News items from 2014 (first half)
29/06/14: Ian pipped in Coventry qualifier semis
Ian Tarr was one of twenty players to attend the latest qualifier for September's UKBGF UK Open.
This one, at the Coventry Grosvenor yesterday, was situated just yards away from September's venue at the Ricoh Arena.
As one of twelve recipients of a bye he progressed to the last sixteen, where he edged past Manchester's Kevin Jones.
A less stressful win over Chris Evans followed.
Then, trailing from the outset against Liverpool's John Wright, Ian hauled it back to 6-6 before narrowly succumbing.
John lost the final to London's Jon Barnes.
27/06/14: Nick tops Red Division
There were fifteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday -- eleven in the fourth in the series of Round Robin Grand Prix events, and four playing league matches.
The league action centred entirely on Premier Two Red, where there were double headers between Nick Barham and Richard Owsley and Andy Brown and James Lintell-Smith.
Nick scored two emphatic wins over Richard, and moves to the top of the league.
Andy and James shared the spoils from two very close matches.
In the RRGP the players were randomly split into two groups, one of six one of five -- the larger group playing 3-point matches, the smaller one playing to 5 points.
Simon Hughes and Ian Tarr shared the pot in the larger group with four wins apiece, while Ed Turner scored a clean sweep with four victories in the other group.
Ed takes over the RRGP lead from Cynthia Roberts, with Ian level on points, but having played one event more.
Simonetta Herrera, Chris Hughes and Drew Caudwell are all well within striking distance of the top three.
26/06/14: Stuart wins in Kingsdown; James wins in Bath
Mike Smith and Stuart Mann met at the Kingsdown Wine Vaults yesterday evening for a Premier One encounter.
Stuart won 11-7, and moves out of the bottom four.
At the Ram, Bath, James Newman defeated Andrew Cobb 11-2, and was 3-1 ahead in the second match, which was adjourned.
24/06/14: Victory for Mike at the Port of Call
Mike Smith and John Corrado met at the Port of Call, Clifton, today for a Premier One match.
It was a close one, Mike just edging home 11-10 to move into third place in the league table.
24/06/14: Roland edges into Summer Grand Prix lead
There were eleven players in Monday evening action at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the nine who contested the advertised event.
The exceptions were Fred North and Andy Brown, whose Premier Two Red encounter ended in an 11-4 victory for Andy.
The SGP entrants were split into two groups for the 3-point round robins, one of four players, one of five.
This included a competitive debut for Mary French.
The five player group saw the spoils shared between Roland Herrera and Neil Young, while John Chester won the other group outright.
Roland scored enough points to edge into the overall lead in the SGP table at the expense of Simonetta Herrera, while third placed John leads the race to become the event's leading intermediate.
There was also time for a six player DMP Tourno, which was won by Ian Tarr.
24/06/14: Neil does it again!
Winning three monthly grand prix tournaments in a single season? That must be comparatively rare, right?
And the fact that Neil Young has done it already this year, it's only June, and he has missed two of the six events thus far, must surely be exceptional?
Of course it's absolutely commendable, but a little research will show that Neil's is far from an isolated success story.
Since monthly grand prix tournaments came into being in 2002, no fewer than eight players (now including Neil) have managed at least three monthly wins -- two of them (Martin Hemming in 2005 and Peter Edwards in 2007) having managed four wins -- while Stuart Mann is the only player to have achieved the feat twice.
The latest of Neil's triumphs came on Monday morning at the Boulangerie in Union Street, when he made light of an early 0-5 deficit against Ed Turner to come back and win 11-9.
The effect of the victory on the OGP race has been to move Neil 105 points clear of the field at the half way stage, but this lead will be tough for his pursuers to chip away at, not least because most of them will reach "discard territory" before Neil does.
20/06/14: Roland and Alex to contest Masters final
The fourteenth Bristol Masters tournament at the Bristol County Sports Club -- nominally our champion of champions event -- saw a field decimated by the withdrawal of seven of the sixteen original qualifiers for a variety of reasons.
But one thing you can always guarantee is that there are others eager to take up the vacancies to bring the entry up to the "statutory" sixteen.
It was, however, two of the original qualifiers who fought their way through to the final, which will be deferred for a week or two.
And those two protagonists arrived via quite contrasting Masters histories.
Alex Hodge was featuring in the event for the first time, and his victims on the night were reigning champion Derek Clew, Richard Owsley and Tony Walters.
Roland Herrera, on the other hand, is a Masters veteran, having contested all bar one of the fourteen events -- a record -- although both Stuart Mann and Ian Tarr have qualified by right more times than Roland has.
Roland defeated Ed Turner, Simon Hughes and Nick Barham, and will become the first player to contest a third Masters final, while hoping to join Stuart, Derek and Charlie Hetherington on the list of two time winners.
There was also some league action at the club.
Malcolm Patterson doubled his Premier Two Blue win tally for the season when he scored 11-9 and 11-10 victories over Andrew Cobb, denting Andrew's promotion prospects in the process.
In the Conference League Angie Vick and John Chester resumed their adjourned match, and John won 11-5 to further extend his divisional lead.
And after early Masters exits Simonetta Herrera and Ian played out a Premier One match, which Simonetta won 11-7.
18/06/14: Brunel draw brought forward a week
The draw for the fifth round of the inaugural Brunel Trophy double elimination event is being brought forward by a week as all fourth round matches have been completed well ahead of the deadline.
The six remaining contestants will know who they have to play tomorrow evening, prior to the 2014 Bristol Masters tournament.
18/06/14: Masters entry list shows a few changes
No fewer than eleven players have turned down the chance to compete in the 2014 Bristol Masters tournament, which takes place tomorrow evening at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Seven of the original qualifiers and four potential replacements have declined for reasons which vary from being on holiday, being indisposed, preferring to watch England versus Uruguay, or simply having more pressing matters to attend to.
There is certainly an argument that moving the event into the summer period has devalued the event a little, and Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr will be looking to fit the event into a time slot less likely to provoke widespread withdrawals next year.
17/06/14: Two wins in two days for Pearl
Pearl Foster scored her second Premier Two Blue win in successive days when she defeated James Newman 11-5 at Brinsham Park, Yate, today.
17/06/14: Roland wins Monday Tric Trac
There were twelve players in action yesterday, including ten at the Bristol County Sports Club evening session.
Earlier, at the Three Brooks, Pearl Foster had defeated Mandy Macdonald 11-9 in a Premier Two Blue match.
While eight of the ten at the main venue played out the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix -- a Tric Trac Tourno -- Ian Tarr played a few demonstration games with welcome new player Mary French.
In the Tric Trac it was Roland Herrera who prevailed, winning four and losing three, but converting all of his wins into gammons.
Roland closes to within 16.5 points of SGP leader Simonetta Herrera, while the competition's leading intermediate John Chester now has Chris Hughes breathing down his neck.
15/06/14: Backgammon taken to the Chandos Road masses
Local resident Steve Morris masterminded a backgammon demonstration session at the Timeless bar in Chandos Road, Redland, today, as part of a street fair.
Aided and abetted by Roland and Simonetta Herrera and Ian Tarr, many took advantage of the opportunity for some tuition and games.
At least one player has promised to attend a Monday Bristol Backgammon session, while a former player popped in for a visit and may well return to the fold.
The host was none other than former Bristol County Sports Club chef Andreas Hopkins, who visited several Monday sessions a year or two back.
13/06/14: Fred wins Swindon derby
Another new venue for Bristol Backgammon action was added to the ever growing list today when two of Swindon's finest met for a Premier Two Red clash.
The Blunsdon Arms played host to an 11-3 victory for Fred North over Dave Pym -- a result which hauls Fred off the bottom of the league table at Eamonn Reay's expense.
13/06/14: ALL THE NEWS FROM LESTERS 91 ......
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, including the twelve who contested the sixth of this year's Monthly Grand Prix tournaments.
13/06/14: Neil and Ed to contest June final ......
Neil Young has continued his remarkable run of form in this year's monthly grand prix series.
Despite missing two of the six events thus far, Neil has now reached his third final -- having won the other two.
Chris Hughes, Tim Line and Steve Morris were his victims.
When the final is played, his opponent will be Ed Turner, who made the most of a bye before defeating Drew Caudwell and Roland Herrera.
13/06/14: Ian wins consolation flight ......
Ian Tarr won Thursday's consolation flight with victories over Chris Hughes, Simonetta Herrera and John Chester.
13/06/14: Neil setting tough OGP target ......
Neil Young yesterday accumulated another 80 OGP points to add to the 255 he had already amassed, and will go into the event's final against Ed Turner already 65 points ahead of second placed Steve Morris.
With 40 points available to the winner, Neil is in a position to set a formidable target for his pursuers.
In the previous eleven seasons where the current points system has applied, the highest score not to secure the title is 490, and given that Neil has the luxury of three more tournaments before he starts to discard scores, this looks like an eminently achievable target.
13/06/14: John edges into IGP lead ......
Previous IGP leader Rob Brito has been missing for three months, and the inevitable has now happened.
He has been overhauled by John Chester in the race for this particular title.
Chris Hughes is also within striking distance.
13/06/14: £10 rollover unlikely to tempt the punters ......
The Winner Takes All pool failed to attract more than a single investor at Thursday's tournament, and as Ian Tarr was not even remotely close to winning the event, there will be a rollover to the July event.
But whether or not this record low pool of just £10 will spark further interest is highly doubtful.
Meanwhile Ed Turner has the added incentive of securing a 2015 Bristol Masters place if he wins the held over final.
13/06/14: Tim gets in five league matches ......
Ten league matches were completed on Thursday, and the five Premier One results all featured Tim Line's exploits before the tournament.
Starting at Steve Morris's home with an 8-11 defeat, the return match was adjourned with Tim 7-6 ahead to enable him to get the the Port of Call, Clifton.
A brace of 11-4 wins there over John Corrado gave him time to pick up the adjourned match, where Steve turned the tables to win 11-9.
Tim's fifth opponent was Simon Hughes at the Bristol County Sports Club, which threatened to be a runaway victory. Simon recovered before going down 6-11.
Another double header before the tournament featured Andrew Cobb and Neil Young in Premier Two Blue.
Two very one sided matches saw honours shared.
Three Red Divisuion matches were played -- Dave Pym and Paul Watts winning one apiece, while Andy Brown scored a win over Fred North.
11/06/14: Alex tops Blue Division in his absence
The leadership of Premier Two Blue changed hands this evening at the G W Hotel Grill and Bar, Station Road, Swindon.
Previous league leader Gary Plant lost 5-11 to Cecilia Sparke, just in time to avoid having to listen to the karaoke!
The defeat worsened Gary's average points difference to the extent that he slipped below the unwitting Alex Hodge.
Meanwhile Cecilia's sixth successive league win moves her ever closer to the top two.
11/06/14: Problems with hotmail
Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr has been experiencing intermittent problems when emailing players with hotmail addresses.
This has meant that regular emails have sometimes failed to arrive, so Ian would like to apologise for normal service dropping below acceptable standards.
10/06/14: Honours even at the Air Balloon
Two former Premier League champions met for a Premier Two Red double header this evening at the Air Balloon, Birdlip, Gloucestershire.
And after two very tight matches, it was honours even for Dave Pym and Simon Baker.
10/06/14: Simon's penalty reduced on appeal
Simon Temme's penalty for failing to claw back four Premier Two Blue points at the May 31st checkpoint has been reduced to two points.
Simon had been experiencing difficulties earlier in the season, but Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr, satisfied that Simon was close to getting back on track, took the step of halving the permanent penalty.
10/06/14: Ian latest to exit Brunel Trophy
Eleven players were in action on Monday at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the eight who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, in the form of two four-player groups playing 3-point matches.
There were no clear winners in either of the groups, the pot being split three ways in one group and two ways in the other.
Simonetta Herrera won just one of her three matches, but still holds a lead of almost 50 points.
John Chester has moved into second place, and has also taken over from Horst Stenzel as the competition's leading intermediate.
Playing alongside the tournament were Malcolm Patterson and Cecilia Sparke, whose Premier Two Blue match ended 11-4 in Cecilia's favour.
Cecilia remains on track with a serious promotion challenge.
After the round robins, there was time for an impromptu six player DMP Tourno, where Roland Herrera exemplified the fluctuating fortunes of backgammon, winning all five games, having earlier drawn a total blank in his round robin.
While the DMP Tourno was progressing, Ed Turner and Ian Tarr had the opportunity to bring the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament to a close.
Having adjourned last week at 8-8, the match reached DMP and it was Ed who rolled the decisive bear-off double to become one of the six players still in the competition, consigning Ian to the list of the eliminated.
06/06/14: Roland, Adrian and Nick cash in clock blitz event
There were fourteen players in action on Thursday at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the twelve who contested the latest Clock Blitz Grand Prix event.
The odd two were Steve Morris and Ed Turner who fought out the closest of Premier One matches, Ed just winning the race at DMP.
In the advertised event, there was a welcome debut for Warner Solomon, for whom Bristol Backgammon is the closest organised backgammon to his Totnes, Devon, home.
The twelve players were drawn into two groups of six, with each player having to play five rapid fire 5-point matches.
Roland Herrera scored a clean sweep of five wins in one group, while the spoils in the other group were shared by four time winners Adrian Barnes and Nick Barham.
Such has been the consistency of Roland and Nick so far this season in these events, that it is already becoming difficult to see any other player heading them in the points table, even with three events remaining.
Adrian, who has a potential first discard of only 10 points, is one who could catch them.
04/06/14: Gaz misses chance to go top
The Cross Hands, Staple Hill, was the venue for a top flight match today, Mike Smith defeating Gaz Owen 11-3 to move into third place in the Premier One table.
Gaz would have gone top with a victory, so Steffen Nowak can breathe a sigh of relief.
03/06/14: Gaz closes on top flight lead
Defeating John Corrado 11-10 at the Wellington today -- having been 1-8 in arrears -- Gaz Owen moved to within three points of the Premier One lead.
03/06/14: Gary tops Blue Division
There were eleven players in action at the latest Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the eight who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix -- a DMP Tourno.
Two of the other players present were Chrissy Carter and Gary Plant, who fought out a gruelling Premier Two Blue match.
Gary won 11-9 and overhauls previous leader Alex Hodge on average points difference.
The eight player DMP Tourno saw the pot shared between Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr, who each won five of their seven games.
Roland moves into second place in the SGP, slightly reducing Simonetta Herrera's overall lead.
Third placed Horst Stenzel still leads the race to be the competition's leading intermediate.
There was still time for a further impromptu five player DMP Tourno, while Ian faced Ed Turner in their fourth round Brunel Trophy match.
This was adjourned with the score at 8-8, while Roland and Simonetta shared the pot in the second DMP Tourno.
01/06/14: Eight penalised at May checkpoint
The midnight May 31st Premier League checkpoint has passed with eight players incurring penalty points which can be clawed back on July 31st.
In addition Simon Temme's four penalties incurred at the end of March have become permanent.
Those penalised this time are John Corrado (1 point) in Premier One, Andy Brown and Fred North two points each in Premier Two Red, and Simon (3 points), Andrew Cobb (2 points), plus 1 point each for James Newman, Cecilia Sparke and Neil Young in Premier Two Blue.
31/05/14: Victory for Simon at the Barley Mow
In a Premier One match where both players were ensuring avoidance of penalty points, Simon Hughes met Ian Tarr at the Barley Mow, St Philips this afternoon.
And it was Simon who scored an 11-4 victory.
30/05/14: Gaz maintains championship pursuit
Gaz Owen visited Simonetta Herrera today, and came away with a hard fought 11-9 Premier One victory.
The win keeps leader Steffen Nowak within Gaz's sights.
30/05/14: Ed ups Handicap sponsorship
Ed Turner, whose patronage of the Handicap Trophy is now the longest running of all our sponsorships, has decided to increase his investment.
Aside from providing the annual trophy, Ed has always paid for mementoes for the champion and runner-up.
These prize recipients will now receive cash prizes as well.
30/05/14: Handicap specialist Ian does it again
Since deciding in December 2011 that he would no longer compete in the Premier League Ian Preston has restricted his competition appearances -- two Christmas Fizz tournaments apart -- to playing in Handicap Trophy events.
This unique course of action has raised one or two eyebrows, but it seems to have worked for Ian.
His handicap used to be somewhat inflated by surprisingly poor league showings, to the extent that he was consistently playing off a handicap of 2 (in the latter half of 2011 plus the whole of 2012 and 2013), until event sponsor Ed Turner's suggestion that previous Handicap Trophy champions should always have a handicap of 0 was adopted this season.
Ian certainly made the most of his advantage, taking the title in 2010, 2011 and 2013, with a slight blip as runner-up in 2012.
But now that it has been taken away, Ian's appetite for this particular competition remains voracious.
And sure enough he has risen to the top of the current Handicap Trophy table after winning last night's third instalment of this year's competition.
Victories over James Newman, welcome debutant Michael Clarke, John Chester and Simonetta Herrera saw him home.
Steve Morris won the consolation flight, defeating James before an unlikely gammon save with the cube on four paved the way for final victory over Roland Herrera.
Ian now heads close pursuers James and Chris Hughes in the HT table.
There was also league action on the side, with Mandy Macdonald defeating Simon Temme 11-9 in Premier Two Blue.
Elsewhere, at one of our other semi-regular venues -- the Star and Dove -- Premier One leader Steffen Nowak shared the spoils of a double header with Tim Line.
29/05/14: Peter beats Pearl at Tormarton
Pearl Foster and Peter Thistlewood fought out a Premier Two Blue match at the Compass, Tormarton, yesterday afternoon.
And it was Peter who emerged from the session with an 11-8 victory.
28/05/14: James into Brunel fifth round
James Newman cemented his place in the fifth round of the Brunel Trophy at the Ship Inn, Park Row, this evening, defeating Andy Boysan 11-10.
Andy is now out of the competition, and it now remains for Ian Tarr and Ed Turner to decide who will be the sixth and final player to survive this far.
28/05/14: Win for John in Westbury
John Corrado and Ian Tarr met at the Post Office Tavern, Westbury, today for a Premier one match.
John scored an emphatic and much needed 11-3 win.
27/05/14: Steffen extends Premier One lead
There were four matches played today, including three in the Premier League.
In the top flight, Steffen Nowak extended his lead by defeating Ian Tarr 11-9 at the Cornubia.
At the Bristol County Sports Club, Malcolm Patterson got in two matches, both resulting in defeat.
Pearl Foster, who won 11-8, and Cecilia Sparke, an 11-5 victor, were the beneficiaries.
And in the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy, Simonetta Herrera preserved her place in the double elimination event by beating Alex Hodge 11-5 at Kellaway Avenue.
Alex still has another life, so six players will still be in the draw for the fifth round on June 26th.
25/05/14: Tim making up for lost time
The Kingsdown Wine Vaults this afternoon became the latest new venue for Bristol Backgammon when Tim Line and Mike Smith locked horns for a Premier One double header.
And both matches ended 11-6. Tim won the first before Mike, with the aid of two backgammons, returned the compliment.
This was the first phase of a Bristol visit aimed at catching Tim up with the league schedule after a spell working away.
The next phase -- involving three matches -- saw him arrive at Kellaway Avenue for a pair of league matches and his fourth round Brunel Trophy encounter.
The first league match featured a resounding defeat, by 11-3, to Simonetta Herrera.
This was followed by a break from league combat with the Brunel match against Roland Herrera, Tim triumphant by an 11-5 margin to eliminate Roland from the competition and keep both his own lives intact.
A whitewash of Simonetta in the return league match completed a busy backgammon day for Tim.
23/05/14: Brunel Trophy fourth round draw made
Prior to yesterday's tournament was the draw for the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy.
The nine survivors will be whittled down to anything between five and seven for the next round of this double elimination event.
The honour of the one and only bye went to Richard Owsley by virtue of his superior record in the competition so far, while the remainder of the draw (with numbers of defeats thus far in parentheses) reads:
James Newman (1) versus Andy Boysan (1);
Ed Turner (1) versus Ian Tarr (1);
Roland Herrera (1) versus Tim Line (0);
Alex Hodge (0) versus Simonetta Herrera (1).
Matches are to be completed before the fifth round draw, which is on June 26th.
23/05/14: Nick and Cynthia win round robins
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, including the eleven who contested the third of six Round Robin Grand Prix events at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Five Premier Two matches took place -- two at the main venue, and three at the Albion in Clifton.
It was at that latter venue that Simon Baker set himself the task of playing three Red Division matches, which turned out to be a test of his stamina as all of them were close.
11-10 and 11-8 victories over James Lintell-Smith were followed by a 10-11 defeat at the hands of Miles Farren.
In the same division at the main venue, there was another tense affair -- Sean Hopson edging home 11-9 against Richard Owsley.
And while that was happening, yet another tight match saw Alex Hodge missing out on a chance to extend his Blue Division lead, finishing off a previously adjourned match against Neil Young.
Neil had led 3-1 and extended this to an 8-2 advantage before Alex moved 10-8 ahead. But it was Neil who had the last laugh, winning 11-10.
The round robins featured two contrasting groups, with the eleven contestants split into two groups.
This meant a six player group playing 3-point matches and a five player group playing 5-point matches.
Both groups were won with hundred per cent records.
Nick Barham took the six player group, while Cynthia Roberts swept all before her in the other group.
Cynthia now heads the RRGP table, with a gaggle of pursuers -- Ian Tarr, Drew Caudwell, Ed Turner and James Newman -- all within 30 points.
22/05/14: Honours exactly even Steffen and Stuart
Steffen Nowak and Stuart Mann met at the Star and Dove for a Premier One double header yesterday evening.
And the session resulted in a pair of 11-3 results, Steffen holding sway in the first, Stuart in the second.
Steffen consolidates his pole position, while time is running out for Stuart to put together his customary surge towards title contention.
20/05/14: Simonetta extends SGP lead
There were fifteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including the ten who contested the second phase of the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix, including a welcome debut appearance for Mathew Nicholls.
Three league matches were played -- all of them in Premier Two Blue.
Chrissy Carter and Malcolm Patterson fought out a gruelling double header, with Chrissy scoring a brace of victories.
And league leader Gary Plant also contested a close match, eventually succumbing 10-11 to Simon Temme.
In the SGP the format was 3-point round robins for two groups of five.
Alex Hodge won one group with a clean sweep of wins, while Bahman Salahshour edged the other one.
Simonetta Herrera -- second in Alex's group -- scored enough points to increase her overall SGP lead to 52.5 points over second placed Horst Stenzel, who leads the race to be the competition's top intermediate.
After the main event, there was time for further activity, with six players contesting a DMP Tourno (won by Chris Hughes) while Ian Tarr and Ed Turner played out the held over final of Thursday's GP5 tournament -- Ian winning to move to third in the GP5 table.
16/05/14: Sixteen-cube brings Brunel third round to a close
The third round of the year long double elimination competition, the Brunel Trophy, came to an interesting conclusion at Kellaway Avenue this evening.
With Ian Tarr 4-1 ahead of Roland Herrera a topsy turvy game ended with a sixteen-cube being taken!
The turning point came after Roland had turned the game very much his way with the cube on four to the extent that he was odds on for a gammon and a 9-4 lead when he had to leave a shot.
Ian was fortunate enough to hit, and also later to send a second checker back when recycling.
He then presented Roland with an eight-cube decision -- to drop and go 1-8 down, or to take and redouble putting the entire match on it.
The latter option was chosen, and Ian bore off without mishap to win the race.
The draw for the fourth round will take place before Thursday's tournament at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Nine of the eighteen players who started the competition remain, which means there will be one bye.
That goes to the player with the best record so far.
Three players remain totally unbeaten, but Tim Line has already received a bye, so will not get another.
The others unbeaten are Alex Hodge and Richard Owsley, but as Richard's opponents in the competition so far have won three matches between them, while Alex's have won just one, then the bye goes to Richard, who can bask in the knowledge that he will be in the sixth round draw at the very least.
16/05/14: Ed and Ian to contest GP5 final
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday, including the twelve who contested the third in the series of six GP5 tournaments at the Bristol County Sports Club.
In the leagues, Sean Hopson scored an 11-10 Premier Two Red victory over Miles Farren at The Albion, while a Premier Two Blue double header at the main venue saw honours shared -- Malcolm Patterson striking back with an 11-6 win over Simon Temme after losing the opener 11-2.
The main flight final of the GP5 tournament was held over and will be played some time very soon.
The protagonists will be Ed Turner -- victor over Andy Boysan and Alex Hodge -- and Ian Tarr, who defeated Chris Hughes, Cynthia Roberts and Simonetta Herrera to get there.
Simon Hughes won the consolation flight, his victims being John Chester, Richard Owsley and Steve Morris.
Roland Herrera still heads the GP5 table, although he will drop to second if Ed wins the outstanding final.
15/05/14: Contrasting fortunes in Blue Division double header
A Premier Two Blue double header at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday could hardly have seen more contrasting fortunes.
James Newman whitewashed Chrissy Carter in the opener, but Chrissy hit back to win the return 11-1!
This ended an unfortunate run of nine league defeats for Chrissy.
14/05/14: Fred wins at the Graze Bar
In a Premier Two Red match at the Graze Bar today Fred North defeated Miles Farren 11-7, becoming the first player to beat Miles in five league matches.
13/05/14: Honours shared in double headers
As the May checkpoint approaches, more minds are being concentrated on keeping up with league schedules.
Today was a case in point with two double headers taking place, one in Premier One, one in Premier Two Red.
It was an afternoon of Red Division action in Stroud, where Sean Hopson defeated Simon Baker at the Black Book Cafe, before Simon got his revenge at the Fleece.
In the top flight this evening the venue was the Grain Barge, and the protagonists were Simon Hughes and Chas Perry.
Chas opened the scoring with an 11-3 drubbing, but Simon hit back to even better effect, winning 11-2.
13/05/14: Simonetta is early Summer Grand Prix leader
The first of the fourteen events which comprise the Monday Club Summer Grand Prix was contested by six players at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday, although the total number of players in action was sixteen.
Four Premier Two Blue matches were played, and the leadership of that league changed hands twice.
Gary Plant hit the top spot when he defeated Mandy Macdonald 11-7 at the Windmill at lunch-time, but by the end of the evening Alex Hodge was back in pole position, courtesy of an 11-4 win over Simon Temme at the main venue.
Simon was also a winner later on, defeating Chrissy Carter after Chrissy had, in turn, lost to Cecilia Sparke.
Another match in this division took place at James Newman's Yate home, where visiting Peter Thistlewood was 10-5 Crawford ahead before finally succumbing.
In the advertised event -- a Nackgammon Tourno -- it was Simonetta Herrera who came out on top, gaining seven points from her matches to become the first leader of the Summer Grand Prix, while Horst Stenzel, in equal second place, is the first leader of the race to become the competition's top intermediate.
There was also time for a DMP Tourno, and again it was Simonetta who took the pot.
09/05/14: Welcome, Ruth!
News has just reached Bristol Backgammon of the recent arrival, somewhere in Wiltshire, of Ruth Catriona Ann Holness.
Many congratulations to Richard and Fiona!
09/05/14: ALL THE NEWS FROM MAY GRAND PRIX NIGHT ......
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, including the fifteen who contested the fifth of this year's Monthly Grand Prix tournaments.
09/05/14: Michi lives up to star billing ......
Michihito Kageyama is a semi-regular visitor to Bristol, thanks to the friendships forged with Roland and Simonetta Herrera.
His latest visit, which included a seminar at the Herreras' home on Monday, has coincided with the release of the latest list of "World Backgammon Giants", where he has reached a career high of #2!
The list, which is compiled by ballot as there is no unified world ranking system, features a few players who have played in Bristol in the past, notably #1 Masayuki Mochizuki, #7 Lars Trabolt, #8 Bob Wachtel and #13 Paul Weaver, as well as the only two Brits in the 64-player list -- #38 Raj Jansari and #49 Julian Fetterlein.
So when Michi showed up at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, he would have been the bookies' immediate favourite.
This was a billing he lived up to, with victories over Paul Kirwin, Ed Turner -- who ran him extremely close -- and Simon Hughes paving the way for a final match against Miles Farren.
Miles had beaten John Chester, Roland and Neil Young to get there, and the semi-final was Neil's first defeat in monthly grand prix events this year.
After falling behind 1-7 in the final, Miles pegged things back to 5-7 before succumbing to a cruel double backgammon.
09/05/14: Roland wins consolation flight ......
Roland Herrera was the winner of Thursday's consolation flight, achieving that objective with victories over Steve Morris, Nick Barham and Ian Tarr.
09/05/14: Neil extends OGP lead after Ian discovers error......
Prior to updating the OGP table with Thursday's results, Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr discovered an error in the March updates.
The wrong points tariff had been used for that event, which should have carried slightly higher points rewards, as befits a tournament with a larger entry fee.
Principal beneficiary from this adjustment was March winner Jason Champion, whose points tally is now 20 higher than before.
Meanwhile, leader Neil Young did enough on Thursday to extend his lead from 5 points to 23 over second placed Simon Hughes, with Steve Morris a further 12 points back in third.
09/05/14: Rob still holds IGP lead ......
The absent Rob Brito still heads the IGP table, with John Chester and Chris Hughes breathing down his neck.
This could have been very different had the three intermediates in Thursday's tournament not failed to win a match between them.
09/05/14: No rollover to June ......
The £70 rollover from April's tournament prompted eleven of the fifteen starters in Thursday's event to invest in the Winner Takes All pool, bringing the total in the kitty up to a more than useful £180.
So when the four non-entrants of the pool were all eliminated by the end of the quarter-finals, hopes of a further rollover had been extinguished.
Meanwhile, Michihito Kageyama's tournament win means he has a place in the 2015 Bristol Masters booked.
Whether or not he will be available is another matter, of course, as it's a long commute from Japan to Bristol, for a £10 entry tournament!
09/05/14: Tough day for Stuart ......
Five times Premier League champion Stuart Mann had one of his worst days on Thursday, at the Bridge Inn, Yatton.
Losing a Premier One double header is a rare occurrence for Stuart, but add in the fact that he and his opponent Ed Turner had agreed to double up the first match as a Brunel Trophy third round match, this session comprised the equivalent of three important defeats.
The Brunel defeat was Stuart's second in the competition, meaning he becomes one of the latest casualties of the double elimination tournament.
Stuart has now lost six of his first ten league matches, which equals his worst ever start to a league campaign.
On the previous occasion -- in 2009 -- he managed to recover to finish third.
Another player to wave goodbye to this inaugural Brunel Trophy yesterday evening was Cynthia Roberts, who lost a hard fought match to Alex Hodge.
Just one match from the third round of this competition -- between Roland Herrera and Ian Tarr -- remains to be played before the deadline on May 22nd.
Further league action saw Andrew Cobb defeat Chrissy Carter 11-9 twice to propel himself towards the higher reaches of Premier Two Blue, while Nick Barham and Miles Farren used the time before the tournament to complete an unfinished Premier Two Red match, and then adjourn a second one.
Miles came out on top 11-9 in their first encounter, and also holds an advantage in the return match -- leading 7-3 -- as his promotion challenge gathers pace.
05/05/14: Andy wins to take CTGP lead
The outstanding final of Thursday's Clock Tournament Grand Prix event was played at the Alma Tavern, Clifton, today.
In a close match Andy Boysan emerged with the victory to overtake the vanquished Chris Hughes at the top of the CTGP table.
02/05/14: Andy and Chris make clock tournament final
Sixteen players were in action on Thursday, including the thirteen who contested the latest Clock Tournament Grand Prix event.
In Premier One Chas Perry and Mike Smith played out a double header, and it was Mike who emerged with a pair of much needed victories.
John Chester and Angie Vick started a Conference match, which was adjourned at 6-2 to John to enable him to play in the main event.
Andy Boysan and Steffen Nowak also found some time before the tournament to play their third round Brunel Trophy match, and Andy was the victor, Steffen becoming the latest player to exit the double elimination event.
In the clock tournament, Andy and Chris Hughes fought their way through the draw, and will play the final some time soon.
Andy defeated Simonetta Herrera, Cynthia Roberts and Ian Tarr, while Chris was getting past Ed Turner, Simon Hughes and Nick Barham.
Steffen won the consolation flight, defeating Simon in the final.
Chris now leads the CTGP table, and a final win would put him 60 points clear of second placed Richard Owsley.
A defeat, however, would see Andy taking over the top spot.
30/04/14: Steffen tops Premier One; Chrissy out of Brunel
There were three matches played this evening.
At the Portcullis Phil Charlton and Steffen Nowak traded Premier One victories, which was enough for Steffen to move back into pole position at Gaz Owen's expense.
And at the Bristol County Sports Club Chrissy Carter made her exit from the Brunel Trophy, losing 7-11 to Richard Owsley, who still has a clean record in the double elimination knock-out competition.
28/04/14: League wins for Pearl and Chris
There were nine players in Monday action, including the eight at the Bristol County Sports Club who entered the final phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, which took the form of two four player 3-point round robins.
A Premier Two Blue match took place at the Inn on the Green, Horfield, where Pearl Foster and Neil Young met.
Pearl scored an 11-4 victory.
A Conference League match started before the advertised event and ended after it.
This involved Chris Hughes and Horst Stenzel, and it ultimately came down to a close bear off at DMP.
Chris edged home.
Pots were shared in both of the four player groups -- by Roland Herrera and Neil in one group, John Chester and Ian Tarr in the other.
Ian did enough to hold off the opposition for the SGP main prize, finishing 20 points head of second placed Roland, while Chris finished nearly 77 points ahead of the next best of the intermediates in the competition, John.
25/04/14: Ian wins GP30 tournament
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, including the twelve who entered the second of the series of four GP30 tournaments.
Before the tournament Simon Hughes and Neil Young played out the final of the April Grand Prix tournament, where Neil scored an emphatic win.
Neil displaces Steve Morris at the top of the OGP table, having only contested two of the four events.
He has won both of those, defeating Simon in the final on both occasions.
In the GP30 event Roland Herrera received a bye, and then defeated Drew Caudwell and John Chester to reach the final.
In the long half of the draw Ian Tarr emerged as his final opponent after wins over Chris Hughes, Simonetta Herrera and Rob Wills, and the pair eventually adjourned to "Chez Herrera" to play the final, which Ian won 9-5.
Ian leads the GP30 table, with Roland second and January winner Stuart Mann third.
Tony Walters narrowly beat Chris Hughes in the final of the consolation flight.
There were also three league matches played -- Simon beating Ed Turner in Premier One, while Richard Owsley and Paul Watts were sharing the spoils of a Premier Two Red double header.
And the first of the third round Brunel Trophy matches was played, James Newman hanging onto his place in the double elimination knock-out by defeating Simonetta, who also has a life left.
23/04/14: Miles wins in Clifton; two close matches in Staple Hill
In a Premier Two Red match at Somerset House, Princess Victoria Street, this evening Miles Farren won a hard fought match 11-8 against Fred North.
Meanwhile Phil Charlton and Mike Smith were fighting out a tough Premier One double header at the Cross Hands, Staple Hill.
Phil won the first match 11-8 and started well in the second, only for Mike to hit back with an 11-9 victory.
18/04/14: Richard continues recovery
Having started his Premier Two Red campaign with just two victories from seven matches, Richard Owsley scored his second and third wins in two days when he clinched a league double over Eamonn Reay at the Bristol County Sports Club this afternoon.
18/04/14: Tim earns Brunel bye
Before last night's clock blitz event one important piece of business needed to be transacted.
This was the draw for the third round of the Brunel Trophy, with thirteen of the starting field of eighteen players surviving the double elimination format.
With an odd number of players, that meant the first bye of the competition, which went -- according to the rules -- to the player with the best record in terms of matches won, with a tie-break of matches won by opponents.
That player was Tim Line, who will find himself sitting pretty in round four with an undefeated record.
The six pairings drawn (with care being taken to avoid repeat pairings from previous rounds), with numbers of defeats so far in parentheses, were:
Andy Boysan(1) versus Steffen Nowak(1); Chrissy Carter(1) versus Richard Owsley(0); Stuart Mann(1) versus Ed Turner(1); Cynthia Roberts(1) versus Alex Hodge(0); Simonetta Herrera(0) versus James Newman(1); Ian Tarr(1) versus Roland Herrera(0).
Matches are to be played by Thursday May 22nd, the date of the fourth round draw, when there could be anything between seven and eleven survivors.
18/04/14: Adrian, Nick and Roland cash at Clock Blitz evening
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, including the twelve who contested tha second of six Clock Blitz Grand Prix events.
Prior to the blitz action, there were a couple of important matches played.
The last of the second round Brunel Trophy matches saw Andy Boysan eliminate Eamonn Reay from the competition, leaving a field of thirteen players remaining in the double elimination competition.
And the outstanding main flight semi-final from last week's Monthly Grand Prix tournament was won by Simon Hughes, who now meets Neil Young in the final.
Simon's defeat of Steve Morris means that there is a £70 Winner Takes All pool rollover at the May event.
There were also a couple of league matches played alongside the evening's main event -- Ed Turner pipping Steve 11-10 in Premier One, and Richard Owsley also scoring a narrow victory, over Andy Brown in Premier Two Red.
In the blitzes there were two six player groups, playing five matches each.
Group A looked the tougher of the two on paper, and Nick Barham and Roland Herrera did well to win four matches apiece, sharing the pot.
Adrian Barnes, who enjoys this particular format, drew a total blank at the equivalent February event, but bounced back to take Group B outright with four wins.
Nick and Roland now jointly lead the CBGP, with Simon in third and Peter Thistlewood fourth.
15/04/14: Spoils shared at Kellaway Avenue
Phil Charlton visited Kellaway Avenue this evening for a Premier One double header.
He scored an 11-7 victory in the opening match, but hostess Simonetta Herrera struck back to win the return 11-6.
15/04/14: Slatts makes British Open final
He may only have made the quarter-finals in Bristol on Thursday, but John Slattery made better progress at BIBA's British Open in Nottingham at the weekend.
He got all the way to the final, where he was defeated by Martin Barkwill.
Stuart Mann also had some success, winning the Last Chance flight.
14/04/14: Maiden league win for Horst
There were ten players in Monday action at the Bristol County Sports Club, including the seven who contested the penultimate phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a Tric Trac Tourno.
In league action were Andy Brown and Paul Watts, who played a Premier Two Red match, which Paul won 11-9.
And John Chester and Horst Stenzel completed their adjourned Conference League match -- Horst winning 11-8, his first success in league backgammon.
The Tric Trac Tourno saw the pot shared between John and Simonetta Herrera, who scored seven points each.
Ian Tarr's SGP lead has narrowed to just under 17 points, with Simonetta and Roland Herrera both in with a great chance of claiming the title in a fortnight's time.
Chrissy Carter appeared late to take part in an impromptu DMP Tourno, which Roland won.
13/04/14: Has Hotmail branded Bristol Backgammon as a spammer?
It appears that email addresses at both hotmail.com and hotmail.co.uk are not getting Bristol Backgammon emails, as they are considered spam.
The emails will continue to be sent, but Director Ian Tarr apologises to anyone who is not getting the requested level of information until the problem can be resolved.
12/04/14: Thursday saw the return of Slatts!
There were twenty-two players in Thursday action, including the twenty-one who contested the fourth of this year's Monthly Grand Prix tournaments.
The exception was Cecilia Sparke, who met Neil Young to play an early evening Premier Two Blue match at Colston Yard.
Cecilia won 11-4 to give her promotion campaign a much needed boost.
Among the twenty-one tournament starters was a gentleman resplendent in a bright orange outfit.
No, not Ed Turner -- this was none other than former European champion John Slattery, visiting from Thailand accompanied by his good friend and ours, Rosey Bensley.
John, of course, used to be a regular visitor to our events, which he graced between November 2000 and August 2007.
After two victories he fell to Steve Morris in the quarter-finals, Steve earning the "approval" of Director Ian Tarr as finishing the tournament by normal means -- given the nature of John's flying visit -- may have proved difficult!
Steve will meet Simon Hughes in the semis (date, time and place not yet decided), while Neil -- in the "short" part of the draw -- is awaiting the victor in the final.
Chris Hughes won the consolation flight, beating James Newman in the final.
Steve thus maintains his overall OGP lead, while Neil and Simon, the others with an ongoing interest in this tournament, are in second and third.
A semi-final victory would ensure that Steve stays top, while a defeat would see him lose that position to the final winner.
The absent Rob Brito still leads the IGP, but both John Chester and Chris are now in hot pursuit.
Neutrals will hope for anything but a Steve final victory, as this would mean a £70 Winner Takes All pool rollover to May.
09/04/14: Phil wins at the Portcullis; Steffen keeps Brunel hopes alive
In a Premier One match at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, this evening Phil Charklton brought an end to Ian Tarr's winning league sequence, winning 11-5.
And at the Bristol County Sports Club Steffen Nowak made sure he would be in the third round draw of the Brunel Trophy double elimination event by defeating Chrissy Carter 11-2.
This was Chrissy's first defeat in the competition, so she too will be in the draw.
07/04/14: Chris closes on Spring Grand Prix leaders
Ten players were in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, which meant two five player 3-point round robins were the order of the day in the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
And Chris Hughes once again took the plaudits with a clean sweep in his group.
The other was more complicated, as Sarah Hayes won three out of four to head the table.
But whereas the honour of winning was hers, the prize money wasn't, as she had elected to take the no-pay option.
This meant a three way pot split between John Chester, Ian Tarr and Lotte Ryan, who was making her first appearance of the season.
Ian has slightly extended his SGP lead over second placed Simonetta Herrera, while Chris is now third.
Before the tournament John had finished off the Conference match with Horst Stenzel, which was adjourned last week.
Horst had led 6-2, so harboured hopes of a maiden league victory.
John struck back to pip Horst 11-10, however, and when tournament time came around, John also led the pair's next league match 5-4.
06/04/14: Nick claims Open seat
Thirty-five players gathered at the Grosvenor Casino, Anchor Road, Bristol on Sunday for the fourth in a series of qualifiers for the inaugural UKBGF UK Open.
After similar successful events in the Grosvenors at Brighton, London and Manchester it was the Bristol venue's turn to play host.
And it's fair to say that the event met expectations, as -- along with a host of local players -- there were visitors from North Devon, South Wales, Coventry, London, and even the Republic of Ireland.
Six unfortunates were drawn to play the extra round, in order to reduce the field to thirty-two, and among these was Julian Fetterlein.
Undaunted, Julian proceeded to make his way through the field, defeating Ed Turner, Tim Line, Jamie Degabriele (our Irish visitor), UKBGF "supremo" Peter Bennet and Andy Boysan to reach the final.
In the other half of the draw, it was Nick Barham who emerged from the pack, with wins over Alex Hodge, Chris Hughes, Cecilia Sparke and Marcus Wrinch.
In the final Nick moved 4-2 ahead, then 4-6 Crawford down, and Julian built a strong position with Nick's board beginning to crunch.
Nick got what was likely to be his only chance, and in what was to be the match's major turning point, rolled a tremendous double one, which both hit and remade a fifth home board point.
Julian danced often enough to eventually find himself well behind in the race, and the post-Crawford game went Nick's way for a famous "local" win.
Apart from the £10 and £20 side pools, which the two finalists scooped, Nick wins a UK Open championship flight seat worth a total of £250, plus one free night's hotel accommodation at that event.
Marcus, who had already won a seat at the Brighton event, won the £50 pool, with Peter taking the second prize.
Being a single flight tournament, there was a need for some side action, and there were three £10 jackpots, the first two of eight players, the third of four.
These were won respectively by Tony Walters, London's Aref Alipour and Derek Clew.
The results of all the flights can be seen here.
Some of the local players took the opportunity of sorting out some domestic issues after being eliminated.
Stuart Mann and Steve Morris played out an 11-point match which they believed they were doubling up as both a Premier One match and a Brunel Trophy match, something which is allowed under local rules but not often taken advantage of.
However, without the benefit of the usual information on tap, both failed to realise that they had already played both of their league matches!
So it was actually just a Brunel Trophy match, and with both having lost their first round matches in the double elimination competition, the 10-11 defeat sealed Steve's exit.
In Premier Two Red Miles Farren scored an 11-7 win over Richard Owsley, while Alex Hodge and Neil Young started a Premier Two Blue match, but adjourned it at 3-1 to Neil.
04/04/14: Chris wins round robin
There were just eleven players at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday, as some were no doubt saving themselves for Sunday's UK Open Qualifier.
Pre-tournament James Newman managed to defeat Ian Preston in the held over final of the March Handicap Trophy event, and his victory moves him to the top of the table in that competition.
Richard Owsley and Ed Turner opted to play their second round Brunel Trophy match, and it was Richard who registered a narrow victory, both players progressing to the third round of the double elimination event.
The advertised event -- the second of six Round Robin Grand Prix evenings -- saw just eight players compete, which meant a single round robin, where everyone played seven three point matches.
That would be a nice meaty competition for experienced players, but for some of those still feeling their way into competition it constituted a pretty gruelling workout.
Nevertheless the event was concluded just after midnight, and it was Chris Hughes who added to his 2014 success story by taking the pot with six wins out of seven, pipping Cynthia Roberts and Ian Tarr for the honour.
Ian takes over as RRGP leader, just ahead of Chris and James.
01/04/14: Four penalised at march 31st checkpoint
Four Premier League players fell foul of the first penalty and expungement checkpoint on March 31st.
In Premier One Phil Charlton and Tim Line incurred three and two penalty points respectively, while Simon Temme and Malcolm Patterson have been docked four points and one point respectively in Premier Two Blue.
All of these penalties can be clawed back by compliance with the May 31st checkpoint.
01/04/14: Cecilia wins at the Windmill
A Premier Two Blue encounter at the Windmill this evening saw an 11-4 victory for Cecilia Sparke over Mandy Macdonald.
01/04/14: Eighteen in Monday action
There were eighteen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday, including the eleven who contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, a DMP Tourno.
Two more players were eliminated from the double elimination event, the Brunel Trophy.
Nick Barham was pipped by Roland Herrera, while Peter Thistlewood succumbed to Alex Hodge, leaving fifteen of the starting field of eighteen still standing, with four second round matches still to be played.
In the leagues, there was play in three divisions.
Ed Turner and Ian Tarr played a Premier One match after the DMP Tourno, and Ian won 11-5.
There were three matches played in Premier Two Red, where Fred North scored a much needed victory over Simon Baker.
Miles Farren and Paul Watts fought out a double header, and honours were shared after two close matches.
And there were one and a half Conference League matches played -- John Chester's voracious appetite for action knowing no bounds.
He has now played twelve of the seventeen matches completed so far in this league, defeating Horst Stenzel 11-2, although Horst has the upper hand in the adjourned match, leading 6-2.
The eleven player DMP Tourno was very well contested -- so much so that it ended in an unlikely five way split!
Nick Barham, Andy Brown, Simonetta Herrera, Roland and Ian each won seven of their ten games.
Ian's SGP lead has stretched slightly to 28 points, with Simonetta second, Roland third, and three other players -- including Chris Hughes who still leads the race to be top intermediate in this competition -- within 100 points of the lead, with three events to go.
28/03/14: Ian's win signals record month for Bristol Backgammon
A Premier One encounter at St George's Hall, Redfield, this afternoon was the 206th Bristol Backgammon match to be played this month -- beating the previous all-time monthly record from March, 2009.
And league leader Gaz Owen suffered an unlikely defeat to Ian Tarr -- unlikely because Gaz has an excellent league record against Ian, and also because he seemed to have the victory sewn up at 9-6 ahead with the cube on two.
He got hit, and Ian recovered to clinch an 11-9 victory.
28/03/14: Steffen suffers first league defeats; Simon first out of Brunel Trophy
There were twenty-two players in action on Thursday, including the twenty who were at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Biggest news was the end of Steffen Nowak's winning Premier One sequence.
Having started the season with six straight victories, Steffen came a cropper in a double header with Steve Morris, who emerged with 11-7 and 11-8 wins to move into the nosebleed territory of second place.
Other top flight wins went to Simonetta Herrera, whose winning double header with Simon Hughes encompassed two different competitions, and Chas Perry, who defeated Phil Charlton 11-9 at the Portcullis, Staple Hill.
The Simonetta and Simon double header included their second round Brunel Trophy match, so Simon becomes the first player to go out of this double elimination event.
Earlier in the day James Newman had thought that dubious honour would be his, when his plight in the DMP game with Ian Tarr looked worse than desperate.
He managed to find a way to win, however, and the good news is that both players live to fight another day.
In Premier Two Blue Andrew Cobb and Peter Thistlewood also played a double header, and after Andrew romped to an 11-1 opening win, Peter struck back to win 11-7.
Nick Barham and James also tied up the final loose end from the March Grand Prix tournament, Nick winning the consolation final to move into third place in the OGP rankings.
The evening's advertised event was the second of six Handicap Trophy events, and fourteen toed the start line.
James, who defeated Drew Caudwell, Mandy Macdonald and Chris Hughes will meet handicap specialist Ian Preston in the main final.
Ian P, undaunted by the sponsor's decision that former Handicap Trophy champions should always have a zero handicap, made the most of receiving a bye, despatching John Chester and Ian Tarr.
James and Ian will probably play the final before next Thursday's tournament.
Richard Owsley won the consolation flight by beating Ed Turner and John after receiving a bye.
Chris still leads the Handicap Trophy table, but James will overhaul him if he wins the final.
27/03/14: More Premier Two results from Tuesday and Wednesday
Three more Premier Two results have come to light today.
In Premier Two Blue Andrew Cobb defeated Mandy Macdonald 11-10 at the Knights Templar on Tuesday.
And at the Pump House yesterday a Premier Two Red double header saw leader Andy Boysan suffer a brace of defeats at the hands of Simon Baker.
26/03/14: Pearl wins Yate local derby
Two Yate residents met for a Premier Two Blue match at the Brimsham Park pub.
And it was Pearl Foster who prevailed over James Newman 11-9.
26/03/14: Jason wins Lesters 90
The Cat and Wheel, Cheltenham Road, was the latest new venue for Bristol Backgammon this afternoon, when Jason Champion and Ian Tarr fought out the 11-points final of Lesters 90 -- a k a the March Grand Prix tournament.
There was an eight cube finish, as Jason powered from 7-4 ahead to victory.
Jason is thus the second qualifier for the 2015 Bristol Masters, while Steve Morris's place at the top of the OGP is safe for the moment.
25/03/14: Tuesday match round-up
There were six matches played at various locations on Tuesday.
The first of the second round Brunel Trophy matches took place in Stoke Bishop, where Cynthia Roberts hosted Tim Line.
Tim won, and has a clean record in the double elimination event, while Cynthia still has another "life".
In Premier One Stuart Mann met Chas Perry for a double header at the Ship, Park Row.
Stuart struck first, winning 11-4, and led the return before Chas made a comeback to win 11-10.
The Compass, Tormarton, saw some Premier Two Blue action, with Peter Thistlewood scoring an 11-9 win over Pearl Foster.
And a Premier Two Red double header was played out at the Fire Engine, Redfield, where Paul Watts scored two wins over Fred North.
25/03/14: Stuart withdraws from GP consolation
The held over consolation flight semi-final of the March Grand Prix will not take place after Stuart Mann withdrew.
Stuart left the tournament prematurely when faced with gargantuan delay, and -- given other commitments -- has now decided not to play his semi with James Newman.
James thus progresses to the final, albeit without OGP win points, where he meets Nick Barham.
25/03/14: Fifteen in Monday action
There were fifteen players in action yesterday, including the eleven who made it to the Bristol County Sports Club.
The other venues were the Hop Inn, Swindon, and the Windmill.
At the latter venue James Newman continued his impressive start to life in the Premier League with an 11-5 Blue Division victory over Mandy Macdonald.
While the Red Division Swindon local derby between Fred North and Dave Pym went Dave's way by a whisker.
Before the advertised event at the main venue Horst Stenzel got in his first two Conference League matches, suffering losses to John Chester and Chris Hughes.
And in the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix event there were two groups of three point round robins -- one of six players, one of five.
Three of the participants -- John Corrado, Alex Hodge and Hadi Kermani -- were making their first SGP appearances of the year, and two of them won their groups.
Hadi won the six player group with four wins out of five, while Alex completed a clean sweep in the five player group.
Ian Tarr's SGP lead was extended to almost 20 points, with Simonetta Herrera moving into second place.
Fourth placed Chris still has a cushion of more than 100 points in the race to finish as leading intermediate.
21/03/14: Victory for Mandy in Bradley Stoke
The Three Brooks in Bradley Stoke saw some Premier Two Blue action today.
Pearl Foster and Mandy Macdonald were the combatants, and it was Mandy who edged home 11-10.
21/03/14: Herreras in GP5 final; Gaz tops Premier League
There were twenty-one players in action on Thursday, including the fourteen who contested the second of six GP5 tournaments.
Gaz Owen moved to the top of Premier One at his grandmother's home in Bath, where Tim Line suffered an 8-11 defeat.
Earlier in the day in the same division Ian Tarr had beaten Stuart Mann 11-2 at the Bristol County Sports Club, where Steve Morris beat Simon Hughes 11-1 just before the tournament.
The Windmill and the Pump House were the venues for two Premier Two double headers.
At the former venue Alex Hodge moved to the top of Premier Two Blue with a brace of wins over Mandy Macdonald, while at the latter Dave Pym and Andy Boysan shared the spoils, which was enough to put Andy back into pole position in Premier Two Red.
There was also a loose end tied up at the main venue when Jason Champion defeated Richard Owsley to claim a place in the main flight final of the March Grand Prix tournament.
The GP5 event was dominated by Herreras.
Roland and Simonetta made it to the main flight final -- Simonetta defeating Angie Vick, Simon Hughes and Chris Hughes, while Roland was progressing via a bye and wins over Ian Tarr and John Corrado.
Roland won the final and now stands top of the GP5 rankings.
Richard won the consolation flight, defeating Cynthia Roberts and Jason before defeating Angie 5-1 in the final.
A special word for Angie, though, after she scored the best win of her short career when she beat Ian in the semis.
19/03/14: Nick goes top of Red Division
Four Premier Two Red matches have been played over the past couple of days.
Yesterday Sean Hopson ended a nightmare sequence of league defeats, stretching back into last season, when he defeated Paul Watts 11-4 at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Paul struck back to win the return 11-7.
Today at the same venue there was another double header, Simon Baker meeting Nick Barham.
Both matches were close, Simon winning the first 11-9, before succumbing 8-11 in the second.
That win was just enough to take Nick to the top of the league ahead of Andy Boysan on average points difference.
17/03/14: Major league milestone reached
Nineteen players were in action on Monday, eleven in the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Six league matches were also played, bringing the total number of Bristol league matches played since the first league started in 2000 to exactly 5,000!
The only action not to take place at the main venue was a Premier One encounter between Steve Morris and Gaz Owen at the Alma Vale Tavern. Gaz won 11-2 to exert a little pressure on leader Steffen Nowak.
In Premier Two Red there was a double header between Nick Barham and Dave Pym, where Nick scored an emphatic double success to move closer to leader Andy Boysan.
And in the parallel Blue Division there were setbacks for promotion hopefuls Cecilia Sparke and Alex Hodge, who suffered defeat at the hands of Peter Thistlewood and Malcolm Patterson respectively.
Meanwhile John Chester can celebrate.
He breached the 20 points barrier in the Conference League by beating Chris Hughes, thus becoming the second player this year to attain Premier Status for the 2015 season.
In the SGP, which featured a Tric Trac Tourno, Roland Herrera took the pot to move closer to the leading group in the table where a span of just over 80 points covers the first seven players.
Ian Tarr still holds a narrow lead, while Chris has a convincing lead as the top intermediate in the competition.
And Horst Stenzel has become the eighth player this year to sign up for the Conference.
14/03/14: Ian wins at the George and Dragon
At another new venue for Bristol Backgammon, the George and Dragon, Redfield -- to a backdrop of colourful local characters playing out their lives -- Ian Tarr defeated Chas Perry 11-6 this evening in a Premier One encounter.
14/03/14: ALL THE NEWS FROM LESTERS 90 NIGHT ......
Twenty-two players were action on Thursday, including the nineteen who contested the ninetieth Lesters Trophy tournament.
14/03/14: Ian awaits final opponent ......
One side of the main draw in Thursday's Grand Prix Tournament was held up badly when one of the three first round matches proved to be a marathon.
So Ian Tarr, who made it to the final via victories over John Chester, Miles Farren and Tim Line, will have to wait before he knows the identity of his opponent.
That will be one of Richard Owsley, who had to wait until around 9.30 before springing into tournament action, and Jason Champion.
14/03/14: Nick also awaiting consolation final opponent ......
And the delay also affected the consolation flight when the situation was exacerbated by the long first round match feeding the "odd" match which is usually the final match to feed the consolation anyway.
And the fact that this ultimately meant a re-match of the two players responsible for the delay was too much for one player, who went home rather than facing a monster gap in activity before the consolation semi.
Since general tournament conditions allow for semi-finals and finals to be rescheduled, this was OK, although he should have consulted the Director before departing.
So finalist Nick Barham will eventually face either Stuart Mann or James Newman.
14/03/14: Steve still holds OGP lead ......
February OGP leader Steve Morris is still in pole position after topping up his tally with 25 points on Thursday.
He would lose the lead if Ian Tarr were to win the outstanding final.
There are four other players within 35 points of the lead.
14/03/14: Rob extends IGP lead ......
Rob Brito extended his IGP lead to 55 points, by winning an all-intermediate clash against Dave Cank.
With 130 points, Rob is just 70 points away from ensuring he will play in next year's Premier League.
14/03/14: Rollover hopes rest with Richard ......
With the Winner Takes All pool starting again from scratch after being claimed last month, there were just five takers this time around.
But two of these -- Jason Champion and Ian Tarr -- still have an interest, so Richard Owsley carries the rollover hopes of the neutrals.
And whichever of the three players wins the tournament is assured of a place in the 2015 Bristol Masters.
14/03/14: Two will definitely exit Brunel Trophy ......
As a neutral, Miles Farren kindly performed the draw for the second round of the Brunel Trophy before Thursday's event.
Because of the double elimination element of the competition, all eighteen players who started round one are still in the second round draw.
But at least two players will be eliminated this time, as there are two pairings where both players lost their first round matches.
The meetings of Andy Boysan and Eamonn Reay and Steve Morris and Stuart Mann will therefore have an extra edge.
Two other pairings -- Ed Turner's meeting with Richard Owsley and the Cynthia Roberts versus Tim Line match -- are subject to the opposite scenario, with both players knowing they will be in round three no matter what.
Matches must be played by April 17th.
14/03/14: Tim suffers triple league reverse ......
Four Premier One matches were played at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday, and three of these involved Tim Line.
It was not a session Tim will remember with relish, however, as he lost all three encounters -- two with Ed Turner and one with Simon Hughes.
Stuart Mann was the victor in the other match, gaining some revenge for an earlier league defeat by Steve Morris by scoring an 11-2 win.
14/03/14: Blue Division top two defeated ......
The top two in Premier Two Blue, who had between them won fifteen of eighteen matches played before yestarday, both suffered defeat yesterday.
Leader Gary Plant succumbed 9-11 to Pearl Foster at the Compass, Tormarton, while Alex Hodge picked up his adjourned encounter with James Newman at the Bristol County Sports Club.
The duo picked things up at 2-2, but it was James who had the better of things, winning 11-4.
And one Premier Two Red match was played at the club -- Miles Farren defeating James Lintell-Smith 11-6.
12/03/14: Ed off the mark
Ed Turner registered his first Premier One win of the season this evening at the Portcullis, Staple Hill.
Phil Charlton was his opponent and the score was 11-5.
12/03/14: Alex makes it seven in a row
Alex Hodge scored his seventh successive Premier Two Blue victory yesterday at the Bristol County Sports Club, when he defeated Pearl Foster 11-5.
11/03/14: Chas scores Port of Call double
John Corrado and Chas Perry met for a Premier One double header at the Port of Call, Clifton, this evening.
Chas took the opener 11-5, then went 9-4 ahead in the return.
John recovered well to go 10-9 ahead, but a gammon in the Crawford game was his undoing.
11/03/14: League wins for Simon, Alex and John
There were thirteen players in competitive action on Monday, with three league matches and the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix taking place.
At Channings Hotel Simon Hughes inflicted an 11-9 Premier One defeat on John Corrado.
Back at "HQ" Alex Hodge scored his sixth successive Premier Two Blue win, defeating Peter Thistlewood 11-7.
And Conference League leader John Chester moved to within a single point of ensuring his Premier Status for 2015 by defeating Tom Chapman 11-2.
Eight players lined up for the advertised SGP event, a pair of four player 3-point round robins.
The groups were won by Ian Tarr and Simonetta Herrera, and Ian has become the latest leader of this competition, which is arguably the closest ever Monday series.
Five other players are within 32 points of the lead, and eighth placed Roland Herrera, 115 points adrift, has the potential to join the leading group as he will not need to worry about discards for a few weeks, having only contested four of the events so far.
There was also time for a seven player DMP Tourno, where the pot was shared by Simonetta and Bahman Salahshour.
08/03/14: Double for Steve at the Kensington Arms
In a Premier One double header at the Kensington Arms on Friday Steve Morris twice beat John Corrado by an 11-9 scoreline.
07/03/14: Double celebration for Chris
There were nineteen players in various kinds of action yesterday.
Fifteen contested the second of this year's six Clock Grand Prix tournaments, while four league matches were played, and the first round of the Brunel Trophy was completed in good time for next week's second round draw.
Cynthia Roberts and Richard Owsley were the victors in the last two of the opening round Brunel Trophy matches, guaranteeing themselves involvement until the third round at the very least, because of the double elimination format.
Earlier in the day Gaz Owen moved to within three points of Premier One leader Steffen Nowak when he defeated Mike Smith at the Cross Hands, Fishponds.
And in Premier Two Red Simon Baker became the last of the thirty-seven Premier League players to start their 2014 league campaigns when he defeated Eamonn Reay 11-2 at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Later on, just before the tournament, Red Division leader Andy Boysan and James Lintell-Smith picked up an adjourned match from 6-6, and it was James who won 11-9.
Another adjourned match to be completed was in the Conference where leader John Chester wrapped up an 11-2 win over Angie Vick.
In the clock tournament Chris Hughes scored another encouraging result, making the most of being the only player to receive a bye before defeating Andy, Steve Morris and James to win the event.
And if that wasn't enough, Chris had another reason to celebrate, having become the first intermediate player this year to attain Premier Status in readiness for the 2015 season.
His qualification came via the Premier Status Race, which rewards all round performance in a number of competitions.
Richard Owsley defeated Ed Turner, Ian Tarr and John Chester to win the consolation flight, thus increasing his CTGP lead from 20 points to 30.
06/03/14: Wednesday's league round-up
There were five league matches played in various locations yesterday.
Mike Smith played host to Steve Morris in St Werburghs, and honours were even in their Premier One double header.
At the Windmill Mandy Macdonald scored her first Premier Two Blue win of the season against Chrissy Carter.
And Eamonn Reay's latest visit from Galway has so far proved more productive than his last couple, with two Premier Two Red victories already under his belt -- Fred North and Sean Hopson being the victims.
05/03/14: Yesterday was a good day for league leaders
Tuesday saw six Premier League matches played.
And five of those featured victories for league leaders!
In the top flight Steffen Nowak is setting a brisk pace, and he added two victories to the four he already had under his belt when he met Mike Smith at the Barley Mow.
The brace of 11-3 victories gave Steffen a six points lead.
In Premier Two Blue it's Gary Plant who appears to be the player to beat.
Only one player has managed that so far this season, while Gary has been clocking up eight wins, the latest of which occurred at Henbury Golf Club, where Peter Thistlewood was the victim.
And Andy Boysan has also won eight out of nine to head the Premier Two Red table, his double against Sean Hopson at the Pump House being his latest successes.
The other match played yesterday did not involve a league leader. It was a Premier One affair between Phil Charlton and Stuart Mann at the Portcullis, Staple Hill.
Stuart won 11-8 and both players now have break even records.
03/03/14: Nineteen in Monday competitive action
Monday saw nineteen players in various kinds of competition, with another four playing friendly matches.
In Premier One the Port of Call, Clifton, was the lunch time venue for a marathon match between John Corrado and Mike Smith, where John prevailed 11-10.
At the Bristol County Sports Club later there was further league action, with Alex Hodge inflicting a first Premier Two Blue defeat on James Newman. This was Alex's fifth successive league win.
And in the Conference League Tom Chapman made his league debut, only to lose 0-11 to leader John Chester.
Two Brunel Trophy matches were also completed, Roland Herrera defeating Steffen Nowak, before James suffered his second defeat of the evening -- to Ed Turner.
The advertised event -- the ninth of sixteen instalments of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix -- took the form of two six player DMP Tournos.
Here Bahman Salahshour and Peter Thistlewood took the pots with four wins apiece.
Bahman takes over the SGP lead, with Peter in second place, while Chris Hughes remains the competition's leading intermediate.
02/03/14: The Mike Smith Roadshow reaches the Three Tuns
For the second day in succession Mike Smith played out a Premier One double header this evening.
This time the venue was the Three Tuns and the opponent was Ian Tarr.
Mike won the opener 11-10, but succumbed 7-11 in the return.
He is playing a series of double headers over the next few days, so watch out for the results here.
01/03/14: Saturday's Premier One and Brunel action
Simonetta Herrera played her second Premier One double header in three days at the Wellington this afternoon.
Her opponent was Mike Smith -- making his first league appearance of the season -- and honours were shared when Simonetta won the first match 11-6, before Mike struck back to win the return 11-5.
Also played this afternoon was a Brunel Trophy match at the Pump House, where Ian Tarr overcame Andy Boysan 11-7.
28/02/14: Brunel win for Simonetta
Simonetta Herrera and Peter Thistlewood played their first round Brunel Trophy match at Simonetta's house today, and it was Simonetta who won, 11-6.
28/02/14: Steve wins held over February GP final
There were seventeen players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday.
Twelve took part in the advertised event -- the first of six Clock Blitz Grand Prix evenings -- while some league matches and the completion of the February Grand Prix tournament made up the big picture.
Steve Morris emerged as the OGP leader as the evening drew to a close when he pipped Tim Line in the 11-point final of the February tournament.
Tim had earlier reached the final by defeating Ian Tarr.
Steve had also been in action before that final, losing both halves of a Premier One double header against Simonetta Herrera.
The other league play involved Richard Owsley, who played out two Premier Two Red matches with mixed fortunes.
A 3-11 defeat at the hands of Fred North was followed by victory over Andy Brown by 11-6.
There was also most of a Brunel Trophy match played out, with Cynthia Roberts leading Simon Hughes 9-6 before the match was adjourned to make way for the clock blitz event.
That event saw two groups of six players doing battle, both of which saw the pot shared by players with four wins out of five.
So the first leaders of the CBGP are Nick Barham, Steffen Nowak, Roland Herrera and Simon.
26/02/14: Deja vu for Alex and Chrissy
There was a strange sense of deja vu at the Bristol County Sports Club this evening, when Alex Hodge scored an 11-8 Premier Two Blue victory over Chrissy Carter.
Monday's meeting of the pair had an identical outcome.
Alex is now in second place in the league table, behind Gary Plant, who also had an 11-8 win against Peter Thistlewood at Henbury Golf Club.
26/02/14: Phil starts with a win
Phil Charlton got his Premier One campaign off to a fine start with an 11-5 victory over league leader Gaz Owen at the Portcullis, Staple Hill, last night.
24/02/14: League wins for Alex, Rob and Dave
There were twelve players in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday evening.
Three league matches were played -- one in Premier Two Blue and two in the Conference League.
In the Blue Division Alex Hodge continued his recovery from a poor start to the season with his third successive victory, defeating Chrissy Carter 11-8.
Rob Brito managed two Conference matches -- starting with a comprehensive win over John Chester, but later falling victim to Dave Cank's first career league win.
In the advertised event, the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, there were two four player three point round robins.
Rob won one of these outright, while the other saw a sharing of the spoils by Drew Caudwell and Marcus Evans.
Drew has returned to the top of the SGP table, but four other players are within 13 points of him.
Chris Hughes, leader of the race to be top intermediate in the SGP, was absent on the night, and slipped from first to fourth overall.
23/02/14: James dents Cecilia's good start
In a double header at the Windmill yesterday 2013 Rookie of the Year James Newman scored a notable double Premier Two Blue success over Cecilia Sparke.
Cecilia, with a hitherto unblemished league record this year, was pegged back by 9-11 and 5-11 reverses, the first of which had resumed after being tantalisingly adjourned at 9-9.
So while Cecilia's record had read "played three, won three", James's now reads exactly that -- a highly satisfactory beginning, with all three wins gained at the expense of fancied promotion contenders.
21/02/14: Gaz and Andy top their leagues
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday -- twelve of them in the event at the Bristol County Sports Club -- the first of this year's Round Robin Grand Prix evenings.
In earlier league action -- a clash of the last two champions -- Gaz Owen moved to the top of Premier One with an 11-7 win over Simonetta Herrera at Kellaway Avenue.
The Hen and Chicken in Bedminster was the venue for a Premier Two Red double header between James Lintell-Smith and Paul Watts.
For James these were the ninth and tenth matches of his campaign, while Paul was playing his first league matches of the season.
Paul won twice to make it a promising start.
In the same division Andy Boysan and Richard Owsley played before the tournament, and Andy won 11-2 to go top of the league.
Also before the tournament Angie Vick completed her first ever league match in the Conference League, but suffered a whitewash defeat by Chris Hughes.
And to complete the pre-tournament action, one of the semi-finals from last Thursday's monthly grand prix tournament was played out, Steve Morris proving fortunate to profit from his own eccentric cubing to beat Nick Barham and secure a place in the final.
The round robins -- there were two of them, each with six players -- played out five 3-point matches apiece, and the groups were won by four match winners Andy Boysan and Ed Turner, who share the early lead in this competition.
20/02/14: Brunel victory for Chrissy
Chrissy Carter and Nick Barham opened their Brunel Trophy campaigns at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday evening.
And it was Chrissy who scored an 11-8 win.
19/02/14: Andy scores Hawkesbury Upton double
Andy Brown visited the Beaufort Arms, Hawkesbury Upton on Tuesday, and inflicted a pair of Premier Two Red defeats on Sean Hopson.
17/02/14: Blue Division wins for Gary, Cecilia and Alex
There were seventeen players in action on Monday, including fifteen at the Bristol County Sports Club.
The other two were Gary Plant and Mandy Macdonald at the Windmill, and Gary extended his Premier Two Blue lead with an 11-8 victory.
Cecilia Sparke has matches in hand, plus a 100% record, winning her third match of the season -- 11-7 over Chrissy Carter.
And Alex Hodge survived a doubling indiscretion to defeat Peter Thistlewood 11-10.
Meanwhile John Chester has lost for the first time in the Conference League. Chris Hughes beat him 11-2.
Eleven players contested the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, which consisted of two Nackgammon Tournos.
In one group was Chris Caudwell, appearing for the first time in just over seven years.
Simonetta Herrera won the five player group outright, while the spoils in the six player group were shared between Alan Parfitt and Ian Tarr.
Chris Hughes is the latest leader of the SGP table, as well as being the leading intermediate in the competition.
Bahman Salahshour and Ian are in hot pursuit.
14/02/14: Correction: Rob Wills has Premier Status
The articles below about yesterday's action have now been corrected.
I mistakenly assumed that the returning Rob Wills had no credentials regarding Premier Status, but a check through the records reveals that he once had a Gammonitis ranking of over 1600.
This means he is already qualified to play in our Premier League, which is good in one way, but also a shame because he will now have to wait until next season to get that chance.
14/02/14: FEBRUARY GRAND PRIX NIGHT ROUND-UP ......
Twenty-five players were in various kinds of action on Thursday, including the nineteen who contested the February Grand Prix event.
14/02/14: Semi-finals still to play in main flight ......
Long(ish) distance travelling was a factor in the failure of the February Grand Prix tournament to get beyond the quarter-final stage.
So semi-final battle will be resumed at some stage between Steve Morris and Nick Barham and Ian Tarr and Tim Line.
14/02/14: Returning Rob wins consolation flight ......
It's been a long time since Rob Wills graced us with his presence.
In fact you have to go back to April 2004 to find a trace of him in our ever lengthening records.
Rob has returned to the area and we are likely to see a lot more of him from now on.
He may have exited the main flight last night at the first hurdle -- to long time adversary Stuart Mann -- but he notched a flight win when he contested the consolation flight, defeating Drew Caudwell and John Chester, before vanquishing Roland Herrera in the final.
Roland had received an unusual quarter-final bye (in a ten player flight!), when it emerged that Dave Cank had been informed by his main flight opponent that his interest in the tournament was over.
Tim Line had bravely stepped in as Trainee TD -- as part of the declared policy to get more players used to presiding over tournaments -- and this episode highlighted the difficulty of new TDs playing as well as officiating.
In a training exercise, there is more to be learned from mistakes than when things run smoothly, so the fact that Dave's departure caused a minor problem was actually beneficial from that viewpoint, if not from Dave's!
14/02/14: Neil still leads OGP, but February winner will overtake him ......
January winner Neil Young was absent last night, but with the tournament not reaching completion, we will not know who leads the OGP until the tournament is completed.
Whichever of the four semi-finalists ends up winning the tournament will overtake Neil.
14/02/14: IGP boiling up nicely ......
The small clutch of new keen players is a boon to Bristol Backgammon in more ways than one.
The arrival of John Chester, Rob Brito, Chris Hughes and Dave Cank not only boosts the entry to tournaments, but it also makes many of our long running competitions far more interesting.
The IGP is a case in point.
In some recent years it has been something of a damp squib, with relatively few intermediates contesting monthly grand prix tournaments.
But this year's competition has already shown signs of being a lot more healthy, with all four intermediates last night scoring useful points.
Rob has the lead, but John, Chris and Dave are all within striking distance.
14/02/14: WTA pool of £250 means no rollover to March ......
After three rollovers sparked an upsurge of interest in the Winner Takes All pool, it was almost inevitable that a further rollover would not happen.
And with fourteen players boosting the pool to a very handy £250, Richard Owsley was the only non-pool entrant in the quarter-finals.
Whereupon his defeat by Nick Barham finally scotched that rollover notion.
Meanwhile there was good news for the absent Neil Young.
Seven of the eight £10 entry monthly grand prix tournaments qualify for a 2015 Bristol Masters place.
The one to miss out will be the one with the smallest entry, so the 23-player January tournament is now confirmed as a valid vehicle for qualification.
14/02/14: Gaz, Simon and Peter win league matches ......
There was more action during the day and the evening.
Gaz Owen started to press his Premier One leadership claim with two emphatic wins -- first against John Corrado in Kingswood, then against Chas Perry at Colston Yard.
Simon Hughes managed his first league win of the season, starting against Steve Morris before the tournament, and completing the win during a lull in play.
Peter Thistlewood won a tight encounter with Mandy Macdonald in Premier Two Blue, while a Red Division match between Miles Farren and Andy Boysan got under way, before being adjourned due to a family emergency for Andy, with Miles leading 5-0.
Angie Vick started her first ever Conference League match -- against leader John Chester -- but this had to be adjourned as well, due to the start of the tournament, with John leading 8-1.
And there was another Brunel Trophy match completed before the main event -- Tim Line inflicting defeat on Stuart Mann.
13/02/14: Awards Night photos now online!
Photos from last Thursday's Awards Night are online, and viewable here.
Roland and Simonetta's efforts in both doing the photography and editing the results so promptly are very much appreciated.
12/02/14: Stuart off the mark; Alex and Steve make history
The Port of Call, Clifton, was the venue for a Premier One match at lunch-time today.
And Stuart Mann scored his first league victory of the season -- 11-6 at John Corrado's expense.
And the first ever result from the Brunel Trophy is in.
It was an 11-9 victory for Alex Hodge over Steve Morris at the Bristol County Sports Club.
11/02/14: Nick tops Red Division
Ten players were in action at the Bristol County Sports Club on Monday.
Nine took part in the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix -- a couple of 3-point round robin groups.
There were also three league matches played during the session.
In the leagues, Nick Barham edged ahead of Andy Boysan at the top of Premier Two Red with an 11-4 win over Andy Brown.
Chrissy Carter made it three wins out of four in her debut Premier League season, defeating Peter Thistlewood 11-2.
And John Chester made it four wins out of four in the Conference League, defeating Chris Hughes 11-6.
In the round robins, Ian Tarr won all four of his matches in the five player group to take the spoils, while Peter completed a mixed evening by scoring a clean sweep in the four player group.
Bahman Salahsour extended his narrow SGP lead to seven points over new second placed player Chris Hughes, who is also the competition's leading intermediate.
Peter and Drew Caudwell are also well within striking distance.
There was also time for an impromptu three player DMP Tourno, and Ian won this too.
07/02/14: Thirty enjoy fourteenth Annual Awards Night
On Thursday at the BCSC it was the Annual Awards Night, enjoyed by no fewer than thirty players.
There was the free buffet, Ian Tarr's Bristol Backgammon Review of 2013 punctuated by the distribution of the majority of the ninety or so prizes, the draw for the first round of this year's inaugural Brunel Trophy, and a DMP Tourno started by fifteen players but finished by only fourteen.
Six league matches were played during the session, while three others were played elsewhere.
While the destiny of the vast majority of prizes was known beforehand, there are some prizes which come as a surprise.
These went to James Newman (Rookie of the Year), John Corrado (Most Improved Player), Cecilia Sparke (Sportsperson of the Year), Andy Boysan (Rankings Jump Award), and Simonetta Herrera (Ladies Prize).
Steve Morris and Tim Line scored Premier One victories over Stuart Mann and Gaz Owen respectively.
There were five Premier Two Red matches played, including a double header between James Lintell-Smith and Dave Pym at the Pump House, where honours were shared.
Nick Barham scored a brace of wins over Eamonn Reay, and Andy Boysan defeated Richard Owsley.
In Premier Two Blue Gary Plant and Neil Young met at the Anchor, Gloucester Road, and Gary won narrowly.
One Conference League match took place, John Chester opening up a seven point lead with victory over second placed Rob Brito.
And Angie Vick became the seventh player to sign up for this league.
The DMP Tourno resulted in a three way tie.
04/02/14: Gary and Andy win again
There were seventeen players in various kinds of action on Monday.
At the Bristol County Sports Club ten contested a Tric Trac Tourno, the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, while three played friendly games.
Meanwhile, at two other locations, the leaders of Premier Two Blue and Premier Two Red were recording victories to progress their campaigns.
The Compass, Tormarton, was the venue for Gary Plant's latest win in the Blue Division -- 11-8 over Pearl Foster -- while closer to "home territory" it was the Pump House which played host to Andy Boysan's narrow Red Division win over Andy Brown.
There was also league action at the main venue, where the Conference League season begins to gather pace.
John Chester stays top after a comeback win over Dave Cank, while Rob Brito opened his campaign with a hard fought victory over Chris Hughes.
Overall it was a good night for Rob, whose eleven points haul was also enough to give him the pot in the Tric Trac Tourno.
Previous leader Drew Caudwell just failed to hold on to his overall lead in the SGP, Bahman Salahshour moving top by a mere half a point.
Chris Hughes is close behind in third place, and still has the lead in the race to be leading intermediate in this competition.
Sarah Hayes, after a couple of practice sessions in the past two weeks, took the plunge into competition this time, and performed very creditably, finishing in equal third place of the ten contestants.
Her son, Zach Hayes, made his first appearance, and -- along with friend Lantz White -- was put through his paces by Director Ian Tarr.
31/01/14: Chris makes second Thursday final -- and wins
Chris Hughes has not been amongst us for very long.
But last night he made a Thursday final for the second time in a month, and this time he came out on top.
The occasion was the first of the year's six Ed Turner sponsored Handicap Trophy tournaments, with a field comprising twenty of the twenty-three players who were in action yesterday.
Chris's victims were John Chester, Simonetta Herrera, James Newman and -- in the final -- Drew Caudwell, another player who has had a very good January.
Drew had defeated Steve Morris, Derek Clew and Nick Barham en route to the final.
Ian Tarr won the consolation flight with victories over John, Angie Vick and Neil Young.
A special mention has to be made of Angie, who won a match for the very first time, and as luck would have it, the vanquished foe was none other than her other half, Ed (albeit with a 4-point starting advantage)!
Neil had a marathon backgammon session at the club, arriving around lunch-time and eventually getting in no fewer than eight matches.
Before the tournament he played three Premier Two Blue matches, sharing the spoils of a double header with Simon Temme before beating Mandy Macdonald.
There was also a Premier One double header at the Star and Dove, where Simon Hughes started his league campaign.
But he's off the mark with a couple of defeats, as Steffen Nowak looks to repeat his 2013 start.
Steffen set the pace early on last season before imploding, but with four wins out of four he is now building the platform to try and do better this time around.
28/01/14: Twenty in Monday action
There were twenty players in various different kinds of action on Monday -- eighteen of them at the Bristol County Sports Club.
The held over final of last week's GP30 event saw two of Bristol's very finest -- Roland Herrera and Stuart Mann -- lock horns, and after trailing for the majority of the match it was Stuart who edged home at DMP to take the early GP30 lead.
Seven league matches were played -- two of them in the afternoon at Andrew Cobb's home, where honours were even between the host and early Premier Two Blue leader Gary Plant.
Later at the club Neil Young suffered a brace of defeats in that division, adjourning at 6-9 down to Chrissy Carter to enable Chrissy to take part in the round robins, before tackling Premier League debutant James Newman.
The result was the narrowest of wins for James, after which Neil resumed his match against Chrissy, who also claimed the three points.
In Premier Two Red Andy Brown continued his encouraging start to the season by inflicting a first league defeat on Nick Barham.
And the second match of the Conference League season saw John Chester scoring an 11-2 win over Chris Hughes.
Nine players toed the start line for the latest phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, which featured 3-point round robins.
That meant one group of five, and one of four, and both groups saw the spoils shared.
In the five player group it was Drew Caudwell and Bahman Salahshour who scored three wins apiece, while the four player group winners were Chris and Simonetta Herrera, who each won twice.
So while previous SGP leader Roland turned his back, five players overhauled him.
And it's Drew now in pole position, followed closely by Bahman, Chris, Simonetta and Peter Thistlewood.
Sarah Hayes and Lantz White were also there again for friendly games, including a session with Director Ian Tarr.
25/01/14: Gary starts league campaign and goes top
A Premier Two Blue double header took place yesterday, which saw Gary Plant play his first two league matches of the season, winning both to go top of the league.
His opponent was Malcolm Patterson, whose start to the season now stretches to four defeats.
Action began at the Westbury Park Tavern, and continued at Malcolm's Bishopston home.
24/01/14: Success already for our West of Ireland branch!
Eamonn Reay and Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr have been known to refer jokingly to the distant (from us) backgammon outpost of Galway as Bristol Backgammon's West of Ireland branch.
Not very long ago that branch consisted merely of Eamonn, but recently things have begun to take off with a vengeance.
Eamonn's local advertising campaign initially bore no fruit, but over the past few months players are gravitating towards the growing group, which suddenly averages five attendees of the seven who have appeared so far.
The calendar of events bears the odd resemblance to Bristol competition, with monthly grand prix tournaments, handicap events, and a new league with a format based on our very own Conference League.
And now the best news of all!
Three Galway players went to Dublin last weekend to play amongst a field of 23 in the Dave Coyne Memorial event.
Not only did all three register victories, but one of them, Joe McGinley, went on to win the event, defeating Brendan Burgess en route to the final, and Dave "Cracker" McNamara in the final itself.
Definitely one of the more heart-warming stories to emerge from the world of backgammon in recent times.
24/01/14: Stuart and Roland to contest opening GP30 final
There were fourteen players in Thursday action at the Bristol County Sports Club -- ten of them making up a very strong field in the year's opening GP30 tournament.
Roland Herrera and Stuart Mann made it through to the final, Roland via wins over Marcus Wrinch, Ian Tarr and Drew Caudwell, while Stuart benefitted from a bye before vanquishing John Chester and Steve Morris.
The final was held over, may well be played at the Monday club session, and the winner will take the early GP30 lead.
Nick Barham won the consolation flight, beating John and Simonetta Herrera.
Three league matches were also played during the session.
Chas Perry made his Premier One debut, and celebrated with an 11-5 victory over Ed Turner.
And there was a Premier Two Red double header between Richard Owsley and Dave Pym, where Dave struck the first blow, winning 11-9, only for Richard to bite back with an 11-8 success.
21/01/14: Alex off the mark
Alex Hodge this evening defeated Malcolm Patterson 11-6 at the Bristol County Sports Club to kick start his Premier Two Blue season.
21/01/14: And Tom makes six
Tom Chapman today signed up for this year's Conference League -- the sixth player to do so.
This means that every player signed up so far has at least a theoretical chance to play twenty league matches this season.
And with more players expected to sign up soon, the prospects for this year's competition are looking good.
21/01/14: Fourteen in Monday action
There were fourteen players in various kinds of action on Monday evening -- twelve of them at the Bristol County Sports Club.
Andrew Cobb and Pearl Foster met at the Compass, Tormarton, for a Premier Two Blue double header, and the honours were fairly even with Pearl winning 11-9 before succumbing 2-11 in the return encounter.
The main venue Premier Two Red saw a battle of the Andy Bs, with Andy Brown scoring an 11-8 victory over Andy Boysan.
Seven players fought out the evening's advertised event, a DMP Tourno.
Here the plaudits were shared by Chrissy Carter and Drew Caudwell with five wins apiece.
This moved both players closer to the sharp end of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix table, where Roland Herrera -- absent yesterday -- still holds the lead.
Peter Thistlewood leads a well populated chasing group.
The other three players present included two very welcome debut players -- Sarah Hayes and Lantz White -- who were guided through some friendly games by Director Ian Tarr.
19/01/14: Conference under way in Bedminster
The Hare in Bedminster was the venue when this year's Conference League got under way yesterday evening.
Chris Hughes scored an emphatic -- and by his own admission, lucky -- victory over Jude Pitt.
18/01/14: Knock-out final wins for Neil and Richard
Both knock-out loose ends were neatly tied up today in North Bristol.
At Kellaway Avenue Richard Owsley scored a 7-4 victory over Simonetta Herrera in the January Clock Grand Prix tournament main final to become the early leader in that competition.
And later, at the Anchor, Gloucester Road, Neil Young pleased a few neutrals by defeating Simon Hughes in the main final of Thursday's monthly Grand Prix event.
That's because Neil's win means a handy £110 Winner Takes All pool rollover to the February tournament.
Neil also takes a 50 points OGP lead plus the near certainty of a place in the 2015 Bristol Masters.
17/01/14: Mixed fortunes as Simonetta starts her title defence
Simonetta Herrera's Premier League title defence started well today with an 11-8 victory over five times champion Stuart Mann at Kellaway Avenue.
But John Corrado was her next visitor, and he celebrated his top flight debut with an 11-5 victory.
17/01/14: Simonetta and Richard to contest clock tournament final
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, four in Premier Two matches, while fourteen toed the start line at the first of the year's six Clock Grand Prix events.
In that tournament Simonetta Herrera and Richard Owsley made it through to the main final -- Simonetta via wins over Chris Hughes, Drew Caudwell and Steve Morris, Richard defeating Eamonn Reay and Roland Herrera after receiving a bye.
This final will take place very soon.
The consolation final saw Andy Boysan defeating Dave Cank in the final after wins over Cynthia Roberts and Eamonn.
In Premier Two Red Eamonn had earlier played three more matches, but after his two yesterday he is still looking for his first league win of the season, having lost twice to Dave Pym at the Bristol County Sports Club and once to James Lintell-Smith at the Pump House.
Neil Young also kept his fine start to the year on course with a Premier Two Blue success against Malcolm Patterson at our main venue.
16/01/14: Peter starts with a win
Peter Thistlewood began his Premier Two career with an 11-8 victory over Chrissy Carter at the Bristol County Sports Club yesterday evening.
Click here for the embryonic Premier Two Blue table.
15/01/14: Andy goes top of Red Division
Andy Boysan moved to the top of Premier Two Red this evening with a brace of 11-7 victories over Eamonn Reay at the Pump House.
14/01/14: Win for James at the King Billy
James Lintell-Smith scored an 11-8 victory over Miles Farren at the King William Ale House this evening to continue his recovery from a rocky start to the Premier Two Red season.
13/01/14: Neil maintains unbeaten start to 2014
Neil Young was the star of the latest Monday session at the Bristol County Sports Club -- featuring a total of thirteen players -- defeating Nick Barham in the held over semi-final of last Thursday's tournament, before sweeping all before him in the 3-point round robin group he contested.
He will now meet Simon Hughes in the January Grand Prix final, where he will carry the best wishes of many neutrals who will be hoping for a Winner Takes All pool rollover.
Winning one of the two five player 3-point round robin groups outright with four wins out of four means that Neil has now played eight Bristol Backgammon matches since the turn of the year and won them all.
The other group saw the pot split between Roland Herrera and Chris Hughes, who each won three matches out of four.
Roland moves into the lead in the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, with Peter Thistlewood second, while Chris Hughes leads the race for the competition's leading intermediate.
There was also league action, with Chrissy Carter and Pearl Foster starting their 2014 Premier Two Blue campaigns.
Chrissy celebrated her Premier League debut with an 11-3 victory.
13/01/14: Stuart and Peter accept Brunel wild cards
The two "Director's Picks" authorised by the sponsor of the 2014 Brunel Trophy have been announced.
Stuart Mann and Peter Thistlewood will bring the number of contestants in the double elimination event up to eighteen.
Director Ian Tarr went for two of the players who were closest to qualifying -- Stuart simply because he is Bristol's number one player, and Peter because once the realisation had dawned upon him that he could qualify, he made a concerted late effort, but was just thwarted by a combination of circumstances.
10/01/14: Calling potential Conference League players!
Six of last year's Conference League players are no longer eligible for that league, because they achieved Premier Status through their 2013 efforts.
Four completely new league players have already signed up for the 2014 season -- and Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr is confident of many more joining up as the season progresses.
Rob Brito, John Chester, Chris Hughes and Jude Pitt are raring to go for the new season.
If you are interested, contact Ian for details.
10/01/14: Biggest turnout since May 2010
There were twenty-five players competing at the Bristol County Sports Club and two more playing friendly matches -- making it the largest competitive turnout since May 2010.
Twenty-three contested the opening Bristol Grand Prix tournament of the year, while two others were in league action.
Dave Cank -- one of four intermediates in the competition -- was making his Thursday debut.
The main flight saw Simon Hughes make the final, defeating Peter Thistlewood, Cynthia Roberts and Rob Brito in the process.
He won't know who he meets in the final until Nick Barham and Neil Young play their outstanding semi -- Nick having got past Richard Owsley, Andy Boysan and Tim Line, while Neil was despatching Dave Cank, Derek Clew and Steve Morris.
Stuart Mann won the consolation flight, eclipsing Ed Turner, Richard Owsley, Simonetta Herrera and Roland Herrera.
Simon holds the OGP lead, with 65 points, 10 ahead of Neil and Nick.
Pride of place in the IGP goes to Rob, whose 70 points tally includes 30 bonus points for beating Premier Status players. John Chester is second, some 35 points behind.
The Winner Takes All pool, where the meagre £30 rollover from December was augmented to £110, will only roll over again if Neil wins the tournament, as both Simon and Nick have an interest in this.
The league action was from Premier Two Red, where Andy Boysan beat James Lintell-Smith, who later defeated Fred North.
Andy and James also have an adjourned match, which stands at 6-6.
Also present was Jude Pitt, who was too late to enter the tournament, but the good news is that she has signed up for the Conference League.
It was Jude's first visit since April 2008.
08/01/14: League wins for Nick, Steffen and Gaz
The Premier League season has started slowly, but five matches have been played during the past couple of days.
Yesterday there was a double header at the Dragon Inn, Weston-super-Mare, where Nick Barham became the first leader of Premier Two Red after defeating James Lintell-Smith 11-8 and 11-2.
And today at St George's Hall Gaz Owen took pole position in Premier One with an 11-8 victory against Ian Tarr.
Gaz was overtaken in the evening, however, after Steffen Nowak's double success over Ed Turner at the Star and Dove.
06/01/14: Eighteen in action on first Monday of the year
It was one of the most vibrant Monday sessions ever at the Bristol County Sports Club, as a proper cross section of the Bristol Backgammon community gathered for action.
Four Premier One players, seven other Premier Status players, and seven intermediates were there, including three welcome debut players -- Morgan Hale and father and son combo Dave Cank and Danny Barnes.
While sixteen were there for the opening phase of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, Ed Turner and Chris Hughes had another agenda, as they fought out the held over final of Thursday's GP5 event.
It was Ed who won that final, dashing Chris's hopes of a debut triumph, and Ed moves into a 35 points lead at the head of that table.
In the main event, the sixteen were split into two groups of eight to contest Tric Trac Tournos.
Director Ian Tarr had made the decision to change the scoring system from the widely accepted 3, 2, 1 and 0.5 points tariff to a more transparent one of 5, 3, 1 and 0 -- which has exactly the same effect in terms of relative positions.
One group saw Roland Herrera and Peter Thistlewood share the spoils with 12 points each, while Bahman Salahshour won the other group outright with thirteen points.
So Bahman is the first leader of this year's SGP table, while Dave Cank is the leading intermediate.
02/01/14: Chris reaches final in debut event
One of eighteen entrants, a new player arrived out of the blue at the Bristol County Sports Club on Thursday for the opening Bristol Backgammon event of the year -- the first of the year's series of six GP5 tournaments.
And that one player -- Chris Hughes -- made a debut to remember by defeating Simonetta Herrera, Neil Edwards and Andy Boysan on his way to the main final.
There he will meet Ed Turner, probably on Monday evening, after Ed had disposed of Tom Chapman, Nick Barham and Roland Herrera.
So Chris and Ed will vie for the early leadership of the GP5 table.
Steve Morris won the consolation flight, beating Simonetta and Peter Thistlewood before despatching Cynthia Roberts in the final.
01/01/14: Cecilia starts the year well
The first action of 2014 occurred in Cecilia Sparke's front room (and I do mean the backgammon).
Her double header against Alex Hodge was in complete contrast to the way she started her 2013 league campaign, Cecilia winning two tight encounters 11-10 and 11-9 to become Premier Two Blue's first leader.
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