News items from 2021 (first half)
30/06/21: Cynthia and Kev exit Brunel Trophy
Two more Brunel Trophy fifth round ties were played on Wednesday.
And while Peter Thistlewood and Jim Green join Tim Line in the sixth round with both lives intact, their respective victims -- Cynthia Roberts and Kev Peters -- are out.
30/06/21: Stuart keeps the title in Bristol
The second quarterly UKBGF Online League is now complete.
Inaugural champion Gaz Owen was just a whisker away from retaining his title, but he was pipped by the narrowest of margins by Stuart Mann, who maintained Bristol's thus far brief monopoly on the top prize.
A total of 381 players lined up for this latest season, making up 64 divisions in a pyramid format with -- so far -- nineteen levels.
And while Ian Tarr, Cecilia Sparke, Adrian Farthing and Cynthia Roberts suffered relegation from their respective divisions, there was a net gain for Bristol, as no fewer than ten won promotion.
Those successes came from Warner Solomon in Division 14D, Robin Gunney (Division 16B), Rosemary Whitehouse (Division 17A), Chris Hughes (17H), Safi Tracy (18A), Simon Tracy (18B), Hazel Boucher (18C), Gerald Whitehouse (18F), Steve Pickard (19B) and Kev Peters (19E).
Other familiar promotion winners from a Bristol perspective were Michihito Kageyama, Jason Champion, Ann Pocknell, John Plummer and Andy Brown.
29/06/21: George out of Brunel Trophy
The first of the seven Brunel Trophy fifth round ties was played on Tuesday.
And defeat for George Georgiou at the hands of Tim Line signalled his exit from the competition.
Tim will go into the sixth round draw with both lives still intact.
28/06/21: Tim, Simonetta and Nick win Nackgammon Grand Prix round robins
There were fifteen players in action on Monday to contest the sixth session of this year's Monday Club Nackgammon Grand Prix.
Those fifteen were split into three groups of five players.
The groups were won by Tim Line, Simonetta Herrera and Nick Barham.
Tim Line's lead in the NGP table has increased to ten points, with George Georgiou still in second place.
And after the round robins Elias Hamati took the honours in a four player jackpot.
26/06/21: Kev wins twice at the Globe
A Premier One double header was played out at the Globe, Newton St Loe, on Friday.
And Kev Peters twice defeated Stephen Little.
25/06/21: Roland wins another Freeroll tournament
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday to contest the sixth of this year's series of twelve Freeroll Grand Prix tournaments.
And for the third time in four months it was Roland Herrera who took the honours, defeating John Curran, Ian Anderson, Adam Sinclair and Gaz Owen to win the main flight.
Gaz had got past Safi Tracy, Stephen Little, Andy Boysan and Robin Gunney en route to the final.
Kev Peters took the consolation flight, defeating Nick Barham, Simon Tracy and, in the final, Simonetta Herrera.
Roland's ascendancy in this series means it will be very difficult to dislodge him from the lead, given that he has a gigantic cushion of 145 points over second placed Nick.
22/06/21: Kev scores comeback victory
In Tuesday's only action Kev Peters came back from a 1-10 deficit to take a Premier One victory over Cecilia Sparke.
21/06/21: Elias and Andrew take Spring Grand Prix honours
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, seventeen of whom contested the tenth and final session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, three three-point round robins.
The seventeen were split into two groups of six players and one of five.
Group winners were Nick Barham, Kev Peters and Tim Line.
Elias Hamati was confirmed as the winner of the SGP table as his lead, as previously mentioned, was unassailable, although Tim closed the gap to fourteen points.
Andrew Montgomery finished with a big lead in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table, taking his first such title.
In late action, there was a four player jackpot with entry at £10, and this was won by Tim.
And there were three league results.
Alan Joicey continued his march towards promotion from Premier Two Red with victory over Cliff Blofield.
Rosemary Whitehouse edged home against Ismail Yilmaz in Premier Three Yellow.
And in the Conference League Hemal Getalal continued his unbeaten streak by defeating Martha Beal.
20/06/21: Brunel Trophy fifth round draw
The draw for the fifth round of the eighth Brunel Trophy was made on Sunday, using the time honoured lockdown method of matching two numerical sequences, one each provided by Ian Tarr and Gaz Owen.
Matches are to be completed by Saturday July 24th.
There are fourteen survivors to this stage, so the even number meant there was no bye to be had.
There will be anything between seven and eleven players progressing to round six, as four of the line-up still have both lives remaining.
View the draw here.
20/06/21: Stephen wins low key Sunday tournament
The sixth of Bristol's 2021 Sunday afternoon knock-out tournaments once again had its lowest turnout of the year.
Just ten took part.
In the main flight it was Stephen Little who won the day.
Victories over John Hedge, George Georgiou, Cynthia Roberts and -- in the final -- Hazel Boucher saw him take the spoils.
Hazel had arrived in the final via a bye and wins over Tim Line and Gaz Owen.
Cecilia Sparke took the consolation flight, defeating John before beating Exmoor based Bristol Backgammon debutant Steve Pickard in the final.
There was a four player £25 entry jackpot afterwards, with Elias Hamati taking the spoils.
19/06/21: Ismail out of Brunel Trophy
In Saturday's only action Alan Joicey defeated Ismail Yilmaz in the last of the fourth round Brunel Trophy ties.
Ismail is eliminated, which leaves fourteen players going into the fifth round draw.
18/06/21: Friday results round-up
There were three matches played on Friday.
The last but one fourth round Brunel Trophy tie saw Matt Reekie-Black earn a place in the fifth round by defeating Ben Crowden.
Matt has one life remaining.
And John Lewis moved to the top of Premier Three Yellow with a brace of victories over David Tyrrell.
17/06/21: Ian wins June Speedgammon tournament
There were just twelve players in action on Thursday to contest the fourth of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix tournaments.
Three round robin groups of four players apiece saw group wins for Simonetta Herrera, Andy Boysan and Cynthia Roberts, and three others also qualified for the knock-out phase.
Tim Line and Ian Tarr made it to the final, where Ian came out on top.
Tim has moved into a 35 points lead in the SGGP table, with Ian in second place.
17/06/21: Wednesday's league action
There were five Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One Gary Plant pipped Fred North at Brookhouse Farm.
The Premier Three action was all online.
John Lewis helped his Yellow Division promotion push substantially by defeating Simon Tracy once and Jordan White twice.
And Gerald Whitehouse also did his chances of elevation no harm at all by beating Frank Jones in the Green Division.
15/06/21: Tuesday results round-up
Three matches were played on Tuesday.
In the Brunel Trophy two undefeated players met.
Roland Herrera remained so, defeating Cecilia Sparke, who goes into the fifth round draw with one life remaining.
Premier One saw face-to-face action at the Ashton, where Simon Hughes narrowly beat Neil Young.
Back online David Tyrrell continued his upturn in fortunes with a Premier Three Yellow victory over Simon Tracy.
14/06/21: Andy and Roland take Monday DMP honours
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, twenty of them to contest the sixth online DMP round robin evening of the year, as a part of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
And the twenty were split into two groups of ten players.
Roland Herrera and Andy Boysan took the honours.
In Roland's group Alan Joicey led all the way, with eight wins out of eight, but he succumbed to Frank Jones in his final game to slip below Roland on averege PR.
The other group was tighter, with Andy heading Safi Tracy and Stephen Little on average PR.
None of those three took the side pool though. That honour went to fourth placed Kev Peters.
SGP table leader Elias Hamati had an unremarkable session, but his lead is now unassailable with just next week's session to come.
Similarly nobody can stop Andrew Montgomery taking the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship prize.
Earlier there was action in Premier Three Yellow, where David Tyrrell fitted in three matches.
He was defeated by Rosemary Whitehouse before scoring a brace of wins over Jordan White.
After the tournament there was an eight player jackpot, where Stephen won, defeating Ian Tarr in the final.
13/06/21: Hazel wins on Sunday
Just one match was played on Sunday.
Hazel Boucher defeated David Tyrrell to consolidate her second place in Premier Three Yellow.
12/06/21: Safi is latest to bow out of the Brunel Trophy
In the only match played on Saturday, Safi Tracy became the latest player to be eliminated from the Brunel Trophy.
It was a close match, but Peter Thistlewood moves on to the fifth round with both lives intact.
11/06/21: Phil eliminated from Brunel Trophy
There were two matches played on Friday.
In a fourth round Brunel Trophy tie Jim Green won narrowly against Phil Charlton, who was thus eliminated.
Jim still has both lives intact.
And in Premier One Andy Boysan moved into fourth place by defeating Stephen Little at the Alma Tavern.
11/06/21: James wins June Grand Prix event
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, of whom eighteen contested the sixth of this year's series of twelve monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournaments.
And it was Bristol Backgammon's Scottish exile James Newman who won the main flight, defeating Hazel Boucher, Kev Peters and Tim Line before beating Chris Rogers in the final.
Chris had arrived there via wins over Roland Herrera, Steve Morris and Cynthia Roberts.
The consolation flight was won by Elias Hamati, whose victims were John Curran, Simonetta Herrera and -- in the final -- Ian Tarr.
James now has a chance of a qualifying slot for the 2022 Bristol Masters.
The £20 Winner Takes All pool, which had rolled over from May, was won by James, but the £10 equivalent rolls over to the July tournament with £60 in the kitty.
Despite being a no show Andy Boysan still heads the Bristol Grand Prix standings, although Kev has reduced his lead to 25 points.
There was time for a four player jackpot later, and George Georgiou was the victor there.
07/06/21: Nick exits Brunel Trophy
There were twenty-two players in action on Monday, twenty of whom contested the eighth session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, four three-point round robins.
One fourth round Brunel Trophy tie was played, and the only player to have won the event twice, Nick Barham, was eliminated when he lost to Steve Morris, who has one life remaining.
In the tournament there were four groups of five players.
Group winners were Adam Sinclair, Andrew Montgomery, Elias Hamati and George Georgiou.
Elias extends his lead in the SGP table, with Tim Line 26 points behind in second place, with just two sessions to go.
Andrew once again stretched his lead over Natalie Singh in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
It will now take something unusual to wrest the titles from the grasps of Elias and Andrew.
In late action, there was an eight player jackpot with entry at £10, and this was won by Hazel Boucher.
05/06/21: Daniel expunged from Blue Division
Daniel Eldridge's work commitments have forced him to dip out of the remainder of the Premier Two Blue season.
His six results recorded so far have been wiped from the record, meaning that three players have lost a single victory, one has lost a single defeat, and one -- Eamonn Reay -- has lost one of each.
Checkpoint targets for the remainder of the season have been revised downwards accordingly.
04/06/21: Gaz wins GP10 tournament
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, including the sixteen who contested the fifth of this year's series of ten GP10 tournaments.
In the tournament main flight it was Gaz Owen who took the honours.
His victims en route to the final were Tim Line, Warner Solomon and Simonetta Herrera, while the other finalist -- Stephen Little -- was despatching Elias Hamati, Adam Sinclair and Andy Boysan.
The consolation flight went to Roland Herrera, who defeated Hazel Boucher, Tim and Adam.
While previous GP10 table leader Chris Hughes was a non-starter, Roland's points tally was enough to move him into pole position.
The other action was a Premier Two Red encounter where Richard Owsley's recent winning sequence came to an end at the hands of Cliff Blofield.
02/06/21: Chris out of Brunel Trophy
Chris Rogers became the latest player to exit the 2021 Brunel Trophy on Wednesday when he lost his fourth round tie to George Georgiou.
George goes into the fifth round draw with one life remaining.
02/06/21: May checkpoint poses conundrum
The May 31st penalty and expungement checkpoint has passed, and there are some issues still to be properly addressed.
Progress in Premier One, Premier Two Red and Premier Three Yellow has been such that no penalties or expungements have taken place.
In Premier Three Green just one player, Tom Chapman, has incurred a single penalty point which can be clawed back at the July checkpoint.
But there are more concerns in Premier Two Blue, where four players have been penalised, including one who is eligible for expungement, a course of action which Director Ian Tarr is reluctant to take.
Chris Hughes (one point), George Georgiou (two points) and Eamonn Reay (two points) can also claw back their penalty points.
But Daniel Eldridge has fallen further behind, and his results so far could be ruled out unless plans for his continued involvement can be formulated.
31/05/21: Clerical error rectified -- Jim goes second
A Premier Two Blue result correctly reported on Saturday, but somehow overlooked by Bristol Backgammon HQ, is now included in the league table.
Jim Green scored a narrow victory over Jon Organ, and is now correctly shown as second in the league.
31/05/21: Adam and Nick win Nackgammon Grand Prix round robins; Gaz out of Brunel Trophy
There were just seventeen players in action on Monday, thirteen of them to contest the fifth session of this year's Monday Club Nackgammon Grand Prix.
Those thirteen were split into two groups, one of seven players, the other of six.
The groups were won by Adam Sinclair and Nick Barham.
Tim Line's lead in the NGP table has ben cut to just two points by George Georgiou.
In other action, Gaz Owen was eliminated from The Brunel Trophy after losing his fourth round tie to Simonetta Herrera, who still has one life remaining.
Frank Jones won a Premier Three Green encounter with Mike Smith.
And after the round robins Elias Hamati took the honours in a four player jackpot.
30/05/21: Sunday Blue Division action
There were four Premier Two Blue matches played on Sunday.
Andrew Cobb had most reason to be pleased, with two victories over Jon Organ.
George Georgiou also played twice, defeating Ian Tarr before losing to Jim Green.
29/05/21: Simon out of bottom five
There were four Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier One It was Simon Hughes's day.
Emphatic victories over Cecilia Sparke and Stuart Mann hauled him out of the relegation zone.
Winners in Premier Two Blue were leader Dave Pym and Jim Green, who defeated Mandy Macdonald and Daniel Eldridge respectively.
28/05/21: Gerald wins May Freeroll tournament
There were twenty-four players in action on Thursday, eighteen of whom contested the fifth of this year's series of twelve Freeroll Grand Prix tournaments.
And it was Gerald Whitehouse who took the honours, defeating Frank Jones, Natalie Singh, Simonetta Herrera and Chris Hughes to win the main flight.
Chris had got past Hazel Boucher, Ian Tarr and very welcome South Wales based debut player Reece Hodges en route to the final.
Alan Joicey took the consolation flight, defeating Simon Tracy, Safi Tracy, Rosemary Whitehouse and, in the final, Tim Line.
Roland Herrera maintains his 55 points lead in the FRGP table, with Nick Barham still in second place.
There was Premier One action at the Blaise Inn, where Stephen Little defeated Peter Thistlewood.
In online league action, there were wins for Steffen Nowak, Richard Owsley and James Lintell-Smith.
In Premier Two Red Steffen beat Robin Gunney and Richard defeated Pearl Foster, while James beat Rosemary in Premier Three Yellow.
26/05/21: Wednesday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One there were victories for Gary Plant and Stephen Little.
Gary's win was a narrow one over Fred North at the Brookhouse Farm Inn, Swindon, while Stephen defeated Simon Baker online.
And Chris Hughes scored a Premier Two Blue success against Adrian Farthing.
25/05/21: Tuesday results round-up
There were three Premier League matches and one fourth round Brunel Trophy tie played on Tuesday.
Jordan White exited the Brunel Trophy when he lost to Kev Peters, who has one life remaining.
In Premier One Adam Sinclair bounced back from losing every round robin match and a first round jackpot match on Monday by whitewashing Andy Boysan.
And there were Premier Two Red victories for Steffen Nowak (over Carwyn Jenkins) and Richard Owsley (against Robin Gunney).
25/05/21: Simon dents Gaz's title hopes
There were twenty-nine players in action on Monday, nineteen of whom contested the seventh session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, four three-point round robins.
Six Premier League matches were played.
Simon Hughes defeated Gaz Owen to deal a blow to Gaz's title chances, while also in Premier One Neil Young beat Fred North.
In Premier Two Red there were wins for Steffen Nowak and Carwyn Jenkins, over Pearl Foster and Paul Watts respectively.
And Rosemary Whitehouse lost two Premier Three Yellow matches, Simon Tracy and John Lewis scoring the wins.
In the tournament there were three groups of five players and one of four.
Group winners were Chris Hughes, George Georgiou, Hazel Boucher and Elias Hamati, although Hazel's lack of side pool investment was good news for Andrew Montgomery.
Elias extends his lead in the SGP table, with Tim Line still in second place.
Andrew also stretched his lead over Natalie Singh in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
In late action, there was an eight player jackpot with entry at £10, and this was won by Kev Peters.
23/05/21: Low turnout for Sunday tournament
The fifth of Bristol's 2021 Sunday afternoon knock-out tournaments had its lowest turnout of the year.
Just twelve took part, although there was more action in the Premier League and the Brunel Trophy.
In the tournament it was one of our welcome visitors -- Simon Hopper, who plays live in London when he gets the chance -- who stole the show.
Main flight victories over Neculai Axinte, Elias Hamati, Cecilia Sparke and -- in the final -- Stephen Little saw him take the spoils in his second successive Bristol Sunday final.
Stephen had arrived in the final via wins against Tim Line and Hazel Boucher.
Tim took the consolation flight, getting past Cynthia Roberts and Neculai before defeating Denby Pettitt in the final.
In the fourth round of the Brunel Trophy there were exits for Ian Hedges and holder Andy Boysan.
Ian's conqueror was Tim, who still has both lives intact, while Simon Tracy has one life remaining after eliminating Andy.
Five Premier League matches took place.
In the top flight Simon Hughes pipped Stephen.
Jim Green built on his good start to the Premier Two Blue season by beating Adrian Farthing.
Hazel moved into second place in Premier Three Yellow by defeating previous incumbent Jordan White, while David Tyrrell beat Rosemary Whitehouse in the same division.
And in the parallel Green Division Tom Chapman overcame John Curran.
22/05/21: Saturday Premier League results round-up
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In Premier Two Red Cliff Blofield defeated Ian Hedges.
Premier Three Green leader Safi Tracy lost narrowly to Gerald Whitehouse.
And Simon Tracy suffered a similar fate to his daughter, being pipped by Jordan White in Premier Three Yellow.
21/05/21: Gaz has an eventful day
Friday's only Premier League action all involved Gaz Owen.
His meetings with three of the other members of the top five in Premier One began spectacularly.
Facing Stuart Mann, the match was over in a single game -- an eight-cubed gammon in Stuart's favour!
Adam Sinclair was next on the list, and Gaz scored a narrow win.
Then, trailing 5-6 to league leader Chris Rogers, a cubed backgammon got the job done for Gaz in a match he really needed to win to maintain his title pursuit.
21/05/21: Gaz scores second successive GP20 success
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday to contest the third of the year's eight GP20 tournaments.
And in the main flight it was Gaz Owen who came through to win, having also won the last GP20 tournament in March.
Victories over Simon Tracy, Kev Peters and Andy Boysan brought him to a final meeting with Adam Sinclair, where Gaz prevailed.
Adam had come through the long side of the draw via wins over Roland Herrera, Simonetta Herrera, Stephen Little and Safi Tracy.
Alan Joicey took the consolation flight, defeating Tim Line, Cynthia Roberts and Elias Hamati.
Gaz now has a 95 points lead in the GP20 table.
19/05/21: Wednesday Premier League results round-up
There were seven Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One there were wins for Andy Boysan -- over Stuart Mann -- and Cecilia Sparke and Chris Rogers -- both at Simon Hughes's expense.
Ian Tarr was the day's busiest player, but far from the most successful one.
His three Premier Two Blue matches yielded a single win, as defeats by Jon Organ and Andrew Cobb were followed by a return match victory against Andrew.
And Hazel Boucher moved into second place in Premier Three Yellow by defeating Jordan White.
18/05/21: Tuesday Premier League action
There were six Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
The three Premier One matches included two played face-to-face.
The Ashton, at Long Ashton, was a new venue for Bristol Backgammon and it was there that Stuart Mann defeated Neil Young.
Neil moved on to the Phoenix, Wellington Road, where he lost to Cecilia Sparke.
Back online there was a win for Andy Boysan over Fred North.
In Premier Two Red Phil Charlton completed his season early with a defeat of Steve Morris.
Phil has probably done enough to stay clear of relegation worries.
In the same division Richard Owsley continued his best season for some time with a win over Pearl Foster.
And Jim Green scored a Premier Two Blue win against leader Dave Pym.
18/05/21: Monday round robin round-up
There were twenty-one players in action on Monday, seventeen of whom contested the sixth session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, three three-point round robins.
Two Premier League matches were played.
Fred North defeated Kev Peters in Premier One.
And Jon Organ beat Mandy Macdonald in Premier Two Blue.
In the tournament there were two groups of six players and one of five.
Group winners were Elias Hamati, Adam Sinclair and Simonetta Herrera.
Elias moves into the lead in the SGP table, with Tim Line in second place.
Andrew Montgomery stays ahead of Natalie Singh in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
In late action, there was an eight player jackpot with entry at £10, and this was won by Stephen Little.
16/05/21: Sunday results round-up
There were five matches played on Sunday.
Just a day after the Brunel Trophy fourth round draw Cynthia Roberts and Adam Sinclair played their tie.
And Cynthia inflicted Adam's first defeat of this particular campaign, meaning that both players will go into the fifth round draw with a single life remaining.
Premier One saw victory for Neil Young over Fred North.
Jim Green defeated Ian Tarr in Premier Two Blue.
And there were Premier Three Green wins for Matt Reekie-Black and John Curran.
Their victims were Caroline Boulton and Mike Smith.
16/05/21: Late Saturday result reports
There were two more Premier League matches played on Saturday, which have only just been reported.
In Premier Three Green, before his defeat at the hands of Gerald Whitehouse, Mike Smith scored victories over Caroline Boulton and Frank Jones.
15/05/21: Saturday league wins for Gaz and Gerald
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In Premier One Gaz Owen scored another win, this time over Cecilia Sparke, aided by a double backgammon when 3-8 in arrears.
And Gerald Whitehouse moved into third place in Premier Three Green by defeating Mike Smith.
15/05/21: Brunel Trophy fourth round draw
The draw for the fourth round of the eighth Brunel Trophy was made on Saturday, using the time honoured lockdown method of matching two numerical sequences, one each provided by Ian Tarr and Gaz Owen.
Matches are to be completed by Saturday June 19th.
There are twenty-four survivors to this stage, so the even number meant there was no bye to be had.
There will be anything between thirteen and seventeen players progressing to round five, and the only tie where both players definitely make it there is the one between Roland Herrera and Cecilia Sparke.
View the draw here.
14/05/21: Friday results round-up
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier One Gaz Owen maintained his pursuit of league leader Chris Rogers with an emphatic victory over Fred North.
And Steve Morris repeated his Premier Two Red win over Paul Watts from four days ago.
14/05/21: Brunel Trophy third round completed
The last of the third round Brunel Trophy matches was played on Wednesday, but the result went unreported.
It can now be revealed that Cecilia Sparke defeated Simon Tracy.
Both players will be in the fourth round draw this weekend -- Cecilia with two lives, Simon with one.
There are twenty-four survivors at this stage, six of whom have yet to be defeated.
14/05/21: Cecilia takes May Grand Prix honours
There were twenty-eight players in action on Thursday, of whom twenty-four contested the fifth of this year's series of twelve monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournaments.
And it was Cecilia Sparke who won the main flight, defeating Mandy Macdonald, Gaz Owen and Kev Peters before beating Ian Anderson in the final.
Ian had arrived there via the long half of the draw with wins over Mike Smith, Safi Tracy, Andy Boysan and Elias Hamati.
The consolation flight was won by Nick Barham, whose victims were Mandy, Frank Jones, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Mike Smith.
Cecilia now has a very strong chance of a qualifying slot for the 2022 Bristol Masters.
The £10 Winner Takes All pool, which rolled over from April, was won by Cecilia, but the £20 equivalent rolls over to the June tournament with £60 in the kitty.
Andy scored enough points to preserve his 55 points Bristol Grand Prix lead to 55 points, with Kev still in second place.
In league action there wre two matches.
Fred North defeated Peter Thistlewood in Premier One.
And Cliff Blofield beat Carwyn Jenkins in Premier Two Red.
12/05/21: Wednesday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In a Premier One double header Adam Sinclair twice defeated Simon Hughes to move back into the top four.
Premier Two Red saw a win for Carwyn Jenkins over Paul Watts.
And Hazel Boucher beat John Lewis at DMP with the very last roll in Premier Three Yellow, to move into the promotion bracket at John's expense.
11/05/21: Tuesday results round-up
There were three matches played on Tuesday.
In the third round of the Brunel Trophy Tim Line defeated Matt Reekie-Black.
Matt goes into the fourth round draw with one life remaining, while Tim still has both intact.
Stuart Mann scored a Premier One victory over Peter Thistlewood.
And in Premier Two Red leader Nick Barham lost out to Richard Owsley.
11/05/21: Kev wins Monday DMP contest
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, fifteen of them to contest the fifth online DMP round robin evening of the year, as a part of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
And that lower than average turnout of fifteen meant a demanding single group.
Kev Peters took the honours with ten wins out of fourteen, pipping Cliff Blofield on the average PR tie break.
The lead in the SGP table is now shared by Elias Hamati and Tim Line.
Andrew Montgomery maintains his lead in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
Two other matches were played -- a Premier Two Red meeting where Steve Morris scored a much needed win over Paul Watts, and Adrian Farthing's Premier Two Blue victory over Jim Green.
09/05/21: League and Brunel Trophy action on Sunday
There were four matches played on Sunday.
In the third round of the Brunel Trophy there were wins for Jordan White and Ian Hedges.
Both encounters were effectively sudden death, and thus the victims -- Adrian Farthing and Daniel Eldridge -- are eliminated.
Robin Gunney defeated Cliff Blofield in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Green John Curran beat Frank Jones.
08/05/21: Saturday results round-up
There were eight matches played on Saturday.
In Premier One Ed Turner played twice, defeating Stuart Mann before losing out to Simon Baker.
Other top flight winners were Gaz Owen over Cecilia Sparke and Andy Boysan with a whitewash victory over Gary Plant.
Premier Three Green saw something of a rarity, when Frank Jones and Safi Tracy fought out a triple header.
Frank won the opener, but Safi hit back to win the second and third encounters, consolidating her divisional lead.
And the third round of the Brunel Trophy saw a narrow win for Peter Thistlewood over Ben Crowden.
Ben still has a life left, while Peter has both of his intact.
08/05/21: Paul exits Brunel Trophy
In the only action of Friday, Paul Watts lost out in what was effectively a sudden death third round Brunel Trophy tie against Steve Morris.
Five third round ties remain to be completed before next weekend's fourth round draw.
07/05/21: Adam wins GP10 tournament
There were twenty-six players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-two who contested the fourth of this year's series of ten GP10 tournaments.
In the tournament main flight it was Adam Sinclair who took the honours.
His victims en route to the final were Hazel Boucher, James Newman and Simonetta Herrera, while the other finalist -- Roland Herrera -- was despatching Chris Rogers, Stephen Little, Cecilia Sparke and Chris Hughes.
The consolation flight went to Hazel Boucher, who defeated John Curran, Gaz Owen and Robin Gunney.
Chris Hughes's 35 points lead in the GP10 table has been reduced to 25 by Roland.
The other action was in the Premier League.
Phil Charlton edged to victory against Carwyn Jenkins in Premier Two Red.
And Ismail Yilmaz stretched his Premier Three Yellow lead by defeating James Lintell-Smith.
05/05/21: Wednesday Premier League round-up
There were two Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One Stuart Mann defeated Adam Sinclair.
And Nick Barham beat Carwyn Jenkins to consolidate his position at the top of Premier Two Red.
05/05/21: Chris won too
In a late reported Premier Two Blue result from Tuesday, Chris Hughes defeated Jon Organ.
04/05/21: Neil is latest Brunel casualty
There were four matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier One Simon Baker defeated Adam Sinclair.
Nick Barham scored a brace of wins over Cliff Blofield to go to the top of Premier Two Red.
And in what was effectively a sudden death third round Brunel Trophy tie Ismail Yilmaz survived at the expense of Neil Young.
04/05/21: Mandy exits Brunel Trophy
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, sixteen of whom contested the fourth session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, three three-point round robins.
Two Brunel Trophy third round matches were played, with Jim Green defeating Mandy Macdonald and Gaz Owen overcoming George Georgiou.
Mandy is eliminated, having lost both of her lives, while Gaz and George each have one life remaining, and Jim remains unscathed with both lives intact.
There were also six Premier League matches played.
Neil Young won both sides of a Premier One double header against Kev Peters, while Ed Turner is coming nicely to terms with online play, having scored another notable victory, this time over Stuart Mann.
Mandy was also in Premier Two Blue action, losing to Jon Organ.
And in Premier Three Yellow Hazel Boucher was busy, scoring victories over both John Lewis and David Tyrrell.
In the tournament there was one group of six players and two of five.
Group winners were Elias Hamati, Tim Line and Hazel, although Hazel's reluctance to enter the side pool turned out well for second placed Adrian Farthing.
Tim moves into the lead in the SGP table, with Elias close behind.
Andrew Montgomery fared well in his group, and has edged ahead of Natalie Singh in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
In late action, there was an eight player jackpot with entry at £10, and this was won by Andy Boysan.
02/05/21: Hemal extends Conference lead
In a Conference League match on Sunday Hemal Getalal defeated Natalie Singh to extend his league lead.
01/05/21: Ed completes league double over Gaz
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In the top flight Gaz Owen lost to Ed Turner for the second time in eight days.
And in Premier Three Green leader Safi Tracy suffered mixed fortunes, defeating Caroline Boulton before losing narrowly to Tom Chapman.
30/04/21: Double success for Nick
There were two Premier Two Blue matches played on Friday.
And in a double header against Steve Morris, Nick Barham came out on top twice to move into second place.
30/04/21: Roland wins Freeroll tournament again
There were twenty-two players in action on Thursday to contest the fourth of this year's series of twelve Freeroll Grand Prix tournaments.
And just as in March it was Roland Herrera who took the honours, coming through five matches to take the main flight.
His victims were Chris Hughes, Gaz Owen, Adam Sinclair, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Kev Peters, who had got past Matt Reekie-Black, Hazel Boucher and Gerald Whitehouse.
Cliff Blofield took the consolation flight, defeating Tim Line, Chris and Cecilia Sparke.
Roland takes over at the top of the FRGP table, with an imposing 55 points cushion over second placed Nick Barham.
29/04/21: Wednesday Premier League action
There were two Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In the top flight Gaz Owen continued his pursuit of leader Chris Rogers by defeating Stephen Little.
And in Premier Two Blue Jon Organ hauled himself from the bottom of the league when he beat Tim Line.
27/04/21: Tuesday league results round-up
There were two league matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier Two Red Richard Owsley pipped Nick Barham.
And in the Conference League Hemal Getalal continued his fine start by defeating Kylie-Clair Bewley.
26/04/21: Ian and George win Nackgammon Grand Prix round robins
There were just sixteen players in action on Monday, fourteen of them to contest the fourth session of this year's Monday Club Nackgammon Grand Prix.
Those fourteen were split into larger groups than normal to make the side pools more meaningful.
And seven player groups, playing first-to-3-points Nackgammon matches, made it a sterner challenge than usual.
The groups were won by Ian Tarr and George Georgiou.
Tim Line still holds a handy lead in the NGP table.
25/04/21: Gaz wins April Sunday tournament
The usual mixture of Bristol players and others from around the UK assembled online at the Backgammon Studio Heroes site for the fourth of Bristol's 2021 Sunday afternoon knock-out tournaments.
Sixteen took part, and it was our own Gaz Owen who took the main flight honours.
Victories over Elias Hamati, Carwyn Jenkins, Jon Barnes and -- in the final -- Simon Hopper saw him take the spoils.
Simon had arrived in the final via wins against Hazel Boucher, Tim Line and Anna Clarke.
Denby Pettitt won the consolation flight, beating Stuart Whittingham, Elias and John Hedge.
There was also league action.
In Premier Two Red Alan Joicey maintained his fine recent form to extend his league lead, defeating Phil Charlton.
And Safi Tracy took the lead in Premier Three Green, beating previous leader Matt Reekie-Black.
24/04/21: Saturday league results round-up
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In Premier One there was a rare defeat for second placed Gaz Owen, when Ed Turner won at DMP after hitting Gaz's last man, while still having fifteen of his own on the board.
And the other winner was John Curran, whose narrow win over Tom Chapman saw the pair swap places in the Premier Three Green table.
23/04/21: Friday league wins for Alan and Safi
Two Premier League matches were played on Friday.
In Premier Two Red leader Alan Joicey defeated Pearl Foster, and has opened up a six points gap at the top.
The day's other winner was Safi Tracy, who furthered her promotion campaign with a Premier Three Green victory over John Curran.
23/04/21: Simonetta wins latest Speedgammon tournament
There were twenty-one players in action on Thursday. Of those nineteen participated in the third of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix tournaments, the second best turnout ever for this event.
Four round robin groups -- three of five players, one of four -- saw group wins for Ian Tarr, Roland Herrera, Tim Line and Simonetta Herrera, and seven others also qualified for the knock-out phase.
Simonetta and Ian Anderson made it to the final, where Simonetta came out on top.
Roland and Tim now jointly lead the SGGP table.
There was just one other result -- a Brunel Trophy third round encounter between Caroline Boulton and Phil Charlton.
Phil won and survives to fight another day, while for Caroline it was a second defeat, and therefore elimination.
21/04/21: Conference win for Kylie
In Wednesday's only action Kylie-Clair Bewley defeated Natalie Singh in the Conference League.
20/04/21: Tuesday wins for Cliff and Chris
Two Premier Two matches were played on Tuesday.
In the Red Division Cliff Blofield defeated Richard Owsley, while Chris Hughes scored a Blue Division victory over Tim Line.
19/04/21: Three more exit Brunel Trophy
There were twenty-nine players in action on Monday, twenty-two of whom contested the third session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix, four three-point round robins.
Three Brunel Trophy third round matches were played, and each resulted in a player losing his or her second life, which of course means elimination.
Roland Herrera still has two lives after defeating James Lintell-Smith, while Nick Barham and Cynthia Roberts are each down to their last life after their victories, over Simon Baker and Rosemary Whitehouse.
Chris Rogers and Neil Young met for a Premier One double header at the Lock Keeper, Keynsham, and they shared the spoils.
Meanwhile Martha Beal experienced victory for the first time in her league career, when she beat Kylie-Clair Bewley in the Conference League.
In the tournament there were two groups of six players and two of five.
Group winners were Kev Peters, Elias Hamati, Simon Tracy and Roland Herrera.
Roland Herrera takes over the leadership of the SGP table, with Tim Line close behind.
Natalie Singh remains the leader in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
18/04/21: Alan extends Red Division lead
In the only Sunday action, Alan Joicey defeated Paul Watts to extend his lead in Premier Two Red.
17/04/21: Saturday results round-up
There were three matches played on Saturday, two in Premier One and one in the Brunel Trophy.
The third round Brunel Trophy tie featured Alan Joicey and Kev Peters.
Alan won, so both players go into the fourth round draw with a single life remaining.
In Premier One 11-9 was the score in both matches.
Cecilia Sparke and Adam Sinclair were the winners, while Gary Plant and Ed Turner weren't.
16/04/21: Friday Premier League and Brunel Trophy action
There were just two matches played on Friday, one each in the Premier League and the Brunel Trophy.
The third round of the Brunel Trophy saw holder Andy Boysan losing for the first time in this competition since 2019.
He still has a life left, of course, while his conqueror Adam Sinclair still retains both of his.
Meanwhile Robin Gunney edged home against Phil Charlton in Premier Two Red.
16/04/21: Chris and Matt take the honours on "Titles Evening"
The unique session of the Bristol Backgammon calendar year, where two prestigious titles are competed for, did not pass without incident this time.
While habitual tournament entrants now know that easy entry to the Backgammon Studio Heroes site can be guaranteed by upgrading to Premium membership, the Bristol Masters and the Intermediates Trophy featured line-ups with players of a greater variety of backgrounds.
The decision by Director Ian Tarr to migrate the Masters to the "overspill" Heroes 3 site was not universally well received.
This also had the unfortunate effect of giving Matt Reekie-Black a password problem that he would not have experienced had he not been on holiday.
With amazing good grace he yielded his place in the sixteen strong field to first reserve Warner Solomon.
The tournament eventually began well behind schedule, but once started it finally went smoothly.
Chris Rogers -- via wins over Kev Peters, Tim Line and Ian Anderson -- made it through to his first Masters final, while Simonetta Herrera reached her fourth final by getting past Simon Baker, Robin Gunney and Fred North.
And Chris won a close encounter to take the title.
Meanwhile, the five contestants in the Intermediates Trophy had patiently waited for their event to proceed.
It started on the main site, but access problems were experienced here too.
Two of the four matches -- all of which were very closely contested -- were played on Heroes 3, with the results updated manually on the main Heroes site.
Finalists were Kylie-Clair Bewley and Matt Hopkins, and it was Matt who claimed this title.
For future tournaments players will need to be Premium Heroes members, or potentially suffer frustrating early elimination.
There were also three league matches played.
Safi Tracy scored a narrow Premier Three Green win over John Curran.
And Andy Boysan and Kev Peters made the most of their early elimination from the Masters to play a Premier One double header, where the honours were shared.
14/04/21: Wednesday Brunel Trophy and league round-up
There were five matches played on Wednesday, three in the Premier League and two in the Brunel Trophy.
The third round of the Brunel Trophy claimed two more casualties.
Robin Gunney made his exit at the hands of Safi Tracy, while Richard Owsley's involvement in the competition ended in defeat to Chris Rogers.
Adam Sinclair defeated Peter Thistlewood in Premier One.
And Natalie Singh suffered a pair of defeats in the Conference League, losing to new leader Hemal Getalal and Kylie-Clair Bewley.
13/04/21: Tuesday win for Phil
In the only match played on Tuesday, Phil Charlton defeated Steve Morris in Premier Two Red.
12/04/21: Nick and Adrian win Monday DMP contests
There were twenty-two players in action on Monday, twenty of them to contest the fourth online DMP round robin evening of the year, as a part of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
The twenty were split into two groups of ten.
Group winners were Nick Barham and Adrian Farthing.
George Georgiou holds a tiny SGP lead over second placed Tim Line.
Natalie Singh maintains her lead in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
Two other matches were played -- a Premier Two Red double header where Steve Morris and Ian Hedges shared the spoils.
11/04/21: Sunday wins for Adam and Simonetta
Two matches were played on Sunday, one in Premier One, the other in the Brunel Trophy.
The third round of the Brunel Trophy claimed its first casualty, when Ian Tarr succumbed to Simonetta Herrera, who still has one life remaining.
In Premier One Adam Sinclair scored a victory over Fred North.
11/04/21: Brunel Trophy third round draw
The draw for the third round of the eighth Brunel Trophy was made on Sunday, using the time honoured lockdown method of matching two numerical sequences, one each provided by Ian Tarr and Gaz Owen.
Matches are to be completed by Saturday May 15th.
There are thirty-six survivors to this stage, so the even number meant there was no bye to be had.
The eleven casualties in round two will be joined by anything between ten and fourteen more in this round.
View the draw here.
10/04/21: Cecilia defeats Gary
Just one Premier One match was played on Saturday.
Cecilia Sparke won it, defeating Gary Plant 11-5.
09/04/21: Warner takes April Grand Prix honours
There were twenty-eight players in action on Thursday, of whom twenty-four contested the fourth of this year's series of twelve monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournaments.
And it was Warner Solomon who won the main flight, coming through the long half of the draw, defeating Cynthia Roberts, Stephen Little, Adam Sinclair and Ian Tarr before beating Roland Herrera in the final.
Roland had arrived there via wins over Steve Morris, Kevin Peters and Tim Line.
The consolation flight was won by Andy Boysan, whose victims were Steve, Cynthia and -- in the final -- Chris Hughes.
Warner now has a very strong chance of a qualifying slot for the 2022 Bristol Masters.
The £20 Winner Takes All pool, which rolled over from March, was won by Warner, but the £10 equivalent rolls over to the May tournament with £100 in the kitty.
Andy's consolation flight run saw him extend his Bristol Grand Prix lead to 55 points, with Kev Peters in second place.
In league action the only match saw a victory for Ian Hedges over Phil Charlton in Premier Two Red.
And the final second round tie of the Brunel Trophy was also completed, Simon Baker's victory over Rosemary Whitehouse ensuring that both players go into the third round draw with a single life remaining.
They are among thirty-six survivors.
07/04/21: Wednesday's results
Four matches were played on Wednesday, three in the second round of the Brunel Trophy and one Premier Two Red match.
Brunel Trophy winners were Adam Sinclair, Roland Herrera and Daniel Eldridge, who defeated Ian Tarr, Simon Hughes and Simonetta Herrera.
Adam and Roland go into the third round draw with both lives intact, while Daniel, Ian and Simonetta have one life each remaining.
However, Simon is eliminated.
Alan Joicey moved to the top of the Red Division when he scored a narrow win over Steve Morris.
06/04/21: Tuesday results round-up
Four matches were played on Tuesday, three in Premier Two Red and one second round Brunel Trophy tie.
Jordan White was the winner in the Brunel Trophy, defeating Mandy Macdonald.
Both players go into the third round draw with one life remaining.
In the Red Division wins for Nick Barham and Alan Joicey moved them into first and second positions.
Their victims, respectively, were Pearl Foster and Richard Owsley.
Robin Gunney, against Phil Charlton, was the division's other winner.
05/04/21: Conference League up and running
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, twenty of whom contested the opening 3-point round robin evening of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix.
But the day's momentous occurrence concerned the league debuts of four players, as the Conference League, invariably a slow starter, sprung into action.
The four players signed up so far -- and others are expected very soon -- each played their opening match of the competition.
Natalie Singh defeated Martha Beal and Hemal Getalal beat Kylie-Clair Bewley.
In the tournament the twenty were split into four groups of five players each.
Group winners were Roland Herrera, Andy Boysan, Tim Line and George Georgiou, who thus share the initial leadership of the SGP table.
Natalie is the first leader in the John Curran sponsored SGP intermediate sponsorship table.
04/04/21: Sunday's Brunel Trophy action
There were two matches played on Sunday, both in the second round of the Brunel Trophy.
George Georgiou defeated Safi Tracy, while Alan Joicey was victorious against Carwyn Jenkins.
Carwyn is eliminated, while Alan and Safi have one life apiece remaining.
George still has two lives.
03/04/21: Saturday wins for Gary and Daniel
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In Premier One Gary Plant edged to victory over Ed Turner.
And Daniel Eldridge hauled himself from the foot of Premier Two Blue by defeating Mandy Macdonald.
02/04/21: Friday's Brunel Trophy action
There were three matches played on Friday, all in the second round of the Brunel Trophy.
Winners were Cecilia Sparke, over Gaz Owen, Peter Thistlewood, against Chris Hughes, and Matt Reekie-Black, who defeated Tom Chapman.
And while the winners each have both their lives remaining, Chris and Tom are eliminated.
Gaz has one life left.
02/04/21: Ten penalised at the first Premier League checkpoint
The first Premier League penalty and expungement checkpoint passed at midnight, and ten players have been docked points.
The good news was that nobody was expunged, and that the two Premier Three divisions came through unscathed.
In Premier One Simon Hughes loses three points, Fred North, Ed Turner and Neil Young two each, and Adam Sinclair one.
Premier Two Blue saw penalties for Jim Green (three), Daniel Eldridge (two) and Jon Organ (one).
And in Premier Two Red Carwyn Jenkins and Steve Morris were penalised to the tune of two and one points respectively.
All of the above points will be clawed back when the players comply with the terms of the May 31st checkpoint.
01/04/21: Chris wins to take GP10 lead
There were twenty-eight players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-six who contested the third of this year's series of ten GP10 tournaments.
The other action was one match in two competitions!
Phil Charlton and Ian Hedges agreed to double up their second round Brunel Trophy meeting as a Premier Two Red match.
And it was Ian who bagged two for the price of one, leaving both players with a single Brunel life remaining while simultaneously progressing their league campaigns.
In the tournament main flight it was Chris Hughes who took the honours.
His victims en route to the final were John Curran, Simonetta Herrera, Adrian Farthing and Roland Herrera, while the other finalist -- Stephen Little -- was despatching Robin Gunney, Tim Line, Gerald Whitehouse and Andy Boysan.
Chris won the final 7-5.
The consolation flight went to Nick Barham, who defeated Alan Joicey, Robin, Cecilia Sparke and Rosemary Whitehouse.
Chris's triumph saw him open up a 35 points gap at the head of the GP10 table, with Tim in second place.
31/03/21: Wednesday league and Brunel Trophy action
There were four matches played on Wednesday.
Premier One saw a brace of defeats for Simon Baker, who succumbed to Kev Peters and Andy Boysan.
Nick Barham beat Steffen Nowak in Premier Two Red.
And Jim Green has both Brunel Trophy lives intact after eliminating John Curran.
30/03/21: Tuesday wins for Peter and Tom
Two Premier League matches were played on Tuesday.
In Premier One Peter Thistlewood pipped Andy Boysan.
And Tom Chapman beat Gerald Whitehouse in Premier Three Green.
29/02/21: Tim takes Nackgammon Grand Prix lead
There were twenty-four players in action on Monday, twenty of them to contest the third session of this year's Monday Club Nackgammon Grand Prix.
Those twenty were split into four round robin groups of five players, playing first-to-3-points Nackgammon matches.
The groups were won by Simonetta Herrera, Roland Herrera, Adam Sinclair and Tim Line.
Tim moves into the lead in the NGP table.
28/03/21: Sunday evening Premier Two action
Two Premier Two matches were played on Sunday evening.
In the Blue Division Jim Green emphatically defeated Eamonn Reay.
And Alan Joicey scored an even more emphatic Red Division win over Nick Barham.
Jim's result means that nobody can be expunged from the any of the Premier League divisions at the March 31st checkpoint, although eleven players still have a little to do to avoid incurring penalty points.
28/02/21: Tim wins March Sunday tournament
The usual mixture of Bristol players, ex-Bristol players and others from around the UK assembled online at the Backgammon Studio Heroes site for the third of Bristol's 2021 Sunday afternoon knock-out tournaments.
Twenty took part, and it was our own Tim Line who took the main flight honours.
Victories over Anna Clarke, Gerald Whitehouse, Gaz Owen and -- in the final -- James Newman saw him take the spoils.
James had arrived in the final via wins against Kev Peters, Simon Tracy and Cecilia Sparke.
Anna won the consolation flight for the second successive month, beating Kev, Cynthia Roberts and Stuart Whittingham.
In Premier Two Blue action earlier Tim had defeated Daniel Eldridge, while leader Dave Pym was defeating Eamonn Reay.
27/03/21: League action on Saturday
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In the top flight Ed Turner scored a narrow win over Gary Plant.
Premier Two Blue provided the other two results -- 11-4 wins for Adrian Farthing and Ian Tarr over Eamonn Reay and Daniel Eldridge.
Adrian has notched four victories in the past week, conceding only six points in the process.
26/03/21: Gaz was inaugural champion, but four others gain promotion
The first quarterly UKBGF Online League is over.
As previously reported our own Gaz Owen became the inaugural champion, but he wasn't the only Bristol Backgammon player to taste success.
Stuart Mann just managed to preserve his top flight status.
But Andy Boysan finished second in Division 5, and will join Chris Rogers in Division 4 next quarter.
Ian Tarr (in Division 7A) and Robin Gunney (in Division 17B) won their leagues.
And Rosemary Whitehouse also gained promotion by finishing second in Division 18A.
League membership is free and open to all UKBGF members, and there's still time to get yourselves in at the bottom end of the pyramid for the next quarter.
26/03/21: Friday results round-up
There were three Premier League matches played on Friday.
In the top flight leader Chris Rogers suffered a rare defeat, at the hands of Simon Hughes.
Eamonn Reay scored his first two Premier Two Blue victories of the season -- Ian Tarr and Daniel Eldridge being his victims.
And Steffen Nowak became the latest Brunel Trophy casualty, when he lost what was effectively a sudden death second round meeting with Steve Morris.
26/03/21: Roland wins March Freeroll tournament
There were twenty-nine players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-three who contested the third of this year's series of twelve Freeroll Grand Prix tournaments.
It would have been a case of twenty-four in the tournament, but once again an avowed entrant was excluded from the site for want of Premium membership.
There was also Premier League action.
In Premier One Fred North scored his first win of the season, pipping Simon Baker.
And there were Premier Two wins for leader Dave Pym and Adrian Farthing in the Blue Division and Nick Barham in the parallel Red Division.
The tournament saw a triumph for Roland Herrera, who had to win five times to take the main flight.
His victims were Simonetta Herrera, Adam Sinclair, Stephen Little, Elias Hamati and -- in the final -- Nick, who had got past Cecilia Sparke, Andy Boysan and Chris Hughes.
Ian Anderson took the consolation flight, defeating Simonetta, Frank Jones, Cecilia and Matt Reekie-Black.
Nick takes over at the top of the FRGP table, with a 20 points cushion over second placed Ian.
24/03/21: Wednesday league and Brunel Trophy action
There were six matches played on Wednesday.
In the top flight Gaz Owen did his best to maintain pressure on leader Chris Rogers by defeating Simon Hughes.
And Andy Boysan defeated Peter Thistlewood.
Once again Premier Two Blue players were making up for a slow start to the campaign.
Daniel Eldridge played his first league match of the year, and it was a win against Eamonn Reay.
Other winners were Tim Line and Jim Green, whose victims were Chris Hughes and Jon Organ.
In the Brunel Trophy, what was effectively a sudden death meeting between Richard Owsley and Hazel Boucher, went Richard's way.
23/03/21: Tuesday results round-up
There were eight Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
In the top flight there were victories for Simon Baker (over Neil Young) and Ed Turner (over Andy Boysan).
Premier Two Blue saw most action.
Eamonn Reay kicked off his league season with a defeat at the hands of Chris Hughes, while Dave Pym narrowly defeated Jon Organ.
And a double header between Mandy Macdonald and George Georgiou saw the spoils shared.
Winners in Premier Two Red were Nick Barham and Phil Charlton, at the respective expense of Steffen Nowak and Pearl Foster.
22/03/21: Stephen holds on for Winter Grand Prix win
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, nineteen of whom contested the seventh online 3-point round robin evening of the year, as the final instalment of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix.
The nineteen were split into four groups -- three of five players, one of four.
Group winners were Tim Line, Natalie Singh, Frank Jones and Kev Peters, although non-participation of two winners in the side pool was good news for Adrian Farthing and Elias Hamati.
Stephen Little began the evening as WGP leader, and although he didn't have his best evening, his lead was just sufficient to hold off his challengers, closest of whom was Adrian.
Andrew Montgomery was the leader in the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table, but didn't contest this session, which allowed Natalie the opportunity to overhaul him, which she did with aplomb to take the title.
22/03/21: Gaz takes inaugural UKBGF Online League title!
The new quarterly UKBGF Online League -- which must surely be the envy of every other nation -- is near the end of its inaugural season.
Comprising 342 UKBGF members, in 57 divisions of six, organised into a pyramid system with eighteen levels, the competition has been superbly implemented.
Players were initially allocated their divisions based on their live UKBGF ratings, with unrated players joining at the bottom.
And the great news from a Bristol viewpoint is that the very first incarnation of the top division has been won by our own Gaz Owen.
In what has been a very tightly contested division Gaz today defeated Peter Bennet to clinch the top place.
And the closeness of the competition is emphasised by the fact that in the only remaining match our other Bristol contender Stuart Mann will finish second if he wins, but should he lose emphatically to Tim Cross he could be relegated.
Many other Bristol Backgammon players are involved at the various lower levels, and there are some successes.
These will be reviewed here when the season ends on Thursday.
21/03/21: Sunday league and Brunel Trophy action
There were six matches played on Sunday -- four in the Premier League and two in the Brunel Trophy.
Frank Jones and Stephen Little became the latest players to exit the Brunel Trophy when losing for the second time in the competition.
Their respective conquerors, of course, go forward to the third round draw, Neil Young with one life remaining and Tim Line with two.
Adrian Farthing had an exceptional day in Premier Two Blue, when he defeated both Jon Organ and Dave Pym, while only conceding a single point in the process.
Rosemary Whitehouse got off the mark in Premier Three Yellow in emphatic fashion, to the chagrin of James Lintell-Smith, and in the same division John Lewis maintained his impressive start to the season by defeating Hazel Boucher.
20/03/21: Saturday results round-up
There were four Premier League matches played on Saturday.
An early kick-off saw Matt Reekie-Black suffer Premier Three Green defeat for the very first time, after beginning the season with nine straight victories.
The honour of inflicting this defeat went to Gerald Whitehouse.
The focus then switched to Premier One, where Cecilia Sparke defeated Andy Boysan.
Then a double header featuring Ed Turner and Neil Young produced an emphatic win for Ed and a narrow one for Neil.
19/03/21: Gaz wins to take GP20 lead
There were twenty-four players in action on Thursday, including twenty-two who contested the second of the year's eight GP20 tournaments.
One Premier Two Red match was also played, Phil Charlton defeating Carwyn Jenkins.
In the tournament it was Gaz Owen who came through the more heavily populated side of the draw to win the main flight.
Victories over Steve Morris, Simonetta Herrera, Elias Hamati and Roland Herrera brought him to a final meeting with Matt Reekie-Black, and it quickly went Gaz's way.
Matt had come through matches against Ian Anderson, Tim Line and Kev Peters en route to the final.
Ian prevailed in the consolation flight, defeating James Newman, Mark Dixon, Chris Rogers and Steve.
Gaz collected enough points to take over the leadership of the GP20, with a 20 points cushion over joint second placed Chris and Kev.
17/03/21: What happened on Wednesday
There were six matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier Two Red there were wins for Nick Barham and Pearl Foster for the second successive day.
This time they defeated Robin Gunney and Cliff Blofield.
Premier Two Blue saw a double header between Andrew Cobb and Mandy Macdonald, where Mandy scored a brace of victories to haul herself off the bottom of the league.
And in the same division Dave Pym returned to the top by defeating Jon Organ.
Meanwhile Andy Boysan's defence of the Brunel Trophy is proceeding smoothly.
His defeat of Caroline Boulton leaves him thus far unscathed, while Caroline has one life remaining.
16/03/21: Tuesday results round-up
There were six matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier Two Red there were wins for Nick Barham and Pearl Foster, whose respective victims were Phil Charlton and Steffen Nowak.
Winners in Premier Two Blue were Jon Organ -- over Adrian Farthing -- and George Georgiou -- over Jim Green.
John Curran scored a Premier Three Green victory over Frank Jones.
And Eamonn Reay became the latest player to exit the 2021 Brunel Trophy, when he lost his second life in a defeat to Ismail Yilmaz.
15/03/21: Stephen takes Winter Grand Prix lead
There were twenty-four players in action on Monday to contest the sixth online 3-point round robin evening of the year, as a part of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix.
The twenty-four were split into four groups of six.
Group winners were Stephen Little, Adrian Farthing, Simonetta Herrera and Kev Peters, although Rosemary Whitehouse won the side pool in Stephen's group.
Stephen moves into the lead in the WGP table, holding a 6 points lead over second placed Adrian Farthing.
Andrew Montgomery maintains a slender lead in the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table, just four points ahead of Natalie Singh.
14/03/21: Sunday's league and Brunel Trophy action
There were five matches played on Sunday.
In Premier One Stephen Little scored a much needed victory over Andy Boysan.
George Georgiou played only his third Premier Two Blue match of the season, but hasn't lost yet. Tim Line was his victim this time.
And there were Premier Three wins for Frank Jones -- over Gerald Whitehouse in Premier Three Green -- and Hazel Boucher -- over Rosemary Whitehouse in Premier Three Yellow.
In the Brunel Trophy James Lintell-Smith and Cynthia Roberts have one life each remaining after James won their second round match.
13/03/21: Saturday results round-up
There were three matches played on Saturday.
In Premier One Andy Boysan defeated Gary Plant.
Matt Reekie-Black carried on his opening sequence of Premier Three Green wins with a close one against Frank Jones.
And in a second round Brunel Trophy tie Nick Barham beat Adrian Farthing, so both players will go into the third round draw with a single life remaining.
12/03/21: Friday's Premier Three action
There were three Premier Three matches played on Friday.
In the Green Division there were wins for Matt Reekie-Black over Gerald Whitehouse and John Curran over Tom Chapman.
And in the parallel Yellow Division David Tyrrell scored a maiden league victory over Rosemary Whitehouse.
11/03/21: Andy wins the March Grand Prix event
There were twenty-six players in action on Thursday, of whom twenty-four contested the third of this year's series of twelve monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournaments.
And Andy Boysan took the honours in the main flight, defeating Matt Reekie-Black, Alan Joicey and Hazel Boucher before beating Mark Dixon in the final.
Mark had come through the more heavily populated part of the draw with wins over Tim Line, Simonetta Herrera, Ian Tarr and Nick Barham.
The consolation flight was won by Adam Sinclair, whose victims were Matt, James Newman and -- in the final -- Roland Herrera.
Andy takes over the leadership of the 2021 BGP table, with Kev Peters and Nick in hot pursuit.
Andy now has a very strong chance of a qualifying slot for the 2022 Bristol Masters.
The £20 Winner Takes All pool was not won, so £100 rolls over to the April tournament.
The only league action of the night saw Phil Charlton score a Premier Two Red victory over Pearl Foster.
10/03/21: Wednesday's league action
There were four Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One Peter Thistlewood defeated Stephen Little.
A Premier Two Blue double header saw the spoils shared between Andrew Cobb and Tim Line.
And Paul Watts beat Phil Charlton in Premier Two Red.
09/03/21: Tuesday results round-up
Seven matches were played on Tuesday -- six in the Premier League and one second round Brunel Trophy tie.
In the Brunel Trophy Gerald Whitehouse became the first player to be eliminated from this year's competition when he was defeated by Kev Peters.
Kev still has both lives intact, having been the lucky recipient of a bye in round one.
Winners in Premier One were Simon Baker and Andy Boysan, who defeated Stephen Little and Fred North.
Premier Two Red saw victories for leader Richard Owsley and Ian Hedges.
Steve Morris and Alan Joicey were their victims.
Despite Gerald's Brunel exit his day wasn't all bad, as he had earlier scored a Premier Three Green win over Mike Smith.
Meanwhile Yellow Division leader Ismail Yilmaz was consolidating his position by defeating Rosemary Whitehouse.
08/03/21: Ben defeats Chris in Brunel Trophy
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, twenty-two of them to contest the third online DMP round robin evening of the year, as a part of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix.
The twenty-two were split into two groups of eleven.
Group winners were Andy Boysan and Adam Sinclair.
Andy holds an 8 points WGP lead over second placed Tim Line.
Andrew Montgomery maintains his lead in the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table.
Two other matches were played.
And one of them produced a shock result, as Ben Crowden defeated Chris Rogers in the second round of the Brunel Trophy
In the other match Neil Young scored a narrow Premier One win over Simon Hughes.
06/03/21: Brunel Trophy second round draw
The draw for the second round of the eighth Brunel Trophy was made on Saturday, using the time honoured lockdown method of matching two numerical sequences, one each provided by Ian Tarr and Gaz Owen.
Matches are to be completed by Saturday April 10th.
Forty-seven players are in the competition this year, which means that there is one bye in this round.
The lucky recipient of the second round bye -- which could have gone to any one of the twenty-three first round winners -- is Simon Tracy.
View the draw here.
06/03/21: Chris putting together another sequence
Three Premier League matches were played on Saturday.
In Premier One leader Chris Rogers shows no sign of letting up.
Having earlier in the year completed an all-time record sequence of Bristol league wins, amounting to twenty-two, he is currently en route to challenging this, albeit with a long way to go.
A double header with Ed Turner saw him extend his current run to eight, although Ed pushed him all the way, losing 10-11 twice!
And John Lewis is also doing well in his return to league action after a ten season absence.
Having never previously won as many as half of his fixtures in a season, he has clearly been practising during the hiatus, registering his fifth win in six Premier Three Yellow matches, this time at the expense of Rosemary Whitehouse.
05/03/21: Friday results round-up
Three matches were played on Friday -- one in Premier Two Red and the final two first round Brunel Trophy ties.
Gaz Owen and Matt Reekie-Black were the Brunel winners, leaving Ian Hedges and Neil Young with one life intact.
And Phil Charlton put at least a temporary stop to Alan Joicey's foray towards the summit of the Red Division.
04/03/21: Chris takes March Speedgammon honours
The newly revivedSpeedgammon Grand Prix had it's second instalment on Thursday, and there were eighteen players taking part.
Four round robin groups -- two of five players, two of four -- saw group wins for Alan Joicey, Ian Tarr, Tim Line and Simonetta Herrera, and six others also qualified for the knock-out phase.
Ian was particularly lucky to win his group, as all five players won two out of four matches, leaving the outcome to be decided by the average PR tie-break.
Tim and Chris Hughes made it to the final, where Chris came out on top, and he now stands a close second to Tim in the SGGP table.
There was just one Premier League result, from a Premier Two Red encounter between Carwyn Jenkins and Richard Owsley, and Richard's win was enough to take him to the top of the divisional table.
03/03/21: Wednesday league and Brunel Trophy action
Six matches were played on Wednesday -- four in the Premier League and two first round Brunel Trophy ties.
Andy Boysan and Simon Hughes began their Premier One campaigns with a double header, and the spoils were shared, albeit with Andy's points difference looking a little better than Simon's.
Dave Pym moved to the top of Premier Two Blue with a defeat of Chris Hughes.
And in Premier Three Green Gerald Whitehouse beat Caroline Boulton.
The Brunel Trophy action saw wins for Paul Watts and Jim Green over Eamonn Reay and Robin Gunney.
Only two of the first round ties have yet to be completed.
02/03/21: Tuesday results round-up
Four matches were played on Tuesday.
Three more Brunel Trophy first round ties were completed.
These featured victories for Safi Tracy, George Georgiou and Adrian Farthing. Their victims were Simon Baker, Jordan White and Chris Hughes.
And in Premier Two Red there was an emphatic win for Paul Watts over Phil Charlton.
02/03/21: June Sunday tournament brought forward a week
Our regular monthly Sunday day-time tournament in June has been brought forward a week to June 20th.
This is to avoid a clash with the recently announced revival of the Blackpool Imperial Cup tournament.
01/03/21: Twenty-five in Monday online action
There were twenty-five players in action on Monday, including the twenty-three who contested the seventh of our Monday Club Winter Grand Prix round robin sessions, this time featuring 3-point matches.
Two Brunel Trophy first round ties also took place, featuring a great win for Ben Crowden over Simon Hughes of Premier One, and Simonetta Herrera's victory over John Curran.
The twenty-three were split into four round robin groups, three of six players, one of five.
Group winners were Alan Joicey, Adam Sinclair, Hazel Boucher and Carwyn Jenkins.
Andy Boysan still leads the WGP table, five points ahead of Tim Line.
And Andrew Montgomery heads the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table.
There was also time for a further impromptu DMP round robin for five players, where Ian Tarr came out on top.
28/02/21: Gaz wins the Memorial Tournament
The weekend's big event resulted in a win for one of our very own.
The 128-player main flight of the UKBGF Memorial Tournament at Backgammon Studio Heroes Server 3 saw Gaz Owen surge to victory, finishing with an 11-0 whitewash of Steen Oernvig in the final.
Ten other Bristol regulars were among the field, but none bar Gaz made it to the last 32.
28/02/21: Sunday results round-up
There were four matches played on Sunday, three in the Brunel Trophy, and one in Premier Three.
In the first round of the Brunel Trophy there were wins for Rosemary Whitehouse, Peter Thistlewood and Roland Herrera, who move towards the second round draw with both lives intact.
Their adversaries -- Hazel Boucher, Alan Joicey and Carwyn Jenkins -- have one life remaining.
The Premier Three Yellow match featured a win for John Lewis over James Lintell-Smith.
27/02/21: Premier Two action on Saturday
There were four Premier Two matches played on Saturday.
Adrian Farthing got his Blue Division campaign off to a belated start with three matches -- two defeats to Ian Tarr and a victory over Dave Pym.
And Alan Joicey moved to the top of the parallel Red Division by beating previous leader Steffen Nowak.
26/02/21: Friday results round-up
Five matches were played on Wednesday -- three in Premier One, and two first round Brunel Trophy ties.
In the top flight there were wins for the top three -- runaway leader Chris Rogers, Gaz Owen and Stuart Mann.
They scored wins over Gary Plant, Peter Thistlewood and Neil Young.
Phil Charlton and Cynthia Roberts were the winners in the Brunel Trophy, their victims being Tom Chapman and Gerald Whitehouse.
26/02/21: Elias wins February Freeroll tournament
There were twenty-eight players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-six who contested the second of this year's series of twelve Freeroll Grand Prix tournaments.
There was also Premier One action, with Simon Baker defeating Neil Young.
The tournament saw a triumph for Elias Hamati, who defeated Kev Peters, Steve Morris, Safi Tracy and Ian Anderson to take the honours.
Ian had arrived in the final via the long half of the draw, beating Adam Sinclair, Alan Joicey, Nick Barham and Gerald Whitehouse en route.
Hazel Boucher took the consolation flight, defeating Dave Pym, Adam, Stephen Little and Kev, collecting enough points to keep her top of the FRGP table.
24/02/21: Wednesday league wins for Gaz, Steffen and Carwyn
Three Premier League matches were played on Wednesday.
In the top flight Gaz Owen made the most of +6 luck to defeat Peter Thistlewood.
A top of the table clash in Premier Two Red saw Steffen Nowak edge home against Richard Owsley to move back to the top.
And in the same division Carwyn Jenkins began his campaign with a victory over Robin Gunney.
23/02/21: Tuesday win for Alan
In the only Premier League match to take place on Tuesday, Alan Joicey defeated Robin Gunney to move into third place in the Premier Two Red table.
22/02/21: Andy takes Nackgammon Grand Prix lead
There were eighteen players in action on Monday to contest the second session of this year's Monday Club Nackgammon Grand Prix.
Those eighteen were split into three round robin groups of six players, playing first-to-3-points Nackgammon matches.
The groups were won by Andy Boysan, Frank Jones and Tim Line.
Andy moves into the lead in the NGP table.
21/02/21: Adam wins latest Sunday tournament
The usual mixture of Bristol players, ex-Bristol players and others from around the UK assembled online at the Backgammon Studio Heroes site for the second of Bristol's 2021 Sunday afternoon knock-out tournaments.
Twenty took part, and it was our own Adam Sinclair who took the main flight honours.
Victories over Hazel Boucher, Rosemary Whitehouse, Gaz Owen, Andrew Selby and -- in the final -- James Newman saw him take the spoils.
James had arrived in the final via wins against Frank Jones, Simon Hopper and Kev Peters.
Anna Clarke won the consolation flight, beating Gerald Whitehouse, Warner Solomon, Cecilia Sparke and Tim Line.
There was also one Premier Three Yellow match played on Sunday, where James Lintell-Smith ended John Lewis's unbeaten streak.
20/02/21: Saturday wins for Paul and Ben
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In Premier Two Red Richard Owsley moved to the top of the league without playing.
Steffen Nowak lost to Paul Watts and slipped to second place on points difference.
And Ben Crowden defeated Rosemary Whitehouse in a Premier Three Yellow match.
19/02/21: Friday results round-up
There were six Premier League matches played on Friday, and one result from Tuesday was omitted from the update due to a clerical error.
That was James Lintell-Smith's emphatic Premier Three Yellow victory over Simon Tracy.
Those two players encountered different outcomes on Friday, however, James succumbing to John Lewis while Simon was defeating David Tyrrell.
But the day's main, and continuing, story surrounds the dominance of the top two players in Premier One.
Reigning champion Chris Rogers scored another win -- this time over Gary Plant -- while last year's runner-up Gaz Owen was defeating Fred North.
Once again they are occupying the top two slots.
Chris's record breaking league winning sequence has been documented, but having won nine of eleven league matches since then, that makes a long term sequence of thirty-one wins from thirty-three matches.
At any other time, Gaz's form would perhaps not have been overlooked.
But twenty victories from his last twenty-three matches is praiseworthy indeed.
And although there are many matches remaining, it would take a brave punter to nominate who amongst their divisional rivals can push them for the title.
The day's other action came in Premier Two.
Chris Hughes beat Ian Tarr in the Blue Division, while in the Red Division Alan Joicey was pipping Paul Watts.
19/02/21: Matt wins February GP10 tournament
There were twenty-six players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-four who contested the second of this year's series of ten GP10 tournaments.
There was just one Premier League match played -- James Lintell-Smith's victory over Ben Crowden in Premier Three Yellow.
In the tournament main flight it was Matt Reekie-Black who took the honours.
His victims were Hazel Boucher, Mike Rodwell, Tim Line and, in the final, Warner Solomon.
Warner had come through the long side of the draw, getting past Elias Hamati, Steve Morris, Cecilia Sparke and Roland Herrera en route to the final.
Chris Hughes took the consolation flight, defeating Kev Peters, Cynthia Roberts, Cliff Blofield and Hazel.
Tim leads the GP10 table, 15 points ahead of Matt.
17/02/21: Wednesday wins for Cecilia and Richard
There were two close Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One Cecilia Sparke edged to victory over Simon Baker by the narrowest of margins.
And in a top of the table Premier Two Red clash Richard Owsley closed the gap on Steffen Nowak.
16/02/21: Tuesday results round-up
There were four matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier Two Red Alan Joicey defeated Pearl Foster by the narrowest of margins.
Safi Tracy and Gerald Whitehouse scored Premier Three Green victories over John Curran and Caroline Boulton.
And a first round Brunel Trophy match saw Simon Tracy defeat Steve Morris.
15/02/21: Thirty in Monday online action
There were thirty players in action on Monday, including the twenty-eight who contested the sixth of our Monday Club Winter Grand Prix round robin sessions, this time featuring 3-point matches.
A Premier Two Red match was also played, leader Steffen Nowak defeating Phil Charlton.
The twenty-eight were split into five round robin groups, three of six players, two of five.
Group winners were Rosemary Whitehouse, Stephen Little, Jim Green, Tim Line and Simonetta Herrera.
All of those five bar Stephen invested in the optional £10 side pool, Roland Herrera being the beneficiary of Stephen's decision.
Andy Boysan still leads the WGP table, seven points ahead of Tim.
Andrew Montgomery still leads the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table.
There was also time for a further impromptu DMP round robin for seven players, where Matt Reekie-Black came out on top.
14/02/21: Mike wins Green Division match
Premier Three Green was the division for action on Sunday, just one match being played.
And Mike Smith built on his solid start to the season by defeating Gerald Whitehouse.
13/02/21: Saturday league win for Steffen
In a Premier Two Red match on Saturday Steffen Nowak defeated Paul Watts to go top of the division.
12/02/21: Conference League under way
Great oaks from little acorns grow.
Last year the future of the Bristol Conference League looked uncertain, as interest amongst potential participants had waned.
With the interruption of covid it was not until May that this particular competition began, with just three players signed up, and there were only two matches played before August.
The arrival of two more players brought the number up to five, still the smallest ever line-up in twenty years of history.
But, aided in no small measure by the initiative of Simon Tracy, who set up a WhatsApp group for the five, the division gathered pace, and the five completed all of their matches by the season's end.
By various means the five all graduated to the Premier Status ranks.
And so to 2021, with "intermediates" still very thin on the ground.
Three -- Martha Beal, Kylie-clair Bewley and Hemal Getalal -- have signed up for the 2021 season.
And as usual Bristol Backgammon Director Ian Tarr will be on the lookout for more candidates to join the fray.
12/02/21: Friday league wins for Gaz and John
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier One the match between Gaz Owen and Gary Plant spanned just three games.
Trailing 1-4 after the first two, Gaz turned the deficit around when the cube rose to sixteen!
And David Tyrrell's nightmare start to league life continued when he lost 8-11 to John Lewis -- his seventh straight Premier Three Yellow defeat.
12/02/21: Nick wins big in the Bristol Grand Prix February tournament
There were twenty-eight players in action on Thursday, all contesting the second of this year's series of twelve monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournaments.
The £100 rollover in the Winner Takes All £20 pool tempted a few investors, and together with the £10 pool, there was £410 on offer, plus £230 from the entry pool.
And when the semi-finals arrived with only Nick Barham having an interest in the WTA pools, hopes for a further rollover were rife.
Nick had other ideas, and scooped the lion's share of the evening's money after defeating Chris Rogers, Dave Pym, James Newman, Simonetta Herrera and -- in the final -- Roland Herrera.
Roland's route to the final had taken him past Gerald Whitehouse, Rosemary Whitehouse, Kev Peters and Elias Hamati.
Andy Boysan took the consolation flight by defeating Matt Reekie-Black, David Tyrrell, Gaz Owen and Chris Hughes.
Kev maintains his lead of the 2021 BGP table, with Nick and Andy 30 points behind.
Nick now has a very strong chance of a qualifying slot for the 2022 Bristol Masters.
10/02/21: Wednesday win for Stephen
Wednesday's only action was a Premier One match, where Stephen Little scored a narrow victory over Cecilia Sparke.
09/02/21: Tuesday's Premier League and Brunel Trophy action
There were four matches played on Tuesday, three in the Premier League and one in the Brunel Trophy.
Richard Owsley lost one of his two lives in the first round of the Brunel Trophy, narrowly succumbing to Caroline Boulton.
In the leagues the winners were Dave Pym in Premier Two Blue, Steffen Nowak in Premier Two Red, and Mike Smith in Premier Three Green.
Their victims were Chris Hughes, Cliff Blofield and John Curran.
08/02/21: Twenty-five contest Monday online DMPs
There were twenty-eight players in action on Monday, twenty-five of them to contest the second online DMP round robin evening of the year, as a part of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix.
The twenty-five were split into two groups, one of thirteen and one of twelve.
Andy Boysan was a clear winner of the twelve player group, while the larger group was altogether closer.
Roland Herrera, Tim Line and Andrew Montgomery all won eight of their twelve matches, but Roland took the honours when his average PR showed slightly better than Tim's.
Andy now holds an 8 points WGP lead over second placed Adrian Farthing.
Andrew Montgomery is pulling ahead in the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table.
Four other matches were played.
Chris Rogers is following the example of Cynthia Roberts in racing through his league fixtures.
Another brace of Premier One wins -- both over Kev Peters -- contributed further to his runaway lead.
Phil Charlton scored a hard fought win over Steffen Nowak in Premier Two Red.
And Adam Sinclair defeated Nick Barham in round one of the Brunel Trophy.
07/02/21: Sunday round-up
There were three matches played on Friday, two in Premier Three, one in the Brunel Trophy.
And while some players are still contemplating the start of their 2021 league campaigns, one player has already finished!
Cynthia Roberts played her twenty-fourth and final Premier Three Green match, an emphatic win over Tom Chapman.
It took her just thirty-eight days to get things done, which must be a record.
But what will she do for the remaining 296 days of the season?
In the parallel Yellow Division there was a much needed win for Ben Crowden, who pipped Hazel Boucher.
And Cecilia Sparke kept both her lives intact with a first round Brunel Trophy victopry over Daniel Eldridge.
07/02/21: Saturday Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In the top flight there were narrow victories for Cecilia Sparke and Stuart Mann over Adam Sinclair and Gary Plant respectively.
And Safi Tracy defeated Caroline Boulton in Premier Three Green.
05/02/21: Friday results round-up
There were three matches played on Friday, two in the Premier League, one in the Brunel Trophy.
Chris Rogers kept up his remorseless pace at the summit of Premier One when he defeated Stuart Mann.
In Premier Three Yellow James Lintell-Smith prevailed over Simon Tracy.
And Ian Tarr overcame Steffen Nowak in the first round of the Brunel Trophy.
05/02/21: Chris wins inaugural GP20 tournament
There were twenty-four players in action on Thursday, including twenty-two who contested the inaugural GP20 tournament.
The series of eight events, aimed at the higher end of the "market", has been added to this year's calendar, primarily to replace the GP30 series.
Two Premier Two Blue matches were also played, Dave Pym twice edging home against Andrew Cobb.
In the tournament Chris Rogers took time out from captaining the UK team in their current match against Germany, and he did it to good effect.
Victories over Roland Herrera, Ian Anderson and Tim Line brought him to a final meeting with Kev Peters, and it all went Chris's way.
Kev had come through the more densely populated half of the draw, defeating Gaz Owen, Frank Jones, James Newman and Adam Sinclair.
Mike Rodwell prevailed in the consolation flight, getting past Rosemary Whitehouse, Simonetta Herrera and Roland, before scoring a comeback win against Gaz in the final.
So Chris is the first leader of the GP20, with a 20 points cushion over second placed Kev.
03/02/21: Premier League action on Wednesday
There were three Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
For Cecilia Sparke and Dave Pym there were long awaited opening league wins of the season.
Cecilia hammered Kev Peters in Premier One while Dave got the better of Mandy Macdonald in Premier Two Blue.
Meanwhile, while some have not even begun their league campaigns, Cynthia Roberts is close to ending hers.
Her penultimate Premier Three Green match was a victory over Mike Smith.
02/02/21: Tuesday results round-up
There were six matches played on Tuesday, three in the Premier League and three first round Brunel Trophy ties.
In the Brunel there were wins for Andy Boysan, Chris Rogers and Mandy Macdonald over, respectively, James Lintell-Smith, Ismail Yilmaz and Stephen Little.
Winners in Premier Two Red were Steffen Nowak, who defeated Cliff Blofield, and Richard Owsley, who moved to the top of the division by beating Phil Charlton.
And Caroline Boulton scored an emphatic win over Gerald Whitehouse in Premier Three Green.
01/02/21: Twenty-nine in Monday online action
There were twenty-nine players in action on Monday, twenty-four of whom contested the fourth of our Monday Club Winter Grand Prix round robins, this time featuring 3-point matches.
Two Premier One matches were also played, with narrow wins by Gary Plant and Stuart Mann, over Peter Thistlewood and Cecilia Sparke.
And the twenty-four enjoyed four round robin groups of six players.
Group winners were Adrian Farthing, Andy Boysan, Stephen Little and Dave Pym.
Of those, only Andy invested in the optional £10 side pool, which was good news for Gerald Whitehouse, Simonetta Herrera and Tim Line.
Andy now leads the WGP table, with Adrian and George Georgiou in close attendance.
Andrew Montgomery still leads the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table.
There was also time for a further impromptu DMP round robin for eight players, a close affair with a four way tie decided by the PR of Kev Peters just being superior to the other three.
31/01/21: Sunday results round-up
There were sixteen players in action on Sunday, playing eleven Premier League matches and one first round Brunel Trophy tie.
In the first action of this year's Brunel Trophy Tim Line defeated Frank Jones.
And Premier Two Blue, the least active division thus far, spluttered into life with three results.
Tim had been involved in all four matches in that division so far, but now others are getting their campaigns started.
George Georgiou defeated Dave Pym twice, while Ian Tarr beat Mandy Macdonald.
All eighteen Premier Three players have now started their seasons.
And one of those, Cynthia Roberts, is nearly finished!
She played the twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second of her scheduled twenty-four Premier Three Green matches today, defeating Frank, but losing to Gerald Whitehouse and Mike Smith.
Mike also notched a win against Safi Tracy, while Frank at least had the consolation of a victory over Tom Chapman.
And in the parallel Yellow Division there were wins for Jordan White, Hazel Boucher and Simon Tracy, over leader Ismail Yilmaz, Jordan and Rosemary Whitehouse respectively.
30/01/21: Forty-seven in opening Brunel Trophy draw
The draw for the first round of the eighth Brunel Trophy was made on Saturday, using the time honoured lockdown method of matching two numerical sequences, one each provided by Ian Tarr and Gaz Owen.
Matches are to be completed by Saturday March 6th.
The competition has attracted a record entry of forty-seven players, which means that there will be one bye in each of the opening two rounds of this double elimination knock-out.
The lucky recipient of the first round bye is Kev Peters.
The bye in round two will go randomly to one of the first round winners.
View the draw here.
30/01/21: Saturday wins for Peter and Jordan
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Peter Thistlewood scored his first Premier One win of the season at the expense of Cecilia Sparke.
And Jordan White continued his impressive start to the season by defeating Simon Tracy twice in Premier Three Yellow.
29/01/21: Chris extends Premier One lead
In the only Premier League match played on Friday, Chris Rogers defeated Stuart Mann to further extend his Premier One lead.
28/01/21: Hazel wins January Freeroll tournament
There were twenty-six players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-four who contested the first of this year's series of twelve Freeroll Grand Prix tournaments.
There was also Premier One action, with Stuart Mann narrowly defeating Gary Plant.
The tournament saw a triumph for Hazel Boucher, who saw off Matt Reekie-Black, Andy Boysan, Ian Anderson and Nick Barham to become the year's first leader of the FRGP table.
Nick had arrived in the final via the long half of the draw, beating Alan Joicey, Cliff Blofield, Cecilia Sparke and Simonetta Herrera en route.
Ian Tarr took the consolation flight, defeating Matt, Simon Tracy, Robin Gunney and -- in the final -- James Newman.
27/01/21: Wednesday league results round-up
There were four Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier Two Red Richard Owsley pipped Steve Morris.
While the day's star performer was Jordan White of Premier Three Yellow, who defeated both James Lintell-Smith and David Tyrrell.
In the same division Simon Tracy edged home against Ben Crowden.
26/01/21: Tuesday League round-up
There were five Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
Chris Rogers suffered a rare Premier One defeat against Simon Baker, while in the same division Adam Sinclair scored a brace of victories over Kev Peters.
Phil Charlton beat Cliff Blofield in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Green Matt Reekie-Black edged home against John Curran to maintain his impressive start to the season.
25/01/21: Adrian, Andy and Roland set early Nackgammon pace
There were twenty-five players in action on Monday, including the eighteen who contested the opening session of the Monday Club Nackgammon Grand Prix.
Those eighteen were split into three round robin groups of six players, playing first-to-3-points Nackgammon matches.
The groups were won by Andy Boysan, Adrian Farthing and Roland Herrera, who share the early NGP lead.
There were also four Premier League matches played.
Chris Rogers continues to ensure that he is the one to beat in Premier One, having scored his ninth win in ten league games so far this season, Adam Sinclair being his victim this time.
In the same division Gary Plant began his campaign with victory over Peter Thistlewood.
Premier Three Green was the other division to see action, with Safi Tracy playing twice.
Victory over Mike Smith was followed by an agonisingly close defeat at the hands of divisional leader Matt Reekie-Black.
24/01/21: Gaz wins opening Sunday tournament
The now customary field comprising Bristol players, ex-Bristol players and others from around the UK assembled online at the Backgammon Studio Heroes site for the first of Bristol's 2021 Sunday afternoon knock-out tournaments.
There was a nice tidy draw of sixteen participants, and it was our own Gaz Owen who took the main flight honours.
Victories over Stephen Little, Anna Clarke and Tim Line took him to a final meeting with London's Andrew Selby and Gaz prevailed in a contest which nearly went the other way.
Andrew had arrived in the final via wins against Carwyn Jenkins, Paul Watts and Kristian Mills.
Jon Barnes won the consolation flight, beating Carwyn, Mandy Macdonald and -- in the final -- Chris Hughes.
There were also three Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Chris Rogers continued what so far looks like a convincing title defence with a win over Adam Sinclair in Premier One.
And there were wins for the Tracys in Premier Three.
Safi Tracy beat Gerald Whitehouse in the Green Division, while Simon Tracy scored a win over Ben Crowden in the parallel Yellow Division.
24/01/21: League action on Saturday
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Chris Rogers completed a Premier One double over Cecilia Sparke in Portland Square to extend his league lead.
Matt Reekie-Black took over leadership of Premier Three Green when he defeated Cynthia Roberts.
And Premier Three Yellow leader Ismail Yilmaz suffered only his second league defeat in eleven matches, Hazel Boucher having done the honours on both occasions.
22/01/21: Friday Premier One round-up
There were two Premier One matches played on Friday.
Gaz Owen suffered his first league defeat of the season, losing 2-11 to Adam Sinclair.
And with the rare luxury of playing a match with a board leader Chris Rogers defeated Cecilia Sparke in Portland Square.
21/01/21: Gaz sets early Speedgammon pace
The new format for the Speedgammon Grand Prix ran smoothly on Thursday, but there were only twelve players taking part.
Three round robin groups of four players saw group wins for Roland Herrera -- the only player to win all three group matches -- Adrian Farthing and Gaz Owen, with second placers Kev Peters, Dave Pym and Matt Reekie-Black joining them in the knock-out phase.
Roland and Gaz made it to the final, where Gaz came out on top to become the year's first SGGP leader.
The only Premier League result from Thursday was a Premier One encounter between Stephen Little and Adam Sinclair where Adam edged to victory.
And a late reported result from Tuesday came to light in Premier Three Green, a win for Frank Jones over John Curran.
20/01/21: Wednesday Premier League action; Chris's run is ended
There were seven Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
And the standout result was Stephen Little's dramatic defeat of Chris Rogers in Premier One after being behind for the majority of the match.
A double gammon at 8-10 in arrears did it for him, and what better way for him to record his first win in the top flight -- ending Chris's amazing record sequence, which has now stopped dead at a mere twenty-two!
Steve Morris opened his Premier Two Red campaign with an emphatic win over Alan Joicey.
And the remainder of the action was, as usual, in Premier Three.
Setting the pace in terms of trying to finish her season early, Cynthia Roberts played out a double header with Caroline Boulton.
A quickfire win for Cynthia was followed by a more routine victory for Caroline.
Cynthia has only six of her twenty-four Green Division matches to play now. What will she do for the rest of the year?
Matt Reekie-Black is just three points behind Cynthia, but with the not inconsiderable advantage of having fourteen matches in hand, this after his latest success, against Frank Jones.
In the parallel Yellow Division there were wins for Jordan White and Simon Tracy over Ben Crowden and David Tyrrell, who has made a surprisingly slow start to his first Premier League campaign.
19/01/21: Tuesday league round-up
There were six Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
There were Premier Two Red victories for Robin Gunney and Richard Owsley, over Nick Barham and Phil Charlton respectively.
Ismail Yilmaz continues to set a hot pace in Premier Three Yellow.
Three hard fought wins -- against Jordan White, Ben Crowden and James Lintell-Smith -- made it nine victories out of ten.
And Caroline Boulton scored her maiden Premier League win against Tom Chapman in Premier Three Green.
18/01/21: Twenty-six in Monday online action; Chris's run reaches twenty-two
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, twenty-three of whom contested the third of our Monday Club Winter Grand Prix round robins, this time featuring 3-point matches.
Two Premier League matches were played.
Chris Rogers extended his record league winning sequence to twenty-two matches when he defeated Stephen Little in Premier One.
And Jordan White began his Premier Three Yellow campaign with an emphatic victory over Ben Crowden.
There were more problems gaining access to the Backgammon Studio Heroes site for the evening session, but eventually all bar one player made it in.
And the twenty-three players who did take part enjoyed absorbing round robin action, in three groups of six and one of five.
Group winners were George Georgiou, Tim Line, Kev Peters and Alan Joicey, all of whom did well to invest in the optional £10 side pool, each netting a £30 reward.
George is the new leader of the WGP table, not far ahead of Alan and Andy.
Andrew Montgomery has taken over the lead of the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table.
There was also time for a further impromptu DMP round robin, won by Ian Tarr.
17/01/21: Cynthia in Sunday action
There were three Premier Three Green matches played on Sunday.
And Cynthia Roberts was involved in all of them.
She shared the spoils of a double header with Frank Jones before losing to Tom Chapman.
16/01/21: Five in league action on Saturday
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.
In Premier Two Red Nick Barham and Paul Watts locked horns for the successive day, and once again it was Paul who got the win.
Cynthia Roberts played her twelfth and thirteenth Premier Three Green matches, and suffered defeats at the hands of Safi Tracy and Matt Reekie-Black.
16/01/21: Seventeen Premier League players in at the start of the new national online league
The starting line-ups for the new UKBGF Online League have been published, and seventeen Bristol Premier League players are among those signed up.
A total of 342 players are involved, arranged into 57 quarterly 6-player divisions, in a pyramid structure consisting initially of eighteen levels.
The league is free to enter, the only pre-requisite being current UKBGF membership.
The top five levels of the pyramid are linear, i.e. they consist of just one division, and players initial divisions have been decided by their UKBGF rating (not the online equivalent, which is deemed to contain too little relevant data thus far).
Since hardly any data has been added to the main ratings since lockdown, these too are not ideal, effectively being ten months out of date, but there is still more substance to them than the online ones.
Division One has within it two Bristol Backgammon players -- Stuart Mann and Gaz Owen.
Nine of our players find themselves in the bottom two tiers, and it's fair to say that at least a couple of those would have entered somewhat higher but for the pandemic.
15/01/21: Friday league wins for Chris and Paul
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
In Premier One Chris Rogers extended his record winning league sequence to twenty-one with a whitewash of Fred North.
And in Premier Two Red Nick Barham and Paul Watts began their league campaign with an 11-10 result which went Paul's way.
15/01/21: Kev wins Bristol Grand Prix January tournament
There were thirty-two players in action on Thursday, including thirty who contested the first of this year's series of twelve monthly Bristol Grand Prix tournaments.
Two Premier League matches were also played.
Kev Peters completed his first top flight double when he defeated six-times champion Stuart Mann, and if that didn't make it a day to remember for him, a lot more was to follow.
The other league match was in Premier Three Green, where Gerald Whitehouse scored an emphatic victory over Cynthia Robrets.
In the tournament Kev carried on his run of wins, all five needed to take the main flight.
Starting with reigning BGP champion Gaz Owen, he then got past Simonetta Herrera, Stephen Little and Cliff Blofield, to clinch a final meeting with Andy Boysan.
Andy's run to the final had taken him past Chris Hughes, David Tyrrell, John Curran and Robin Gunney, but his run ended in the closest manner possible when Kev rolled a match clinching double at the very last opportunity.
Gaz took the consolation flight with victories over Steve Morris, Dave Pym, Roland Herrera and -- in the final -- Alan Joicey.
So Kev is the first leader of the 2021 BGP, and has almost certainly bagged himself a place in the 2022 Bristol Masters.
13/01/21: Wednesday's league action
There were three Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
In Premier One there were wins for leader Gaz Owen and Kev Peters, whose first this was in the top flight.
And his first victim was six-times champion Stuart Mann, while it was Simon Baker who succumbed to Gaz, who has equalled his longest sequence of Premier One wins, nine of them -- four this season.
The day's other win was secured very narrowly by Premier Three Yellow leader Ismail Yilmaz at David Tyrrell's expense.
12/01/21: Tuesday league round-up
There were eight Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
In Premier One Stuart Mann won a nail-biter against Simon Baker, and remains one of only three winners so far this top flight season after a total of nine matches played.
Premier Two Red saw Phil Charlton and Alan Joicey kick off their respective campaigns with victories, over Cliff Blofield and Richard Owsley.
And Premier Three once again provided the lion's share of the action.
In the Green Division Cynthia Roberts suffered mixed fortunes, defeating John Curran before losing to Safi Tracy.
And Matt Reekie-Black made it two wins out of two when he overcame Frank Jones.
Ben Crowden was the trigger for further progress in the parallel Yellow Division, losing to leader Ismail Yilmaz before beating Hazel Boucher.
12/01/21: Twenty-one in inaugural Monday online DMP action; Chris hits twenty
There were twenty-one players in action on Monday to contest the first of our online DMP round robin evenings, as a part of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix.
The format worked well, although the success of the Backgammon Studio Heroes site in attracting such large numbers is beginning to cause access problems at peak times.
A handful of players had difficulty in logging in, and one or two -- having been ejected -- struggled to get back in.
One player had so much difficulty that she eventually gave up trying.
But the twenty-one players who did take part enjoyed absorbing DMP round robin action, in one group of eleven and one group of ten.
Robin Gunney lost only once to win the eleven player group, but regretted his decision not to enter the optional side pool, although runner-up George Georgiou had no such regrets.
And Andy Boysan won the ten player group, pipping debutant Andrew Montgomery on the tie-break of average PR.
Andy moves into the lead of the WGP table.
Natalie Singh is just ahead of Andrew in the John Curran sponsored WGP intermediate sponsorship table.
There was also time for a further impromptu DMP round robin, and George was the winner here too.
The only other Monday action was a Premier One clash between Chris Rogers and Fred North, where Chris won very narrowly.
He thus became the only player ever to win twenty successive Bristol league matches!
10/01/21: Sunday's league action
There were five Premier League matches played on Sunday.
In Premier Two Blue Tim Line maintained his unbeaten start by defeating Mandy Macdonald.
Cynthia Roberts continued her comeback league season at breakneck pace, losing to Tom Chapman, and has completed a third of her Premier Three Green season already.
She has been overhauled by Mike Smith, however, whose two wins -- the latest over Safi Tracy -- from two matches are enough to see him at the top of the league.
In Premier Three Yellow Ismail Yilmaz suffered his first defeat of the season against Hazel Boucher, but not before he had scored his fourth victory at James Lintell-Smith's expense.
And in the same division there was also a win for Ben Crowden over Simon Tracy.
10/01/21: Saturday round-up: Andy takes Brunel Trophy title
Saturday saw three Premier Three matches played, and an important loose end from 2020 tied up.
That loose end was the ninth and final round of the Brunel Trophy, a competition which spilled over into 2021 after being delayed early on by the pandemic.
The last two players standing were Andy Boysan and George Georgiou, George with one life remaining, Andy with two.
George needed to win to force a sudden death tenth round finale, while Andy had the security of knowing that he had two bites of the cherry to take the coveted title.
This was another match interrupted by the recent Heroes crash, but it was resumed seamlessly and Andy completed an 11-7 victory, leaving George as runner-up.
Andy's win completed the line-up for the 2021 Bristol Masters, not that he hadn't already qualified, but the final place went to Fred North as the next high finisher in Premier One.
In Premier Three Cynthia Roberts played her sixth and seventh matches of the campaign, going top of the Green Division with a victory over Caroline Boulton, followed by a defeat to Safi Tracy.
Cynthia will need to win a higher percentage of her matches to stay high in the league table.
And the leader of the parallel Yellow Division, Ismail Yilmaz, made it three wins out of three, when he overcame Ben Crowden.
08/01/21: Friday league wins for Gaz and Matt
There were two Premier League matches played on Friday.
In the top flight Gaz Owen whitewashed Stephen Little to strike out on his own at the top of the league.
And Matt Reekie-Black began his Premier League career with a Green Division victory over Cynthia Roberts.
07/01/21: Tim wins January GP10 tournament
There were twenty-five players in action on Thursday, including the twenty-two who contested the first of this year's series of ten GP10 tournaments.
Three Premier League matches were also played.
Stuart Mann won Premier One encounters with Fred North and Stephen Little, and set up a three way tie at the top of the division.
Stuart, Gaz Owen and Chris Rogers have all won two out of two, and all have a positive points difference of exactly ten.
The other league match was a resumed Premier Three Green match, which was interrupted by the Heroes crash on Tuesday.
The match was resumed seamlessly, highlighting the robustness of the software, and Mike Smith edged home against Cynthia Roberts.
In the tournament it was Tim Line, who is unbeaten in Bristol Backgammon competition this year having won all seven matches played, who took the honours.
His victims were Alan Joicey, Kev Peters, Dave Pym and, in the final, Steve Morris.
Steve had got past Simonetta Herrera, Chris Hughes and Robin Gunney en route to the final.
Alan had to win four matches to take the consolation flight, defeating Adrian Farthing, Frank Jones, Andy Boysan and Roland Herrera.
So Tim is the first leader of the year's GP10 table.
06/01/21: Eleven in Wednesday league action
Nine Premier League matches, involving eleven players, were played on Wednesday.
Ian Hedges and Pearl Foster had a Premier Two Red double header all wrapped up by lunch-time, with both players winning a match emphatically.
Gaz Owen beat Kev Peters in Premier One for the second time in three days.
But most active on the day was Tim Line, who completed his first three Premier Two Blue matches and won them all -- once against Mandy Macdonald and twice against Dave Pym.
Gerald Whitehouse got his Premier Three Green campaign off to a winning start by defeating Cynthia Roberts.
And Ismail Yilmaz went one better than Gerald in Premier Three Yellow by starting with a double success against David Tyrrell.
05/01/21: Tuesday league activity curtailed by Heroes crash
A handful of players had their planned Premier League matches curtailed by a Backgammon Studio Heroes crash on Tuesday evening.
The two matches which did make it to a conclusion saw wins for John Curran before the crash and Cliff Blofield afterwards.
John's Premier Three Green victory came at the expense of Cynthia Roberts, while Ian Hedges was Cliff's Premier Two Red victim.
04/01/21: Twenty-eight in Monday action as the new Winter Grand Prix gets under way
There were twenty-eight players in action on Monday, including the twenty-four who participated in the revamped format for Mondays in the shape of the Winter Grand Prix.
The theme was still 3-point freerolls, but now in round robin format, which players are still getting used to.
The overall signs are very good.
There were four groups of six players, which should have been five groups of five, but Director Ian Tarr unfortunately omitted Pearl Foster after a misunderstanding.
Three of the groups were won with clean sweeps -- Adrian Farthing, Hazel Boucher and Andy Boysan the successful players, while the fourth was also won outright, by Simonetta Herrera.
The new regime, featuring tie-breaks by PR, only once saw this new feature prove decisive -- when Chris Hughes won the £10 pool in his group, thanks to a superior PR compared to George Georgiou, Adrian not having opted for the pool.
So the four group winners share the initial WGP lead with nine more events to come.
Andy won an impromptu DMP round robin after the main groups had finished.
There was also Premier League action.
Gaz Owen was on the right side of an 8-cube when he won his opening Premier One match, against Kev Peters.
And Ben Crowden was involved in another 11-10 Premier Three Yellow encounter, this time getting the better of David Tyreell.
03/01/21: League wins for James, John, Robin and Ian on Sunday
James Lintell-Smith and Simon Tracy kicked-off Premier Three Yellow on Sunday.
And the honour of being the first winner in the history of the newly formed division went to James.
Later in the same division John Lewis played his first league match for eleven years, and came away with a narrow victory over Ben Crowden.
Then a double header kicked off the Premier Two Red season, when Robin Gunney and Ian Hedges both recorded massively one sided match wins.
02/01/21: Cynthia makes it a winning return
After three years away from league backgammon Cynthia Roberts is back.
And she kicked off her Premier Three Green campaign on Saturday with a narrow victory over John Curran in the first ever match in the newly formed Green Division.
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