue with a victory over Rosemary Whitehouse.
In Premier Three Green the top two, the already promoted Ian Hedges and Ian Anderson, shared the spoils of a double header, Ian H finishing his season with a very creditable 21:3 win:loss ratio.
In the same division Barry Vasili kept alive his slim chance of grabbing the third promotion slot, when he visited Marcel Bancroft, whose even slimmer chance has now disappeared with that defeat.
Barry's subsequent visit to Mandy Macdonald, however, was not so successful, and he now needs nothing less than three wins from his three remaining matches.
And at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, Director Ian Tarr had a busy evening.
As well as hosting visiting Sydney player Steve Clarry, pictured here with Ian and a few of Simon Dicken's MeetUp friends, there were several others present, some more interested in the backgammon than others.
Two of them -- Simon and Titus Simen -- played a Feeder League match, Titus gaining his first league win at the expense of the leader.
15/09/24: Sunday's Premier Three round-up
There were two Premier League matches played on Sunday, both of them in the third tier.
Marcel Bancroft defeated Andy Zographou in Premier Three Green.
And Richard Davies pipped Ben Crabb in Premier Three Purple.
14/09/24: Saturday win for Caroline
There was just one Premier League match played on Saturday.
And Caroline Boulton made it three wins in five days when she defeated Matt Sharp in Premier Three Yellow.
14/09/24: Friday's Premier League round-up
There were three Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier Three Green Ian Hedges, already confirmed as champion, defeated Mandy Macdonald and is now sure of a bye to the final of the three way Premier Three championship play-offs.
Ben Crowden beat Paul Watts in Premier Two Red.
And Caroline Boulton overcame Cliff Blofield in Premier Three Yellow.
13/09/24: Dicky and Ann promoted; Ian wins September BGP event
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the ninth instalment of our 2024 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series at the Rainbow Casino.
Ian Tarr -- for the third time in four months -- was the main flight winner, defeating Stephen Little, Hazel Harper and -- in the final -- Dom Verrall.
Dom had arrived there by getting past Nick Barham and Steve Morris.
Nick took the consolation flight with wins over Stephen and Barry Vasili.
Ian's BGP points table lead over second placed Tim Line has increased to exactly 100 points.
Four Premier League matches were played.
And two promotions from Premier Three Yellow were confirmed.
Kylie Hedges was the unwilling catalyst for both.
Her defeat at the hands of Dicky Biddle ensured that Dicky could not finish below Ann Pocknell.
And her next defeat -- by Fred North -- made it impossible for Kylie to pass Ann.
Kylie still sits third, but Matt Sharp, threatening in fourth fourth place, is now favourite to overhaul her for the final promotion place, although both Fred and the distant Simon Hughes also have the slimmest of chances to intervene.
Meanwhile, in the closest and most enthralling Premier One race ever, there were wins for Natalie Singh over Neil Young and Stuart Mann over Nick.
11/09/24: Wednesday's Premier League round-up
There were four Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
The various races in Premier One are no closer to resolution after the bottom two scored much needed wins.
Neil Young beat Adam Sinclair and Andy Boysan beat Stuart Mann.
Richard Owsley won his Premier Two Blue match with Hemal Getalal.
And Mark Dixon moved closer to Premier Three Purple leader Steve Pickard when he defeated Simon Blinkhorn.
Mark thus joins Steve in next season's Premier Two.
10/09/24: Tuesday's Premier League round-up
There were seven Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier One leader Tim Line lost narrowly to Nick Barham, and effectively saw his slim title chance disappear, while Andy Boysan and Adam Sinclair shared the spoils of a double header.
Hazel Harper defeated Neil Edwards in Premier Two Blue, a result which gives Hazel hope of survival while leaving Neil's chances hanging by a thread.
Gary Plant played his final match of the season in Premier Three Green, losing to already promoted Ian Anderson.
Gary can only sit and wait to find out whether he can hang on to the third promotion slot.
Frank Jones has given himself a great opportunity to overhaul Gary, having beaten Mandy Macdonald.
Barry Vasili has a slim chance to claim third place, while Marcel Bancroft will need a miracle.
And Caroline Boulton ended a debilitating run of defeats against Cliff Blofield in Premier Three Yellow.
10/09/24: Twenty-six in Monday action
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday.
Nine of those contested the eighth session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in a DMP round robin at the Heroes website.
Kev Peters was the group winner, as he has been five times in seven SGP outings, and with just two sessions remaining, it's difficult to imagine how anyone can bridge the gap of thirty-nine points to his leading pursuers.
There was also Premier League action, with six matches played online.
Stuart Mann grabbed a much needed Premier One win over Natalie Singh.
Winners in Premier Two Blue were Ian Tarr, Robin Gunney and Jon Organ, their respective victims Simon Tracy, Neil Edwards and Hemal Getalal.
Premier Three Purple leader Steve Pickard defeated Ben Crabb, a win which conforms his promotion to Premier Two.
And in Premier Three Yellow Fred North beat James Timoney.
And at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, Director Ian Tarr hosted four players of varying standards.
08/09/24: Sunday's Premier League action
There were six matches played on Sunday.
Neil Young visited Cecilia Rogers in Chippenham and came away with a much needed Premier One victory.
Premier Two Red saw the lion's share of the action, with four matches completed.
Phil Doubtfire's win against Dave Pym and Ed Turner's defeat to Eamonn Reay have established Phil as the title favourite.
But the day's biggest mover was Ismail Yilmaz, whose wins over Pearl Foster and Gerald Whitehouse have elevated him to third place.
Gerald almost certainly needs to win his final four matches to avoid relegation.
And Dicky Biddle closed to within three points of Premier Three Yellow leader Ann Pocknell when he defeated James Timoney.
07/09/24: Cecilia out of bottom four
The only action on Saturday was in Premier One.
And Cecilia Rogers' victory over Adam Sinclair moved her out of the bottom four.
For Adam, the defeat means it's an ever growing mystery how the top of the league will pan out this season, with so many players still in contention, even some of those currently in the bottom half of the table.
06/09/24: Friday's Premier Three round-up
The only two Premier League matches played on Friday were in Premier Three.
In Premier Three Green Ian Anderson has finally clinched the runner-up spot, having beaten Gary Plant.
Gary is still favourite to hang on to the third promotion slot, however.
Although there are four players who have a mathematical chance to overhaul him, two of those would be thwarted if Gary were to win his final match.
Ben Crabb scored a Premier Three Purple victory over Alan Joicey.
Alan remains odds on to clinch one of the promotion slots, however.
06/09/24: Tom wins Handicap tournament; Ian Hedges is Green Division champion
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, ten of them to contest the seventh instalment of our 2024 Handicap Trophy series at the Rainbow Casino.
And Tom Chapman was the tournament winner, defeating Steve Morris, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Stephen Little.
Tom's first appearance at one of our events was just over thirteen years ago, but this was the first time, being a "semi-regular" player, that he had taken a tournament main flight title, a true demonstration of the value of handicap events in particular.
Nick Barham took the consolation flight by getting past the respective challenges of Barry Vasili, Steve and Cynthia Roberts.
HT leader Hazel Harper managed to extend her lead to 30 points despite having a disappointing evening.
There were also six Premier League matches played.
At the Pump House Premier One leader Tim Line shared the spoils of a double header with Neil Young, while Gaz Owen was beating Jim Green at the Naval Volunteer.
In the top flight's most open season for a very long time Jim, with matches in hand over his rivals, still has things in his own hands despite faltering a little recently.
Of the rest of the field Adam Sinclair and Simon Baker are well placed, as are Tim and Gaz.
Pre-tournament Stephen defeated Hazel to move into second place in Premier Two Blue, while online Richard Owsley edged out Chris Hughes.
And Ian Anderson's defeat at the hands of Gary Plant meant that Ian Hedges is confirmed as Premier Three Green champion.
Ian A will surely soon be confirmed as runner-up, while Gary is in pole position to claim the third promotion slot.
04/09/24: Wednesday's league round-up
There were two Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
Premier Two Red leader Phil Doubtfire defeated Eamonn Reay to consolidate his ascendancy.
And Gary Plant defeated Flora von Michel in Premier Three Green to go third.
Flora now needs to win her final match to stand any chance of automatic promotion.
Gary has just a trio of matches against second placed Ian Anderson remaining.
03/09/24: Tuesday's results round-up
There were six matches played on Tuesday.
Miles Farren has dubbed himself "Harry Houdini" after his latest Brunel Trophy triumph.
After a succession of last ditch fightbacks he remains unbeaten in this year's competition.
His latest victim was Mark Dixon who had led 10-5 before the inevitable happened.
Miles joins Reece Hodges in round eight, where both players have two lives remaining.
The other two seventh round encounters will be sudden death affairs, which will leave just four players in the round eight draw.
In Premier One Stuart Mann suffered a rare whitewash against Nick Barham, as the race for top flight survival hots up.
No such worries for Phil Charlton, whose serene Premier Two Blue progress continued with victory over Hazel Harper.
Nothing is decided yet in that division, but Phil's eighteen points lead should stand him in good stead as the race unfolds.
And Ian Anderson, who defeated Andy Zographou today, needs just one more win to be absolutely sure of promotion from Premier Three Green.
Two of those who have a mathematical chance to overhaul Ian -- Flora von Michel and Gary Plant -- shared the spoils of a double header.
On the assumption that Ian will join the already promoted Ian Hedges in Premier Two, the race for third place is wide open.
Although Gary, Flora and Frank Jones are best placed to succeed, they are not the only ones in with a ghost of a chance.
03/09/24: Fifteen in Monday action
There were fifteen players in action on Monday.
Nine of those contested the seventh session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Split into groups of five and four, Simon Tracy and Kev Peters were the group winners, although Nick Barham won the optional side pool in Simon's group.
With three sessions remaining, Kev has stretched his already imposing SGP lead to 32 points.
There was also Premier League action, with two matches played online.
Chris Rogers moved a step closer to securing his top flight status for another season when he defeated Natalie Singh.
Ismail Yilmaz beat Eamonn Reay in Premier Two Red.
And at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, Director Ian Tarr played some friendly matches with the steadily improving Simon Dicken.
01/09/24: Phil tops Red Division
In Sunday's only Premier League action Phil Doubtfire defeated Ed Turner to go top of Premier Two Red at Ed's expense.
31/08/24: Dicky out of Brunel Trophy
Saturday's only action was an online seventh round Brunel Trophy match.
Reece Hodges defeated Dicky Biddle and retains both of his lives, while Dicky's Brunel run is over.
30/08/24: Ian one step from Green Division championship
Friday's only Premier League action was a Premier Three Green match at Grounded, Bedminster.
And Ian Hedges' win over Mandy Macdonald means that if any of the eight remaining matches involving either Ian or Ian Anderson or both should go in favour of Ian H or to the detriment of Ian A, Ian H will be Green Division champion.
30/08/24: Stephen wins GP10 tournament
There were twelve players in action on Thursday, six of them to contest the seventh of the year's ten GP10 tournaments at the casino.
The low turnout dictated a switch to round robin format, with each player playing five 5-point matches.
Stephen Little took the honours with a clean sweep of five victories, with Nick Barham in second place.
Stephen has reduced Ian Tarr's GP10 lead to 60 points.
Online there was some Premier League action.
Phil Charlton took another step towards the top flight with a whitewash win over Richard Owsley in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Two Red Michael Petrakas stepped up his promotion bid by defeating Dave Pym.
And Matt Sharp stayed in contention for promotion from Premier Three Yellow by beating Cliff Blofield.
28/08/24: Hemal wins on Wednesday
There was just one Premier League match played on Wednesday.
Hemal Getalal defeated Hazel Harper in Premier Two Blue.
27/08/24: Tuesday win for Nick
There was just one Premier League match played on Tuesday.
Nick Barham defeated Premier One leader Tim Line.
27/07/24: Brunel Trophy seventh round draw made
The draw for the seventh round of the eleventh incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Tuesday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The initial field of fifty-eight is now down to just eight after five fell by the wayside during round six.
Two of the ties match unbeaten players with "single lifers", while the other two will effectively be sudden death affairs.
Matches are to be played by September 29th.
The full draw can be found here.
27/08/24: Chris won Thursday's GP20 event
There were fourteen players in action last Thursday at the casino to contest the sixth instalment of the year's GP20 series.
Hazel Harper stood in for Director Ian Tarr to ensure that things went smoothly.
The field included two Bristol Backgammon debut players -- Irem Azak, in her first ever tournament, and Damon Dennis, accompanying the Whitehouses en route from the deep South West towards the weekend's UK Open.
And Chris Rogers was the main flight winner, defeating Nick Barham, Umut Bilge, Gerald Whitehouse and -- in the final -- Stephen Little.
Stephen had arrived there via victories over Gaz Owen, Steffen Nowak and Irem.
Rosemary Whitehouse took the consolation flight by beating Damon, Ian Hedges and Tom Chapman.
While Gaz drew a total blank on the night, he still managed to extend his GP20 lead by ten points in the absence of second placed Ian Tarr.
26/08/24: Monday's Nackgammon cancelled due to lack of support
The eighth session of our Monday Nackgammon Grand Prix failed to attract the necessary numbers for a viable tournament, so had to be cancelled.
Nackgammon is often a little less well supported than our other Monday offerings, and the absence of some likely participants at the UK Open undoubtedly exacerbated the situation.
Only Cynthia Roberts and Kev Peters put their names forward, so Director Ian Tarr had little alternative but to cancel the session.
He was occupied at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, however, where two potential new players -- Chris Lewis and Will Chadwick -- got some games in.
26/08/24: Last Thursday's league round-up
There were three matches played last Thursday.
Premier One leader Tim Line was defeated by Gaz Owen in a match which began at the Watershed before being completed at the casino.
Phil Charlton's Premier Two Blue victory over Warner Solomon ensured that one of his closest promotion rivals was kept securely at bay.
And in the Feeder League Scott Wood got his campaign under way by beating Julian Tucker.
21/08/24: Wednesday Premier League round-up
There were three Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
Premier Two Red leader Ed Turner succumbed to Gerald Whitehouse.
Richard Owsley scored a Premier Two Blue win over Ian Tarr.
And in Premier Three Green Frank Jones defeated Andy Zographou.
20/08/24: Tuesday win for Marcel
There was just one Premier League match played on Tuesday.
Marcel Bancroft defeated Flora von Michel in Premier Three Green.
20/08/24: Twelve in Monday action
There were twelve players in action on Monday.
Nine of those contested the sixth session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Split into groups of five and four, Gaz Owen and Kev Peters were the group winners.
With Ian Anderson absent, Kev has stretched his SGP lead to 22 points.
And at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, Director Ian Tarr hosted Scott Wood and a welcome first-timer, Sylvain Drouhot.
18/08/24: Saturday's results round-up
There were two matches played on Saturday.
Adam Sinclair moved up to second place in Premier One by defeating Neil Young.
And Mark Dixon completed the seventh round line-up for the Brunel Trophy by eliminating Warner Solomon.
16/08/24: Pearl's double relegates Mathew
Friday's action was in Premier Two Red.
A brace of wins for Pearl Foster over Mathew Nicholls has consigned Mathew to a relegation slot, as he only has one match remaining and cannot escape the bottom four.
16/08/24: Umut wins again
There were nine players in action on Thursday, eight of them taking part in the fifth session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Rainbow Casino.
The eight formed two round robin groups of four, which saw group wins for Umut Bilge and Cynthia Roberts.
Umut and Cynthia progressed to the knock-out phase, along with group second placers Andy Zographou and Tim Line, who pipped Ian Tarr on points difference.
Umut and Tim each won their semi-final at DMP, and it was Umut who won the final.
He has now contested eight Thursday tournaments, winning the three most recent and being runner-up in four of the other five!
Ian has moved ahead of the absent Barry Vasili at the head of the SGGP table, but third placed Umut looks a threat, having only contested three of the five tournaments so far this year.
There was also Premier League action online, where Nick Barham won a Premier One clash againt Natalie Singh.
14/08/24: Gaz out of bottom four
Wednesday's only action was at Loaf Bakery, Wells, where Gaz Owen whitewashed Natalie Singh.
The result lifted Gaz out of the bottom four of Premier One at Stuart Mann's expense.
13/08/24: Tuesday's results round-up
There were four matches played on Tuesday.
Kev Peters won a sixth round Brunel Trophy encounter with Richard Owsley, eliminating Richard while moving on to round seven with a single life remaining.
Winners in Premier Two Red were Gerald Whitehouse and Paul Watts, over Dave Pym and Michael Corbett.
And in Premier Three Green Flora von Michel moved back into the top three by defeating Marcel Bancroft.
13/08/24: Fifteen in Monday action
There were fifteen players in action on Monday.
Nine of those contested the fifth session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in a DMP round robin at the Heroes website.
Andrew Montgomery, with seven wins out of eight, was the group winner.
Kev Peters has edged ahead of Ian Anderson at the top of the SGP.
There was also a Premier Two Red match played, Dave Pym defeating Michael Corbett.
And at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic three players dropped in, Simon Dicken and Julian Tucker playing a Feeder League match, which Simon won, while Scott Wood played some friendly matches with Ian Tarr.
11/08/24: Wednesday tournaments discontinued
After the recent dwindling of numbers of participants at our Wednesday Heroes tournaments, it has been decided that they should be discontinued with immediate effect.
The online scene -- which is still essential for our Monday short format tournaments and our leagues -- kept Bristol Backgammon alive during the pandemic, with Wednesday numbers often in the high twenties and low thirties.
Numbers have gradually declined in the meantime, and it is felt that these paricular events have outlived their usefulness.
The task for Director Ian Tarr is now to find ways of encouraging more face-to-face backgammon, as well as using those online events which are still a successful part of our offering.
09/08/24: Umut wins for the second successive Thursday
There were thirteen players in action on Thursday to contest the eighth instalment of our 2024 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series at the Rainbow Casino.
Among the field was octogenarian Steve Ferrer, returning to live action after a gap of more than eleven years, barring one fleeting Monday appearance in 2010.
Umut Bilge -- who also won the previous week's Handicap event -- was this week's tournament winner, defeating Ian Hedges, Steve Morris, Ian Anderson and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived there, after a first round bye, by getting past Stephen Little and Ian Tarr.
Gaz Owen took the consolation flight with wins over Safi Tracy and Simon Tracy.
Tim has closed the gap behind BGP points table leader Ian T to just twenty points.
08/08/24: Nine in Wednesday action
There were just nine players in action on Wednesday, six of them to contest the thirty-second of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
Six was un upgrade on the turnout for the previous two weeks, but the simple fact is that when we have insufficient players to trigger the previously habitual knock-out format for the third week running, it is time to reconsider the viability of these Wednesday events.
An announcement is imminent.
Six entrants meant a 5-point match round robin, and Chris Rogers was this week's winner with a clean sweep of five victories, while Ian Anderson pipped Simon Tracy on PR to take second place.
Tim Line won the post-tournament jackpot.
Earlier there was a Premier One encounter at the Rose and Crown, Kingswood, Neil Young scoring an important victory over Gaz Owen -- a result which plunges Gaz into the bottom four.
07/08/24: Tuesday's Premier League round-up
There were three Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Natalie Singh defeated Nick Barham in Premier One.
Premier Two Blue leader Phil Charlton suffered a reverse against Stephen Little.
And in Premier Three Green Ian Anderson whitewashed Flora von Michel, a result which move Ian a step nearer to promotion while moving Flora down two places on points difference, as the apparent race for the third promotion slot gets ever closer.
06/08/24: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in action on Monday.
Twelve of those contested the fourth session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Split into groups of six, Steve Pickard and Kev Peters were the group winners.
Ian Anderson's leadership of the SGP is now a little more tenuous, as Kev has closed to within a single point.
There was also a Premier Two Blue match played, Robin Gunney defeating Rosemary Whitehouse.
And at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, nobody dropped in.
04/08/24: Sunday's action
There were two matches played on Sunday.
Kylie Hedges lost for the first time in this year's Brunel Trophy, so both she and the victor Neil Young move into round seven with a single life remaining.
And in Premier Two Blue Mike Smith defeated Jon Organ.
02/08/24: Umut wins his second Handicap tournament
There were eleven players in action on Thursday, six of them to contest the sixth instalment of our 2024 Handicap Trophy series at the Rainbow Casino.
The low turnout, attributable to holidays, concerts and anniversaries among other things, meant switching to a gruelling round robin.
In other competitions a six player round robin would typically encompass matches to five points, but here -- to preserve the effect of the handicaps -- the matches were to seven.
And Umut Bilge -- having won the previous Handicap event in June -- was the tournament winner, with a clean sweep of five victories.
Stephen Little took the runner-up prize by virtue of his superior points difference to that of Cynthia Roberts -- both players having won three times.
The top four players in the HT table were all absent, giving the remainder of the field the opportunity to make inroads.
Umut has moved into fourth place, but Hazel Harper's twenty points lead remains intact.
There was also Premier League action online.
Michael Petrakas played twice in Premier Two Red, succumbing to in-form Eamonn Reay before despatching Gerald Whitehouse.
And Ann Pocknell played her twenty-fourth and last Premier Three Yellow match, a whitewash of Cliff Blofield.
Ann can only wait and see whether or not her tally of 51 points is enough to guarantee promotion.
Although she can be overhauled by three others, the smart money is still with her.
01/08/23: Bristol allocated six Champions League places once again
Dicky Biddle, director of the UK Champions League, has announced the qualification criteria for the 2025 competition.
Top players from nine leagues around the UK are invited to take part, and the number of places allocated to each is dependent on their respective numerical strengths.
This year the Bristol leagues were allocated six places, while Stuart Mann boosted that to seven as reigning champion.
For next year there are six Bristol slots among the total of thirty-two, while there is still a chance of a seventh, dependent on Gaz Owen, our sole remaining knock-out representative, bringing it home.
01/08/24: Eleven penalised at the July 31st checkpoint
The July 31st Premier League checkpoint passed at midnight on Wednesday, and eleven players were penalised.
In Premier Three Purple Ben Crabb failed to claw back the point he incurred on May 31st and incurred two more this time.
Four each from Premier One and Premier Two Blue incurred penalties this time, along with one each from Premier Two Red and Premier Three Yellow.
Premier Three Green was the only division to come through with a clean bill of health.
01/08/24: Seventeen in Wednesday action
There were seventeen players in action on Wednesday, only four of them to contest the thirty-first of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
So for the second successive week a 7-point match round robin was staged, and Gaz Owen was this week's winner, with Ian Anderson taking second place.
Ian Tarr won the post-tournament jackpot.
There was also some Premier League action.
Andy Boysan ensured that there would be no expungements at the July 31st checkpoint, defeating Premier One leader Jim Green.
Rosemary Whitehouse narrowly beat Robin Gunney in Premier Two Blue, while Eamonn Reay was the victor in a Premier Two Red clash with Ben Crowden.
Andy Zographou visited Mandy Macdonald in Windmill Hill for the second successive Wednesday, but came away with another Premier Three Green defeat.
And the winners in Premier Three Yellow were James Timoney (over Dicky Biddle) and Kylie Hedges (over Matt Sharp).
31/07/24: Tuesday's Brunel Trophy and Premier League action
There were six matches played on Tuesday.
James Newman and Ian Tarr were the latest casualties in the sixth round of the Brunel Trophy.
James fell to Dicky Biddle, while Ian lost the tightest of matches against Miles Farren, who moves on to round seven with both lives still intact.
In Premier One title favourite Jim Green completed two matches, defeating Stuart Mann at the Pump House before succumbing to Simon Baker online.
Phil Charlton remains on course for promotion from Premier Two Blue after his latest success against Chris Hughes.
And Mathew Nicholls' damaging run of Premier Two Red defeats leaves him with an uphill task to avoid eligibility for relegation, his latest reverse coming at the hands of Eamonn Reay.
30/07/24: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, twenty-one competitively and two at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
Six contested the seventh session of our Monday Nackgammon Grand Prix in a 3-point Nackgammon round robin at the Heroes website.
And Kev Peters was the group winner.
Once again some of the prime title contenders were absent, so although Gaz Owen had an uncharacteristically unsuccessful event, his NGP lead was only fractionally reduced.
There were nine Premier League matches played.
Tim Line is the new leader of Premier One after he shared the spoils of a double header with Simon Baker.
There were Premier Two Red wins for Eamonn Reay and Steffen Nowak, over Gerald Whitehouse and Pearl Foster.
Robin Gunney arrested Hemal Getalal's mini-surge with a close fought win in Premier Two Blue.
James Timoney got in two matches in Premier Three Yellow, defeating Simon Hughes before succumbing to Fred North.
In the same division Kylie Hedges ensured that the promotion race remains very much three from four by beating Caroline Boulton.
And Flora von Michel moved back into the top three in Premier Three Green with a victory over Andy Zographou.
At Ian's Backgammon Clinic Titus Simen and Ian Tarr played some friendly matches.
28/07/24: Sunday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Sunday.
In Premier Two Blue Chris Hughes and Stephen Little met at the Lock Keeper, where Chris prevailed narrowly.
Online in the same division Mike Smith defeated Ian Tarr.
Gary Plant visited Andy Zographou in Westbury-on-Trym, where Andy scored a narrow Premier Three Green victory.
And Andrew Cobb beat Richard Davies in Premier Three Purple.
27/07/24: Saturday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Cecilia Rogers eased her Premier One relegation concerns with victories over Stuart Mann and Neil Young.
Hemal Getalal scored his second Premier Two Blue 11-3 win in successive days, this time defeating Neil Edwards.
And Paul Watts beat Pearl Foster in Premier Two Red.
26/07/24: Friday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier One Simon Baker defeated Gaz Owen.
Hemal Getalal beat Ian Tarr in Premier Two Blue,
And Richard Davies scored a much needed Premier Three Purple win against Andrew Cobb.
25/07/24: Tim and Hazel take annual doubles title
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the annual Consulting Doubles Championship.
With a title at stake the turnout was a tad disappointing, but the eight contestants at least made the format simple -- four pairs making instant main flight semi-finals.
Tim Line and Hazel Harper were this year's winners, defeating Ian and Kylie Hedges, before a lightning final success against Nick Barham and Pearl Foster.
Ian and Kylie won the single consolation flight match, against Stephen Little and Simon Tracy.
There was also some Premier League action, plus the first of the sixth round Brunel Trophy ties.
And Natalie Singh was the driver of half of that action.
After a speedy brace of Premier One victories over Simon Baker, she followed that up by eliminating Adam Sinclair from the Brunel Trophy.
In Premier Two Blue Mike Smith defeated Richard Owsley.
Paul Watts beat Mathew Nicholls in Premier Two Red.
And Simon Hughes overcame Caroline Boulton in Premier Three Yellow.
24/07/24: Another low turnout for Wednesday's online tournament
There were twelve players in action on Wednesday, only four of them to contest the thirtieth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
Because there were only four entrants, a 7-point match round robin was staged, and Ian Tarr was this week's winner, with Gaz Owen taking second place with a superior PR to the other two contestants.
There was also some Premier League action.
Andy Zographou visited Mandy Macdonald in Windmill Hill, but came away with an emphatic Premier Three Green defeat.
In Premier Two Blue there were victories for Richard Owsley and Jon Organ, who beat Rosemary Whitehouse and Chris Hughes.
And Ismail Yilmaz defeated Ben Crowden in Premier Two Red.
23/07/24: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were six Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier One Stuart Mann played twice, defeating Natalie Singh before succumbing to Tim Line.
Phil Charlton consolidated his leadership of Premier Two Blue by beating Jon Organ, while in the same division Hazel Harper was scoring a win over Chris Hughes.
In Premier Two Red Steffen Nowak was continuing his rise from the nether regions of the table, pipping Paul Watts, while the division's other winner was Dave Pym, who beat Pearl Foster.
23/07/24: Twenty-seven in Monday action
There were twenty-seven players in action on Monday in various areas of competition.
At the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, Ian had an easy time.
The four players who dropped in had all been signed up for this year's Feeder League, so took the opportunity to kick-start the competition.
Simon Dicken and Julian Tucker scored victories over Kev Lee and Titus Simen.
Seventeen were in Premier League action.
Premier Two Blue leader Phil Charlton suffered a rare reverse, being pipped by Robin Gunney.
Winners in Premier Two Red were Dave Pym, Michael Petrakas, Ismail Yilmaz and Steffen Nowak, while their victims were Mathew Nicholls, Pearl Foster, Gerald Whitehouse and Michael Corbett.
And Dicky Biddle moved closer to confirming promotion from Premier Three Yellow by defeating Matt Sharp and Fred North.
Meanwhile ten contested the third session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Split into groups of five, Simon Tracy and Ian Anderson were the group winners, while Kev Peters took the side pool in Simon's group.
Ian A takes over the SGP table leadership, with a ten point cushion over second placed Stephen Little.
21/07/24: Sunday's Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Sunday.
In Premier One Gaz Owen defeated Cecilia Rogers.
And Fred North scored an emphatic Premier Three Yellow victory over Cliff Blofield.
21/07/24: Brunel Trophy sixth round draw made
The draw for the sixth round of the eleventh incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The initial field of fifty-eight is now down to just thirteen after six fell by the wayside during round five.
Given the odd number there has to be one bye, and the lucky recipient this time is Reece Hodges.
Two of the ties match unbeaten players with "single lifers", while the other four will effectively be sudden death affairs.
Matches are to be played by August 25th.
The full draw can be found here.
21/07/24: Bristol represented in York at the UK Clubs Championship
The annual UK Clubs Championship was held at Derwent College, University of York, on Sunday.
And while the one Bristol team present failed to make much of an impact, our thanks should go to the five members of the team who put themselves forward to represent us.
Take a bow, Gary Owston, Hazel Harper, Phil Doubtfire, Stephen Little and Tim Line.
20/07/24: Cynthia's Saturday win
There was just one Premier League match played on Saturday.
In Premier Three Purple Cynthia Roberts defeated Richard Davies.
19/07/24: Friday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier Two Red Steffen Nowak narrowly beat Dave Pym.
Ian Hedges, having avoided confrontation with the more experienced members of Premier Three Green until recently, should maybe ponder on the necessity of that policy, having defeated Ian Anderson and moved a step closer to the divisional title.
Kylie Hedges was the day's other victor, Caroline Boulton her victim in their Premier Three Yellow encounter.
18/07/24: Hazel wins GP10 tournament
There were seventeen players in action on Thursday, thirteen of them to contest the sixth of the year's ten GP10 tournaments at the casino.
Hazel Harper took the honours in the main flight, defeating Ian Tarr, Kylie Hedges, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Ian Hedges.
Ian H made the final by eliminating Steffen Nowak, Steve Morris and Simon Tracy.
The consolation flight was won by Ian Tarr with victories over Cynthia Roberts, Steve and Nick Barham.
Ian T did enough to extend his GP10 points table lead, and is now 65 points ahead of second placed Tim.
And online there was fifth round Brunel Trophy action, with Simon Baker and Simon Hughes suffering elimination at the hands of Mark Dixon and Adam Sinclair.
18/07/24: Gaz wins Wednesday tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the twenty-eighth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
Gaz Owen was this week's winner, defeating Ian Tarr, Ian Anderson and -- in the final -- Stephen Little.
Stephen had got past Adam Sinclair and Kev Peters en route to the final.
Ian Tarr won the consolation flight by beating Simon Tracy and Adam.
There was also online Premier League action.
Phil Doubtfire narrowly defeated Steffen Nowak in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Yellow Ann Pocknell and Matt Sharp did their respective promotion chances some good with wins over fellow contender Dicky Biddle and James Timoney.
16/07/24: Phil consolidates Blue Division lead
There was just one Premier League match played on Tuesday.
And in Premier Two Blue Phil Charlton's victory over Neil Edwards consolidated Phil's league leadership.
16/07/24: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in action on Monday, eleven competitively and three at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic.
Ten of the eleven contested the second session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in a single DMP round robin at the Heroes website.
Kev Peters was the victor with Steve Pickard pipping Cynthia Roberts for second place.
Stephen Little scored enough points to move into the lead of the SGP table on his own, albeit by just five points from Nick Barham.
There was also one Premier League match played.
Steve defeated Ben Crabb in Premier Three Purple, and stands just one win away from clinching promotion.
14/07/24: Sunday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Sunday.
In Premier One there were wins for Natalie Singh over Neil Young and Cecilia Rogers over Andy Boysan.
And Ann Pocknell scored another Premier Three Yellow victory, beating Fred North.
13/07/24: Friday's Premier League action
There were seven Premier League matches played on Friday.
Neil Edwards, back in Bristol for the weekend, had mixed fortunes in his two Premier Two Blue encounters.
A defeat to Ian Tarr at the Old Stillage was followed by victory over Simon Tracy at the Beehive.
In the same division Mike Smith narrowly defeated Jon Organ online.
Ian Hedges' run of Premier Three Green victories was ended at the Hedges family home in Bowerhill, Melksham.
He extended it to ten by beating Gary Plant, but Gary had his revenge later.
In the nine season history of Premier Three only two winning sequences have lasted longer.
And Ben Crabb suffered a brace of Premier Three Purple defeats, succumbing to Cynthia Roberts and Simon Blinkhorn.
11/07/24: Ian wins July Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were just ten players in action on Thursday, eight of them to contest the seventh instalment of our 2024 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series at the Rainbow Casino.
Ian Tarr -- who also won in June -- was the tournament winner, defeating Cynthia Roberts, Kylie Hedges and -- in the final -- Barry Vasili.
Barry had arrived there by getting past Ian Hedges and Stephen Little.
Andy Zographou took the consolation flight with wins over Cynthia and Steve Morris.
Tim Line was absent, allowing Ian T to move 60 points clear in the BGP points table.
There was just one match played in Premier Two Blue, Simon Tracy moving closer to the leaders by defeating Richard Owsley.
10/07/24: Matt wins on Wednesday
There was just one match played on Wednesday.
Matt Sharp defeated Kylie Hedges to close in on a top three place in Premier Three Yellow.
09/07/24: Tournament cancelled, but ten in Tuesday action
Director Ian Tarr's ploy of bringing the weekly Wednesday online tournament forward a day to avoid a clash with the England versus Netherlands Euros semi-final backfired when only two players put themselves forward to play.
So the event was cancelled, although there were ten players in Brunel Trophy or Premier League action.
In the Brunel Trophy two fifth round ties were played, both of them effectively sudden death encounters.
Neil Young beat Ian Anderson, while Warner Solomon progressed at the expense of Phil Charlton.
In Premier Two Blue Simon Tracy and Jon Organ pressed their promotion claims by defeating Hazel Harper and Chris Hughes.
And Simon Blinkhorn scored a brace of Premier Three Purple wins over Cynthia Roberts.
09/07/24: Twenty in Monday action
There were twenty players in action on Monday, sixteen competitively and four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic.
Ten of the sixteen contested the opening session of our Monday Summer Grand Prix in 3-point round robins at the Heroes website.
Split into groups of five, Nick Barham and Stephen Little were the group winners, while Adam Sinclair took the side pool in Stephen's group.
Nick and Stephen are the first leaders of the SGP table.
There were also three Premier League matches played.
Hazel Harper defeated Robin Gunney in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Three Purple Steve Pickard moved into pole position by beating Richard Davies.
And Fred North beat Caroline Boulton in Premier Three Yellow.
08/07/24: Summer Grand Prix, beginning today, has modified points tariffs
The quarterly Monday Grand Prix competitions now have modified points tariffs, beginning with the Monday Summer Grand Prix, which starts this evening.
There has been a school of thought that the DMP sessions have been undervalued points wise and, in acknowledgment of that feeling, the points available for the DMP round robins have been revised upwards, and are considerably closer in value to those of the 3-point round robins.
Each quarterly competition consists of ten sessions -- seven of them comprising 3-point round robins and three comprising DMPs.
The first session to be affected will be next Monday's.
07/07/24: Sunday Premier Three action
There were two matches played on Sunday, both of them in Premier Three.
Brookhouse Farm, Swindon, was the venue for Gary Plant's Premier Three Green victory over Andy Zographou.
And online Matt Sharp exhanced his Premier Three Yellow promotion chances by defeating Dicky Biddle.
07/07/24: Wednesday tournament brought forward by one day
This Wednesday's weekly online tournament has been brought forward to Tuesday to avoid a clash with the England versus Netherlands match at the Euros.
Tuesday's clash with the Spain versus France match is expected to have less impact on starting numbers.
06/07/24: Steffen wins on Saturday
The only action on Saturday was in Premier Two Red, where Steffen Nowak defeated Ben Crowden after being 0-7 behind.
05/07/24: Red Division wins for Gerald and Steffen
The only action on Friday was in Premier Two Red, where a couple of matches were played online.
Michael Corbett suffered his first defeat in ten league matches, succumbing to Gerald Whitehouse.
In the twenty-two year history of Premier Two only seven winning sequences have been longer.
And Steffen Nowak defeated Mathew Nicholls.
The win was the 250th of a league career which stretches back to his first season in the Conference League in 2002.
05/07/24: Ian wins GP20 tournament
There were twelve players in action on Thursday, eight of them at the casino to contest the fifth instalment of the year's GP20 series.
And Ian Tarr was the main flight winner, defeating Ian Hedges, Steffen Nowak and -- in the final -- Steve Morris.
Steve had arrived there via victories over Hazel Harper and Tim Line.
Stephen Little took the consolation flight by beating Ian Hedges and Hazel.
Gaz Owen was absent, and his imposing GP20 lead has been cut to 95 points by Ian Tarr.
Online there were two Premier League matches played, both in Premier Two Red.
Michael Corbett continued his winning run against Michael Petrakas, while Phil Doubtfire defeated Ismail Yilmaz.
03/07/24: Ian Anderson wins second successive Wednesday tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the twenty-sixth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.
For the second week running Ian Anderson was the week's winner, defeating Steve Pickard, Nick Barham and -- in the final -- Chris Rogers.
Chris had got past John Curran and Tim Line en route to the final.
Steve won the consolation flight by beating John and Natalie Singh.
There was also Premier League action.
Gerald Whitehouse scored a much needed Premier Two Red win over Phil Doubtfire.
And in Windmill Hill Barry Vasili defeated Mandy Macdonald in Premier Three Green, while the Fox Den was the venue for Andy Zographou's defeat of Frank Jones in the same division.
02/07/24: Blue Division win for Ian
The only action on Tuesday was in Premier Two Blue, where Ian Tarr defeated Hazel Harper.
02/07/24: Nine in Monday action
There were just nine players in action on Monday, five competitively and four at the latest session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans.
The five contested the sixth session of our Monday Nackgammon Grand Prix in a 3-point Nackgammon round robin at the Heroes website.
And George Georgiou was the group winner.
The top contenders for the NGP title sat this one out, so Gaz Owen still leads the table by 24 points from Adam Sinclair.
The drop-ins to Ian's Backgammon Clinic included two very competent debut players -- Kev Lee and Titus Simen -- who have both signed up to play in this season's Feeder League.
News items from 2024 (first)
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