And Photis Gittoes defeated Pearl Foster in Premier Three Yellow.
21/05/26: Gaz wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-five players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the twentieth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Gaz Owen, who defeated Ian Tarr, John Curran, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Ian Anderson.
Ian A had arrived in the final by beating Scott Wood and Nick Barham after receiving a first round bye.
Elias Hamati took the consolation flight by getting past Neil Young and Scott.
Tim Line won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Before winning the evening tournament Gaz had suffered a blow to his title defence when he lost his fourth round Brunel Trophy tie to Richard Owsley.
Both players move to round five with a single life remaining.
Steffen Nowak is showing no sign of faltering in his bid to take the Premier One title, his latest win coming at the expense of Jim Green.
Neil won a Premier Two Red encounter with Simon Blinkhorn at the Pump House.
In Premier Two Blue there were wins for Nick (over Steve Pickard), Steve Cox (over Stuart Mann) and Ann Pocknell (over Frank Jones).
And there were three matches in Premier Three Yellow.
Freddy Doubtfire played twice, defeating Simon Dicken before narrowly succumbing to Ismail Yilmaz, and league leader Marcel Bancroft overcame Photis Gittoes.
19/05/26: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were seven Premier League matches played on Tuesday.League leader Gaz Owen defeated Simon Baker in Premier One and in the same division Phil Doubtfire beat Phil Charlton, while Kev Peters and Jim Green were sharing the spoils of a double header.
The Brunello Lounge, Weston-super-Mare, was the scene of a Premier Two Blue victory for Cliff Blofield over Stephen Little, while online Steve Cox beat Nick Barham.
And Gerald Whitehouse beat Gary Plant in Premier Two Red.
19/05/26: Eighteen in Monday action
There were eighteen players in competitive action on Monday.Ten of those contested the seventh session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of five players at the Heroes website.
Kev Peters, with a clean sweep, and Gaz Owen were the group winners.
Nick Barham marginally increased his narrow SGP points table lead, with Rob Clarke and Elias Hamati not far behind.
There was also Premier League action.
Winners in Premier One were Gaz, Simon Baker, Phil Charlton and Alan Joicey, their victims, respectively, Adam Sinclair, Kev, Jim Green and Simon.
Nick defeated Chris Hughes in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Two Red Warner Solomon beat Simon Blinkhorn.
17/05/26: Sunday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Sunday.Title contenders Chris Rogers and Steffen Nowak registered Premier One wins at the expense of Simon Baker and Kev Peters.
Ian Tarr moved into second place in Premier Three Yellow by defeating Richard Davies.
And Rob Clarke beat Dave Pym in Premier Three Green.
16/05/26: Saturday win for Scott
In Saturday's only action Scott Wood defeated Mike Smith in Premier Two Red.16/05/26: Mark exited Brunel Trophy on Wednesday, apparently
A sudden death third round Brunel Trophy encounter between Mark Dixon and Chris Hughes was played on Wednesday, it has emerged.Chris won and progresses to round four.
15/05/26: Friday's results roundup
There were five Premier League matches played on Friday.Kev Peters narrowly defeated Phil Charlton in Premier One.
Premier Two Blue leader Natalie Singh beat Chris Hughes.
Ed Turner moved into second place in Premier Three Green by inflicting defeats on both Fred North and Charlie Hetherington.
And Ismail Yilmaz's narrow defeat of Pearl Foster moved him into second place in Premier Three Yellow.
Meanwhile Eamonn Reay has conceded defeat in his third round Brunel Trophy third round tie with Neil Young.
15/05/26: Tim wins May Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, fourteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the fifth instalment of our 2026 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.The main flight winner was Tim Line, who defeated Kylie Hedges, Stephen Little, George Georgiou and -- in the final -- Nick Barham.
Nick had got past Hazel Harper, Chris Aquilina and Savas Christodoulou en route.
Ian Hedges took the consolation flight, defeating Hazel, Alp Ozbas and Kylie.
Previous BGP joint title race leaders Ian Tarr and Barry Vasili were both winless on the night and Nick has taken the lead.
Tim's qualification for the 2027 Bristol Masters is now virtually certain.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action online.
Frank Jones won what was effectively a sudden death third round Brunel Trophy tie against Titus Simen.
Gaz Owen moved to the top of Premier One by beating Phil Charlton.
And in Premier Two Red Scott Wood scored a brace of victories against Mark Dixon.
13/05/26: Phil wins Wednesday online tournament
There were eleven players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the nineteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Phil Doubtfire, who defeated Nick Barham, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Neil Young.
Neil had arrived in the final by beating Gaz Owen and John Curran.
Nick took the consolation flight by getting past Elias Hamati and Tim Line.
Ian later won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier Three Purple action, with Alp Ozbas defeating Derek Clew at the Eldon House.
12/05/26: Jon and Rob exit Brunel Trophy
In the only action of Tuesday, Jordan White and Steffen Nowak won what were effectively sudden death third round Brunel Trophy encounters with Jon Organ and Rob Clarke.12/05/26: Twenty-one in Monday action
There were twenty-one players in competitive action on Monday.Ten of those contested the sixth session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of five players at the Heroes website.
Derek Clew, with a clean sweep, and Rob Clarke were the group winners, while Nick Barham and Ian Tarr took the side pools.
Ian, who had arrived at Sportsmans for the final session of Ian's Backgammon Clinic, decided to join the round robins when the clinic was empty, but hadn't factored in the need for a power cable for his laptop.
He was forced to concede his final match -- against Stephen Little -- when the laptop ran out of juice, a result which had minimal effect on the finishing order.
Nick Barham's narrow SGP points table lead was maintained, but Rob, Elias Hamati and Stephen are breathing down his neck.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Third round Brunel Trophy winners were Dom Verrall and Simon Blinkhorn.
Dom has both lives remaining, while his victim Simon Baker is eliminated, but Simon Blinkhorn and Alan Joicey go to round four with a single life apiece.
Gaz Owen suffered defeat at the hands of Phil Doubtfire in Premier One.
Ian Anderson defeated Steve Pickard in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Two Red Neil Young beat Hazel Harper in Stockwood, while Robin Gunney overcame Mark Dixon online.
10/05/26: Sunday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Sunday.The third round of the Brunel Trophy saw victories for Cecilia Rogers (over Ann Pocknell) and Paul Watts (over Gerald Whitehouse).
Ann is eliminated, and Gerald has one life remaining, but Cecilia and Paul carry both lives into round four.
Mike Smith defeated Dicky Biddle in Premier Two Red.
Ann had beaten Natalie Singh in a Premier Two Blue match before her Brunel demise.
And Dave Pym won for the second successive day in Premier Three Green, Jordan White his victim.
10/05/26: Saturday's results roundup
There were three matches played on Saturday.In the third round of the Brunel Trophy two hitherto unbeaten players met, Andy Boysan preserving his two lives while Ed Turner is reduced to just the one.
Mark Dixon defeated Mike Smith in Premier Two Red.
And Dave Pym ended Premier Three Green leader Charlie Hetherington's latest winning sequence.
08/05/26: Friday's results roundup
There were four Premier League matches played on Friday.In a Premier Two Red double header at Bathampton Mill Ian Hedges won two hard fought victories over Neil Young, and moves into second place.
Steffen Nowak narrowly defeated Kev Peters in Premier One.
And Stuart Mann beat Nick Barham in Premier Two Blue.
08/05/26: Neil and Steffen take annual doubles title
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them to contest the annual Consulting Doubles Championship at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.Six pairings meant that two of them received a bye through to the semi-finals.
Holders Tim Line and Hazel Harper, looking for a hat-trick of title wins, were amongst the four pairings not to get a bye, and they progressed along with Alan Joicey and Steve Morris, where Alan and Steve accounted for the reigning champions.
In the other semi-final Neil Young and Steffen Nowak edged out Stephen Little and Scott Wood.
And in a closely fought final it was Neil and Steffen who claimed the title.
Barry Vasili and Chris Aquilina took the consolation final, defeating Stephen and Scott before overcoming Ian and Kylie Hedges in that final.
For both Steffen and Neil it was a maiden title in the current format, where a single tournament has decided things since 2013.
But back in the days when there was a Consulting Doubles Grand Prix consisting of several tournaments, both players had their successes.
In 2006 Steffen and Miles Farren won the inaugural title, while in 2012 Neil and Tony Walters were the winners.
There was also some Premier League action.
Mandy Macdonald visited Barry's flat for a Premier Three Purple encounter, which Barry won.
Online Kev Peters narrowly defeated Phil Charlton in Premier One.
And Nick Barham played two Premier Two Blue matches, defeating Steve Pickard before losing out to Richard Owsley.
06/05/26: Tim wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the eighteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Tim Line, who defeated Ian Anderson, Ann Pocknell and -- in the final -- Ian Tarr.
Ian had arrived in the final by beating Stephen Little and Nick Barham.
Ian A took the consolation flight by getting past John Curran and Elias Hamati.
Tim later won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League action, with four matches played.
Scott Wood scored a Premier Two Red victory over Simon Blinkhorn.
Charlie Hetherington twice defeated Simon Hughes in Premier Three Green to further increase the margin of his league leadership.
And at the Hope and Anchor Derek Clew suffered his first Premier Three Purple of the season at the hands of Alp Ozbas.
05/05/26: Tuesday's results roundup
There were two matches played on Tuesday.In a sudden death third round Brunel Trophy match James Newman booked his place in round four at the expense of Pearl Foster.
And Steffen Nowak scored a Premier One victory over Phil Charlton.
05/05/26: Sixteen in Monday action
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, fourteen of them competitively.Nine of the fourteen contested the fifth session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of five and four players at the Heroes website.
Stephen Little and Elias Hamati won the groups, while Kev Peters and Gaz Owen took the side pools.
Nick Barham's SGP points table lead has been slashed to less than two points by Elias.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Dicky Biddle defeated John Curran in the third round of the Brunel Trophy, a result which eliminates John while Dicky still carries both lives into round four.
In Premier One Gaz Owen ended Steffen Nowak's fine run of wins, while Tim Line narrowly defeated Michael Petrakas.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by Simon Dicken.
03/05/26: Sunday's Premier League action
There were five Premier League matches played on Sunday.Premier One took centre stage with three results.
Cecilia Rogers played twice, defeating Phil Doubtfire before succumbing to Michael Petrakas, while Steffen Nowak was the day's other top flight winner, narrowly over Tim Line.
Warner Solomon beat Hazel Harper in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Yellow Freddy Doubtfire overcame Pearl Foster.
03/05/26: Brunel win for Derek
In the only Saturday action Derek Clew defeated Adam Sinclair in the third round of the Brunel Trophy.Both players progress to round four with a single life remaining.
01/05/26: Chris wins April GP20 event
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday, twelve of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the third instalment of the year's GP20 series.Chris Rogers, making an all too rare visit, took the main flight honours after receiving a first round bye.
Victories over George Georgiou, Stephen Little, and -- in the final -- Ian Tarr did it for him.
Ian had arrived there via wins over a hyper Nick Barham, Ian Hedges and Tim Line.
Hazel Harper took the consolation flight with victories over Kylie Hedges, Andy Zographou and Barry Vasili.
Ian has moved ahead of Nick in the GP20 standings.
Before the tournament Ian was beaten in the third round of the Brunel Trophy by Tim Line, a result which sees both players into round four with a single life remaining.
There were also two Premier Three Yellow matches played online, both involving wins for Ismail Yilmaz.
Ben Crowden and Richard Davies were his victims.
30/04/26: Scott wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the seventeenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Scott Wood, who had been on a really bad run of form of late.
He defeated Tim Line, Ian Anderson, Elias Hamati and -- in the final -- Phil Doubtfire.
Phil had arrived in the final by beating Nick Barham and Ian Tarr.
Tim took the consolation flight by getting past Neil Young, Nick and Gaz Owen.
Stephen Little missed the tournament, but turned up in time to win the post tournament jackpot.
There was Premier League action, with three matches played.
Richard Owsley scored a Premier Two Blue victory over Steve Pickard.
Derek Clew rose to the top of Premier Three Purple by beating Kylie Hedges.
And Ian T beat Photis Gittoes in Premier Three Yellow.
28/04/26: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Tuesday.Stephen Little scored a much needed Premier Two Blue victory, Frank Jones his victim.
And in Premier Three Purple there were wins for Barry Vasili and Andy Zographou.
Barry played host to Flora von Michel, while Andy's win came online against Kylie Hedges.
27/04/26: Eighteen in Monday action
There were eighteen players in action on Monday, fifteen of them competitively.Eleven of the fifteen contested the fourth session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of six and five players at the Heroes website.
Rob Clarke won the group of six, while Derek Clew took the smaller group.
Neither invested in the side pools, where Kev Peters profited in the smaller group, while there was a three way split in the other.
Nick Barham has extended his SGP points table lead to nearly fifteen points, with Elias Hamati and Rob in second and third places.
There was also Premier League action.
In Premier Two Red Neil Young defeated Hazel Harper in Stockwood.
And Kylie Hedges beat Paul Watts in Premier Three Purple.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, saw visits by Penny Walters and Jillo Wisternoff.
26/04/26: The weekend's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played over the weekend.On Saturday Nick Barham beat second placed Natalie Singh 11-10 for the second time within a week in Premier Two Blue.
And Sunday's action centred on Premier Three.
Charlie Hetherington further extended his Green Division lead with a victory over Dom Verrall.
And Derek Clew scored another Purple Division win, this time against Pete Boxer.
24/04/26: Ian wins April GP10 event
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, fifteen of them to contest the third session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.And the main flight winner was Ian Tarr, who defeated Stephen Little, Ian Hedges, George Georgiou and -- in the final -- Steffen Nowak.
Steffen had got past Alp Ozbas, Andy Zographou and Kylie Hedges to reach the final.
Ian H took the consolation flight by beating Stephen, Savas Christodoulou and Tim Line.
Steffen's GP10 points table lead over second placed Tim has increased to 55 points.
For the second successive season there's a secondary prize associated to the GP10 -- a grand prix within a grand prix -- exclusive to players not in either Premier One or Premier Two.
And Ian T's win has moved him into pole position in this race.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action pre-tournament.
Jim Green defeated Nick Barham in the third round of the Brunel Trophy, both players progressing to round four with a single life remaining.
And Barry Vasili beat Alp in a Premier Three Purple match.
Online there was more Premier Three action.
Premier Three Yellow pace setter Marcel Bancroft edged home against Photis Gittoes.
And Dom Verrall defeated Ed Turner in Premier Three Green.
23/04/26: Ian Anderson wins his fifth Wednesday online tournament this year
There were thirteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the sixteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Ian Anderson -- his fifth such success this year -- who defeated Stephen Little, Tim Line and -- in the final -- Adam Sinclair.
Adam had arrived in the final by beating James Newman and Chris Hughes.
Elias Hamati took the consolation flight by getting past Gaz Owen and James.
Stephen won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also third round Brunel Trophy action, with Simon Dicken defeating Simon Tracy in a sudden death tie.
22/04/26: Tuesday results roundup
There were two matches played on Tuesday.In a third round Brunel Trophy tie Kev Peters beat Steve Pickard in what was effectively a sudden death encounter.
And Derek Clew's seamless return to league life continued with a Premier Three Purple victory over Jon Organ.
21/04/26: Twenty-six in Monday action
There were twenty-six players in action on Monday, twenty-three of them competitively.Fourteen of the twenty-three contested the third session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of seven players each at the Heroes website.
Nick Barham -- with a clean sweep -- and Gaz Owen were the group winners.
Nick moves five points ahead of previous leader Elias Hamati in the SGP points table, with Neil Young in third place.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
In the third round of the Brunel Trophy Ian Anderson beat Warner Solomon and Phil Charlton came out on top against Alp Ozbas.
All four players progress to round four with a single life remaining.
Nick narrowly beat Premier Two Blue leader Natalie Singh.
And there were three matches played in Premier Three Purple, all with emphatic scorelines.
Derek Clew beat league leader Flora von Michel at the Sugar Loaf, Easton, while Barry Vasili played host to Andy Zographou in Brentry, where there was a home win.
Online Jon Organ defeated Kylie Hedges.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, saw visits by Penny Walters and Jillo Wisternoff.
19/04/26: Sunday results roundup
There were two matches played on Sunday.The top two players in Premier Two Blue met, leader Natalie Singh narrowly defeating Ann Pocknell.
While Natalie now heads the division by six points, Ann does have six matches in hand.
And in a third round Brunel Trophy tie between two previously unbeaten players Chris Rogers beat Pete Boxer.
17/04/26: Friday results roundup
There were three matches played on Friday.Chris Rogers moved to the top of Premier One by beating Phil Doubtfire twice.
And in a sudden death third round Brunel Trophy tie Elias Hamati defeated Fred North.
17/04/26: Steffen wins again at Speedgammon
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, thirteen of them to contest the second session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.The thirteen were split into round robin groups of five, four and four, with the top two (in the groups of four) or three (in the group of five) progressing to the final knockout phase.
Group winners were Tim Line, Alp Ozbas and Hazel Harper, the latter two drawing lots to earn a seeded bye into the semi-finals of the knockout phase.
Steffen Nowak, Ian Tarr and Tim won their quarter-finals, Steffen and Ian then progressing to the final, which Steffen won in a carbon copy of the February final.
So Steffen has now established an imposing 70 points lead over second placed Ian.
The reality for both players is that they were fortunate to even escape the groups, winning only one apiece of their three matches.
Steffen pipped Cynthia Roberts and Nick Barham on points difference, while Ian was even luckier, beating Steve Morris on difference and Kian Sabet on their head-to-head after they had finished level on difference.
Before the tournament a couple of important loose ends were tied up.
Nick beat Tim in their GP20 final, held over from March 26th, moving Nick into a 40 points lead over Ian.
And Savas Christodoulou pipped Andy Zographou in the Bristol Grand Prix final held over from the previous week.
Savas is an almost nailed on qualifier for the 2027 Bristol Masters.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action elsewhere.
The first two third round Brunel trophy matches were played.
Phil Doubtfire visited Barry Vasili to inflict defeat on his host, who is eliminated.
And Richard Owsley and Natalie Singh decided to double up their tie as a Premier Two Blue match, Natalie prevailing by the tightest of margins to score a double success.
Phil and Natalie carry both of their lives into round four, while Richard takes just one with him.
Natalie's win also moved her to the summit of the Blue Division for good measure.
In the same division Stuart Mann twice defeated Stephen Little at the Plough, Congresbury.
And in Premier Two Red Gary Plant inflicted defeat on Scott Wood.
16/04/26: Nick wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the fifteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Nick Barham, who defeated Tim Line, Chris Hughes and -- in the final -- Ann Pocknell.
Ann had arrived in the final by beating James Newman and Ian Anderson.
James took the consolation flight by getting past Tim and Elias Hamati.
Ian A won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League action.
Gerald Whitehouse beat Hazel Harper in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Green Charlie Hetherington extended his league lead by defeating Peter Wise.
14/04/26: Tuesday league results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Tuesday.Gary Plant defeated Gerald Whitehouse in Premier Two Red.
Charlie Hetherington extended his Premier Three Green lead by beating Jordan White.
And in Premier Three Yellow Neil Edwards beat Photis Gittoes.
14/04/26: Sixteen in Monday action
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, twelve of them competitively.Ten of the twelve contested the second session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of five players each at the Heroes website.
Stephen Little and Neil Young were the group winners -- Neil with a clean sweep, Stephen on the tiebreak -- while Cynthia Roberts won the side pool in Stephen's group.
Elias Hamati stays three points ahead in the SGP points table, with Neil now in second place.
The White Hart, Bedminster Parade, was the venue for the day's only league match.
Derek Clew defeated Mandy Macdonald.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was a quiet session, with brief visits by Jillo Wisternoff and Penny Walters, who sandwiched a short session with Dave McGimpsey, who was present primarily to watch Manchester United's match with Leeds United.
12/04/25: Brunel Trophy third round draw made
The draw for the third round of the thirteenth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Sunday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
Gaz Owen was the lucky recipient of the single bye necessitated by the odd number of survivors.
Forty-seven of the original field of sixty-five are still in, and somewhere in the range of twenty-eight to thirty-eight will make it to round four.
Matches are to be played by May 17th.
The full draw can be found here.
11/04/26: Saturday results roundup
There were four matches played on Saturday.The second round of the Brunel Trophy saw victories for Alan Joicey (over Phil Charlton) and -- at Barry's -- Barry Vasili (over Titus Simen).
All four players go to round three -- Alan with two lives, the other three with just one.
Natalie Singh narrowly defeated Steve Pickard to move up to second in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Two Red Warner Solomon beat Mike Smith.
10/04/26: Cecilia wins in Brunel
There was just one match played on Friday -- in the second round of the Brunel Trophy.And in a meeting of two unbeaten players it was Cecilia Rogers who prevailed at Frank Jones's expense.
10/04/26: Andy and Savas reach April Bristol Grand Prix tournament final
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, twelve of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the fourth instalment of our 2026 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.The main flight final was adjourned for another day, Andy Zographou and Savas Christodoulou having battled their way through.
Andy came through the "long" side of the draw by defeating Chris Aquilina, Neil Young and Ian Tarr, while Savas's victims were Cynthia Roberts and Barry Vasili.
Stephen Little took the consolation flight, defeating Cynthia and Hazel Harper.
Ian and Barry now share the lead in the BGP title race.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Simon Tracy's defeat of Simon Blinkhorn and Jordan White's victory over Simon Baker see all four players progressing to Brunel Trophy round three with a single life remaining.
Ann Pocknell moved to the summit of Premier Two Blue by beating Richard Owsley.
And Premier Three Purple leader Flora von Michel suffered defeat at the hands of Paul Watts.
10/04/26: James wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the fourteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was James Newman, who defeated Elias Hamati, Nick Barham and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived in the final by beating Scott Wood and John Curran.
Ian Tarr took the consolation flight by getting past Elias and Stephen Little.
Elias won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier Three Purple action, with Derek Clew -- replacing the resigned Ceri Pierce in the division -- beating Andy Zographou at the Post Office Tavern.
And in the second round of the Brunel Trophy there were exits for Rosemary Whitehouse and Robin Gunney at the hands of Chris Hughes and Fred North, who each have a single life remaiming.
07/04/26: Tuesday's Brunel Trophy results
There were two matches played on Tuesday, both of them in the second round of the Brunel Trophy.Ed Turner's victory over Simon Hughes had the effect of eliminating Simon from the competition, while Ed moves to round three with both lives intact.
Mark Dixon was the other winner, but both Mark and his victim Simon Dicken have a single life remaining.
07/04/26: Thirteen in Bank Holiday Monday action
There were thirteen players in action on Monday, eleven of them competitively.The eleven contested the opening session of the Monday Club Spring Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of six and five players at the Heroes website.
Elias Hamati and Ismail Yilmaz were the group winners -- Elias with a clean sweep, Ismail on the tiebreak -- while Andrew Montgomery and Kev Peters won the side pools.
So Elias is the first SGP leader, with Ismail in second place.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended only by Jillo Wisternoff.
05/04/26: Ben out of Brunel Trophy
There was just one match played on Sunday.And in what was effectively a sudden death second round Brunel Trophy tie Tim Line defeated Ben Crowden.
04/04/26: Saturday win for Marcel
There was just one match played on Saturday.And Premier Three Yellow leader Marcel Bancroft consolidated her position by defeating Neil Edwards.
04/04/26: Good Friday results roundup
There were seven matches played on Friday.But it wasn't a Good Friday for Stephen Little, who not only made his exit from the Brunel Trophy, but also lost two Premier Two Blue matches.
His second round Brunel Trophy defeat came at the hands of Alp Ozbas, who progresses to round three with both lives intact.
And this was followed by league defeats by Ian Anderson and Ann Pocknell.
Ian then beat Ann -- her first defeat of the league season.
Another Brunel result was Gaz Owen's defeat of Steffen Nowak, where the two go to round three with two and one lives respectively.
In regular season league action Ann had won twelve in a row (going back to the tail end of last season) -- a sequence bettered only four times in Premier Two history.
In Premier Two Red Mike Smith hauled himself from the bottom of the league by overcoming Mark Dixon.
And Charlie Hetherington extended his Premier Three Green lead by narrowly beating Mitch Tucker.
03/04/26: Tim wins April Handicap Trophy event
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday, thirteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the third instalment of our 2026 Handicap Trophy series.The winner this time was Tim Line, who defeated Kylie Hedges, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Savas Christodoulou.
Savas had got past George Georgiou, Andy Zographou and Ian Hedges en route.
The consolation flight was not completed -- a by-product of admitting new players -- with Hazel Harper in the final, awaiting the outcome of the semi-final between Stephen Little and Thursday debutant David Ralston.
Savas won both £10 "Golden Zone" bonuses.
Tim edges into the lead in the HT table, with Ian T second, and previous leader Alp Ozbas third.
There were two other matches played.
Nick Barham defeated Neil Young at the Pump House.
That second round Brunel Trophy result sees Nick into round three with both lives intact, while Neil still has one remaining.
And at Costa Coffee in the Gloucester Road the reward for the winner was pole position in Premier Three Purple.
Flora von Michel beat Andy in that one.
02/04/26: Stephen wins Wednesday online tournament
There were thirteen players in action on Wednesday, twelve of them to contest the thirteenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Stephen Little, who defeated Ian Tarr, Neil Young and -- in the final -- Adam Sinclair after receiving a first round bye.
Adam had arrived in the final by beating John Curran, Elias Hamati and Gaz Owen.
Tim Line took the consolation flight by getting past John and Nick Barham.
Elias Hamati won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier Two Red action, with Mark Dixon playing twice.
He defeated Neil before succumbing to Gerald Whitehouse.
01/04/26: Thirteen penalised at first checkpoint
The first checkpoint of the Premier League season passed at midnight, and thirteen players were penalised, although all points docked can be clawed back by compliance with the terms of the May 31st checkpoint.Those penalised are Andy Boysan, Phil Charlton, Jim Green and Kev Peters in Premier One; Mark Dixon, Mike Smith and Neil Young in Premier Two Red; Simon Hughes in Premier Three Green; Freddy Doubtfire, Pearl Foster and Photis Gittoes in Premier Three Yellow; and Jon Organ and Mandy Macdonald in Premier Three Purple.
There was a totally clean bill of health for those in Premier Two Blue.
31/03/26: Tuesday's results roundup
There were five matches played on Tuesday.Hazel Harper made her exit from the Brunel Trophy when she lost what was effectively a sudden death second round tie against John Curran.
Phil Doubtfire defeated Alan Joicey in Premier One.
In Premier Two Blue Chris Hughes beat Cliff Blofield.
Kev Lee overcame Cynthia Roberts in Premier Three Green.
And in Premier Three Yellow Ian Tarr beat Ben Crowden.
31/03/26: Derek fills Purple Division vacancy
Ceri Pierce's withdrawal from Premier Three Purple last week left the third tier of the Bristol Premier League unbalanced.The starting lineups had twelve players in each of the three Premier Three divisions.
In January, when James Timoney similarly withdrew, Alp Ozbas stepped into the breach.
But with a quarter of the season gone this time, Director Ian Tarr needed to be sure that any prospective replacement fully understood the demands of the league, with some catching up to be done.
And when Derek Clew, who last sampled the delights of the Bristol Premier League in 2011, stepped forward the Director was reassured that all would be well.
Derek has been handed his own checkpoint schedule, which should see him realigned with his fellow Purple Division contestants by the end of July.
And the three third tier divisions are balanced once again, with twelve in each division.
30/03/26: Gaz clinches Winter Grand Prix title
There were sixteen players in action on Monday, fourteen of them competitively.Ten of the fourteen contested the thirteenth and final session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of five players each at the Heroes website.
Derek Clew and Neil Young were the group winners -- Derek with a clean sweep, Neil on the tiebreak -- while Nick Barham won the side pool in Derek's group.
The title showdown, with Gaz Owen holding a marginal advantage over Nick, saw both players collecting sixteen points for their second place finishes, so Gaz held on for the WGP honours.
There was also Premier Three action.
Ian Tarr defeated Rosemary Whitehouse in Premier Three Yellow.
And in Premier Three Green Simon Hughes edged home against Kev Lee.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by David Ralston and Jillo Wisternoff.
29/03/26: Sunday's results roundup
There were two matches played on Sunday.Matt Sharp made his exit from the Brunel Trophy when he lost what was effectively a sudden death second round tie against Ann Pocknell.
And Steffen Nowak is progressing well on his return to Premier One, this time defeating Phil Charlton.
29/03/26: Saturday win for Phil
In the only action of Saturday, Phil Doubtfire defeated Jim Green in a Premier One match.27/03/26: Friday's Premier League action
There were three matches played on Friday.Mike Smith scored his first Premier Two Red victory of the season at the expense of Hemal Getalal.
In Premier Three Yellow Ian Tarr defeated Carwyn Jenkins.
And Andy Zographou beat Pete Boxer in Premier Three Purple.
27/03/26: Ceri withdraws from the Purple Division
Ceri Pierce has resigned from this season's Premier Three Purple, feeling that she doesn't have the time.Once again it's regrettable from the league's point of view when this happens, and this follows the withdrawal of James Timoney back in January.
But like James, Ceri has made her exit without playing any matches, limiting the damage caused.
In January Director Ian Tarr was able to find a suitable and willing replacement in Alp Ozbas.
But with a quarter of the season gone, the chance of finding another replacement seems less likely.
27/03/26: Nick and Tim reach GP20 final
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, fourteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the second instalment of the year's GP20 series.Nick Barham and Tim Line will meet in the main final, which was adjourned until a few weeks hence.
Nick defeated Simon Tracy, Savas Christodoulou and Stephen Little en route to the final, while Tim got past George Georgiou, Hazel Harper and Ian Tarr.
George took the consolation flight with victories over Barry Vasili and Alan Joicey after receiving a first round bye.
Nick has taken over the GP20 lead by five points from Ian, but that margin would increase to forty with a final win.
There were also three Premier League matches played online.
Ian Hedges defeated Gerald Whitehouse for the second successive day in Premier Two Red.
Photis Gittoes beat Rosemary Whitehouse in Premier Three Yellow.
And Peter Wise narrowly defeated Cynthia Roberts in Premier Three Green.
25/03/26: Ian Anderson wins Wednesday online tournament again
There were thirty players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the twelfth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Ian Anderson -- his fourth such win this year -- who defeated John Curran, Alan Joicey and -- in the final -- Cecilia Rogers.
Cecilia had arrived in the final by beating Stephen Little and Mark Dixon.
Nick Barham took the consolation flight by getting past Chris Hughes, Elias Hamati and Stephen Little.
Tim Line won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action, with twelve matches played.
In the second round of the Brunel Trophy Dom Verrall beat Kylie Hedges, Dicky Biddle beat Carwyn Jenkins, Adam Sinclair beat Kev Peters, and Eamonn Reay beat Derek Clew.
Carwyn and Kylie are eliminated, while Adam, Dicky and Dom have both lives remaining.
Kev, Eamonn and Derek all progress to round three with a single life left.
In Premier One Alan beat Cecilia.
Steve Pickard defeated Frank Jones in Premier Two Blue.
Gerald Whitehouse played two Premier Two Red matches, losing to Ian Hedges before overcoming Hazel Harper.
In Premier Three Green Charlie Hetherington played three times, defeating Kev Lee and Rob Clarke before losing out to Fred North.
And Andy Zographou ended Pete Boxer's sequence of wins in Premier Three Purple.
24/03/26: Tuesday's results roundup
There were ten matches played on Tuesday.Ian Hedges and Freddy Doubtfire are out of the Brunel Trophy, losing their second round ties to Phil Doubtfire and Richard Owsley.
Elias Hamati was defeated by Ian Tarr, but has one life remaining.
All three of those Brunel winners have two lives left.
Alan Joicey beat Simon Baker in Premier One.
In Premier Two Red Simon Blinkhorn scored a brace of wins, beating league leader Dicky Biddle and Gerald Whitehouse, while in the same division Warner Solomon maintained his recovery from a poor start to the season with victory over previously unbeaten Hazel Harper.
Premier Three Green winners were Kev Lee and Cynthia Roberts, who beat Rob Clarke and Ed Turner.
And in Premier Three Purple Flora von Michel defeated Paul Watts.
24/03/26: Twenty-eight in Monday action
There were twenty-eight players in action on Monday, twenty-five of them competitively.Eleven of the twenty-five contested the twelfth and penultimate session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of six and five players at the Heroes website.
Stephen Little and Nick Barham were the group winners on tiebreaks, while Kev Peters won the side pool in Stephen's group.
Nick has cut Gaz's lead in the WGP points table to just a fraction of a point, and with no other contender in reach next week's finale will be a straight fight for the title.
There were also Premier League and Brunel Trophy matches played.
The latest player eliminated from the Brunel Trophy is Andy Zographou, who lost his second round tie to Pete Boxer, who is undefeated in Bristol matches this year.
In Premier One Alan Joicey scored a narrow win over Phil Charlton.
Natalie Singh defeated Richard Owsley in Premier Two Blue.
Marcel Bancroft moved to the top of Premier Three Yellow with a narrow win over Rosemary Whitehouse, while in the same division Ian Tarr beat Ben Crowden.
And winners in Premier Three Green were Ed Turner and Rob Clarke, over Dom Verrall and Kev Lee respectively.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by Eli Ratzel, Negin Eskandari and first timer Jillo.
22/03/26: Sunday's results roundup
There were three matches played on Sunday.Cliff Blofield exited the Brunel Trophy, losing his second round tie to Rob Clarke, who progresses to the third round with one life remaining.
Adam Sinclair moved to the top of Premier One with a narrow victory over Tim Line.
And in Premier Three Yellow Neil Edwards defeated Richard Davies.
22/03/26: Busy Saturday for Andy
There were three matches played on Saturday, all involving Andy Boysan.He defeated Steve Pickard in the second round of the Brunel Trophy, both players progressing to round three, Andy with two lives and Steve with one remaining.
Then a Premier One double header saw him lose twice to Simon Baker.
21/03/26: Friday's results roundup
There were four matches played on Friday.In the second round of the Bunel Trophy Warner Solomon beat Jim Green.
Phil Doubtfire defeated Simon Baker in Premier One.
In Premier Two Red Dicky Biddle extended his lead by defeating Hemal Getalal.
And in Premier Three Green Cynthia Roberts' damaging run of defeats continued when she succumbed to Dom Verrall.
21/03/26: Awards Night celebrated the best of 2025
The Ibis was the venue for our Annual Awards Night again on Thursday.The turnout was down on last year's but hopefully a good time was had by all who made it.
Ian Tarr delivered his usual address, summarising the achievements of all and sundry during 2025, his speech punctuated as always by the awarding of the majority of the 90 prizes which had been earned by 30 different players.
The "routine" rewarding of achievements in our various online and live arenas through the calendar year preceded the "surprises".
It was no surprise that Gaz Owen picked up the award for year end leadership of our rankings.
There were 1,000-1 awards aplenty -- five of them this year -- the absent Nick Barham scooping the best of these for a splendid sequence of fifteen successive wins, which equates to odds of 32,000-1.
The others -- for either ten or eleven wins, i.e. 1,000-1 and 2,000-1 -- were earned by Gaz (two), Nick again and Elias Hamati (also absent).
Longevity was also rewarded, following on from Stuart Mann's initial achievement of becoming the first player to register 100 Premier League match victories back in 2007.
The 30th, 31st and 32nd Premier League Centurions arrived in 2025 -- the absent Michael Corbett and Chris Hughes and the not absent Ian Hedges -- while Nick became the 15th to receive a Double Centurion award.
And following on from Stuart's Triple Centurion landmark in 2021, Ian T became only the second to reach that total.
The Most Improved Player Award -- and a few others -- went to Hazel Harper, while John Rixon was awarded the Rookie of the Year prize.
Following the ceremonials, there was time for a nine player round robin, ably run by sustitute TD Steve Morris, and won by George Georgiou.
Kylie Hedges took lots of great photos of the evening, and they were made available to those who are members of the Bristol Backgammon Heroes WhatsApp group.
20/03/26: Thursday's results roundup
Apart from the impromptu nine player round robin after Awards Night, there were seven matches played on Thursday.Mike Smith is the latest player to be eliminated from the Brunel Trophy, losing his second round tie to Ian Anderson, in what was a sudden death scenario.
But for Mike that was only one of his troubles.
On a day where he played four times, he drew a total blank, losing Premier Two Red matches to Ian Hedges, Dicky Biddle and Warner Solomon.
One more match in that division saw Neil Young defeating Simon Blinkhorn at the V Shed.
In Premier Two Blue Frank Jones beat Richard Owsley.
And in Premier Three Purple Jon Organ broke his losing league sequence at the tenth time of asking, overcoming Flora von Michelb.
18/03/26: Nick wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the eleventh of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Nick Barham, who defeated Chris Hughes, John Curran and -- in the final -- Chris Rogers.
Chris R had arrived in the final by beating Ian Anderson and Elias Hamati.
Phil Doubtfire took the consolation flight by beating Tim Line, Ian A and Stephen Little.
Tim won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League action, with two matches played.
Steve Pickard defeated Steve Cox in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Three Green Charlie Hetherington whitewashed Jordan White.
17/03/26: Tuesday's results roundup
There were eight matches played on Tuesday.Charlie Hetherington is the latest player to be eliminated from the Brunel Trophy, losing his second round tie to Natalie Singh.
Chris Hughes beat Steve Cox in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Two Red Warner Solomon defeated Mark Dixon.
Winners in Premier Three Green were Simon Hughes, Charlie and Rob Clarke -- Jordan White, Fred North and Cynthia Roberts their victims.
Pete Boxer won again in Premier Three Purple, beating Paul Watts, while in the same division Mathew Nicholls was defeating Jon Organ.
16/03/26: Twenty-seven in Monday action
There were twenty-seven players in action on Monday, twenty-three of them competitively.Eleven of the twenty-three contested the eleventh session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of six and five players at the Heroes website.
Nick Barham and Frank Jones were the group winners.
Gaz Owen won the side pool in Frank's group.
Nick has cut Gaz's lead in the WGP points table to just eleven points.
There were also Premier League and Brunel Trophy matches played.
The latest player eliminated from the Brunel Trophy is Richard Davies, who lost his second round tie to Chris Rogers.
In Premier Two Blue Chris Hughes suffered defeats to Steve Pickard and Steve Cox.
Mark Dixon defeated Ian Hedges in Premier Two Red.
Simon Dicken lost to Richard and Marcel Bancroft in Premier Three Yellow.
Dom Verrall beat Charlie Hetherington in Premier Three Green.
And at the Clyde Arms Mathew Nicholls defeated Barry Vasili in Premier Three Purple.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by David Ralston and Eli Ratzel, while Scott Wood arrived to share the educational load with Ian.
15/03/26: Sunday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Sunday.Andy Boysan began his Premier One campaign with a double header against Tim Line.
They shared the spoils.
And Warner Solomon gained his revenge for Saturday's Premier Two Red defeat at the hands of Gary Plant.
14/03/26: Saturday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.Gary Plant defeated Warner Solomon in Premier Two Red.
Rosemary Whitehouse beat Pearl Foster in Premier Three Yellow.
And in Premier Three Green Kev Lee began his campaign with a victory over Cynthia Roberts.
13/03/26: Friday's Premier League action
There were four Premier League matches played on Friday.Chris Rogers suffered a double blow to his Premier One title hopes when, having lost to Simon Baker online, he played host to Gaz Owen in Chippenham and succumbed again.
Gaz moved to the top of the league.
Marcel Bancroft beat Pearl Foster in Premier Three Yellow.
And in Premier Three Purple Pete Boxer defeated Barry Vasili.
13/03/26: Ian wins March Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were twenty-eight players in action on Thursday, ten of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the third instalment of our 2026 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.Ian Tarr took the main flight, defeating Steffen Nowak, Nick Barham, Hazel Harper and -- in the final -- Barry Vasili.
Barry had got past Tim Line and Chris Aquilina en route to the final.
George Georgiou took the consolation flight, defeating Steve Morris, Steffen and Tim.
Barry has moved into the lead in the BGP title race, with Ian and Nick fifteen ponts behind.
There were also eleven matches played in the Premier League and the Brunel Trophy.
Cynthia Roberts became the first player to be eliminated from this year's Brunel Trophy when she lost her second round tie to James Newman, who progresses to the third round with one life remaining.
In Premier One there were wins for Chris Rogers and Jim Green, over Tim and Simon Baker.
Warner Solomon was defeated twice -- by Simon Blinkhorn and Hemal Getalal -- in Premier Two Red, while in the same division Dicky Biddle beat Scott Wood.
Richard Owsley scored a Premier Two Blue victory over Cliff Blofield.
Simon Hughes began his Premier Three Green campaign with a defeat by Rob Clarke and a win over Mitch Tucker.
In the same division Charlie Hetherington overcame Ed Turner.
And Pete Boxer beat Jon Organ in Premier Three Purple.
12/03/26: Tim wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-one players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the tenth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Tim Line, who defeated Gerald Whitehouse, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Nick Barham.
Nick had arrived in the final by beating John Curran and Gaz Owen.
Gerald took the consolation flight by beating John and Chris Hughes.
Ian won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League action, with six matches played, and the first of the second round Brunel Trophy ties.
Jon Organ's defeat of Pearl Foster means both players move on to round three of the Brunel Trophy with a single life remaining.
Steffen Nowak and Jim Green were winners in Premier One, beating Alan Joicey and Phil Charlton.
In Premier Two Red Hazel Harper defeated Scott Wood, while Dicky Biddle overcame Gary Plant.
Frank Jones beat Richard Owsley in Premier Two Blue.
And in Premier Three Yellow Richard Davies defeated Simon Dicken.
10/03/26: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were five Premier League matches played on Tuesday.Steffen Nowak defeated Jim Green in Premier One.
Simon Blinkhorn began his Premier Two Red campaign with a pair of defeats, succumbing to Scott Wood and Hazel Harper.
Neil Edwards beat Rosemary Whitehouse in Premier Three Yellow.
And in Premier Three Purple Pete Boxer kicked off his campaign by defeating Paul Watts.
10/03/25: Brunel Trophy second round draw made
The draw for the second round of the thirteenth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Tuesday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
Paul Watts was the lucky recipient of the single bye necessitated by the odd number of entrants.
Matches are to be played by April 10th.
The full draw can be found here.
10/03/26: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, twenty of them competitively.Eleven of the twenty contested the tenth session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of six and five players at the Heroes website.
Gaz Owen and Derek Clew were the group winners, both with clean sweeps.
Nick Barham won the side pool in Derek's group.
Gaz has opened up an eighteen point lead in the WGP points table standings, with Nick Barham in second place.
There were also Premier League and Brunel Trophy matches played.
The last of the first round Brunel Trophy ties was settled -- Warner Solomon narrowly defeating Eamonn Reay -- and the draw for the second round is scheduled for Tuesday.
In Premier One Gaz and Phil Charlton were the winners, at the expense of Michael Petrakas and Simon Baker.
Gary Plant defeated Dicky Biddle in Premier Two Red.
And Cliff Blofield beat Steve Cox in Premier Two Blue.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by Negin Eskandari and Eli Ratzel.
08/03/26: Sunday's results roundup
There were seven matches played on Sunday.Adam Sinclair moved to the top of Premier One by defeating Cecilia Rogers.
Steve Cox scored Premier Two Blue wins over both Natalie Singh and Stephen Little.
Cynthia Roberts suffered Premier Three Green defeats to Ed Turner and Fred North.
And in Premier Three Purple Alp Ozbas beat Jon Organ.
Meanwhile in the first round of the Brunel Trophy Jim Green defeated Simon Tracy.
07/03/26: Saturday's Premier League roundup
There were two Premier League matches played on Saturday.In Premier Two Red Hazel Harper defeated Hemal Getalal.
And Neil Edwards beat Richard Davies in Premier Three Yellow
06/03/26: Andy's Friday win over Alp
There was just one Premier League match played on Friday.The venue was the Post Office Tavern, where Andy Zographou defeated Alp Ozbas in Premier Three Purple.
06/03/26: Tim wins March GP10 event
There were twenty-one players in action on Thursday, sixteen of them to contest the second session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.And the main flight winner was Tim Line, who defeated George Georgiou, John Rixon and Hazel Harper before pipping Ian Hedges in the final.
Ian had got past Steve Morris, Barry Vasili and Savas Christodoulou to reach the final.
Steffen Nowak took the consolation flight by beating Cynthia Roberts, Nick Barham and Kylie Hedges.
Steffen remains top of the GP10 points table with Tim 15 points behind.
For the second successive season there's a secondary prize associated to the GP10 -- a grand prix within a grand prix -- exclusive to players not in either Premier One or Premier Two.
And after two tournaments there are no fewer than six joint leaders!
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action online.
In Premier One there were wins for Steffen, over Gaz Owen, and Cecilia Rogers, over Michael Petrakas.
And Simon Baker scored a narrow first round Brunel Trophy win over Rob Clarke.
05/03/26: Nick wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fifteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the ninth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Nick Barham, who defeated Kev Peters, Ann Pocknell and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived in the final by beating Ian Tarr and James Newman.
Ian took the consolation flight by beating John Curran and Kev.
Kev then won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League action.
Steve Pickard played twice in Premier Two Blue, beating Stuart Mann before succumbing to Cliff Blofield.
And Photis Gittoes won a marathon Premier Three Yellow match against Rosemary Whitehouse.
03/03/26: Tuesday's results roundup
There were four Premier League matches and three in the Brunel Trophy played on Tuesday.Michael Petrakas and Adam Sinclair were Premier One winners over Chris Rogers and Cecilia Rogers.
In Premier Two Red Scott Wood emphatically beat Gary Plant.
The only live match of the day was Mathew Nicholls' Premier Three Purple victory over Alp Ozbas at the Clyde Arms.
And in the first round of the Brunel Trophy there were wins for Kev Peters, Frank Jones and Simon Dicken over Rosemary Whitehouse, Mark Dixon and Kylie Hedges.
All but three of the opening round Brunel results are now in.
03/03/26: Twenty-nine in Monday action
There were twenty-nine players in action on Monday, twenty-seven of them competitively.Thirteen of the twenty-seven contested the ninth session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of seven and six players at the Heroes website.
Derek Clew won the larger group, with four players involved in the head-to-head tiebreak, although Cynthia Roberts won the side pool.
The other group saw a three-way tie for the lead between Ian Anderson, Jon Organ and Gaz Owen -- inseperable by the tiebreak -- although Gaz won the side pool tiebreak between the two leaders who invested.
Gaz has edged ahead in the WGP points table standings, with Nick Barham in second place and previous leader Kev Peters third.
There were also Premier League and Brunel Trophy matches played.
Five first round Brunel Trophy ties were settled -- Cecilia Rogers, Pete Boxer and Phil Charlton scoring online wins over Ben Crowden, Hazel Harper and Simon Hughes.
The other two ties featured new Bristol Backgammon venues.
Gaz narrowly beat Barry Vasili at Sidney & Eden in Gloucester Road, while Tim Line travelled the short distance from Trowbridge to Bradford-on-Avon, where Dom Verrall scored a home win.
In Premier Two Red Robin Gunney played twice -- losing narrowly to Gary Plant before whitewashing Scott Wood.
And Ann Pocknell maintained her unbeaten start in Premier Two Blue by beating Frank Jones.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended only by Tony Gruet.
28/02/26: Saturday win for Cliff
In the only action on Saturday Cliff Blofield scored a Premier Two Blue whitewash victory over Frank Jones.27/02/26: Friday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches and one in the Brunel Trophy played online on Friday.Adam Sinclair scored a Premier One victory over Michael Petrakas.
In Premier Two Blue Steve Pickard beat Frank Jones.
Hazel Harper began her Premier Two Red campaign by defeating Mark Dixon.
And in the first round of the Brunel Trophy Ian Tarr beat Robin Gunney.
26/02/26: Jim wins Masters again; Ian wins February Handicap Trophy event
There were twenty-one players in action on Thursday, sixteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the second instalment of our 2026 Handicap Trophy series.But the headline was made before the tournament, when Nick Barham and Jim Green played out the held over final of the Bristol Masters.
And once again it was Jim who took the title to equal the record haul of Masters titles held by Alex Hodge and Stuart Mann, who have also won the event three times.
It was Nick's third Masters final, and he has lost all three to Jim!
The HT winner this time was Ian Tarr, who defeated Stephen Little, Hazel Harper, Ian Hedges and -- in the final -- Steffen Nowak.
Steffen had got past Kylie Hedges, Savas Christodoulou and Alp Ozbas en route.
Kylie won the consolation flight, beating George Georgiou, Steve Morris and Ed Turner.
Savas and Steffen won the two £10 "Golden Zone" bonuses.
Alp, who won the January event, still leads the HT table, with Ian T now in second place.
There were three matches played online and one at the Wellington.
That live match saw Neil Young edge to victory over Andy Zographou in the first round of the Brunel Trophy.
Online Brunel winners were Nick -- over Carwyn Jenkins -- and Alan Joicey -- against Chris Hughes.
And Fred North scored a Premier Three Green win over Rob Clarke.
25/02/26: Ian Anderson wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the eighth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Ian Anderson, who made light of not getting a bye, defeating Mark Dixon, Chris Rogers, Neil Young and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had arrived in the final by beating Scott Wood and Stephen Little.
Nick Barham John took the consolation flight by beating Gaz Owen and Scott.
Ian Tarr won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Alan Joicey defeated Steffen Nowak in Premier One.
And Alp Ozbas won his first round Brunel Trophy tie against Richard Davies.
24/02/26: Tuesday's Brunel Trophy roundup
There were two first round Brunel Trophy matches played on Tuesday.Derek Clew visited Stephen Little at one of his regular haunts, the Marlborough Tavern, Bath, and came away with the win.
Online Chris Rogers defeated Jon Organ.
24/02/26: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, eighteen of them competitively.Eleven of the eighteen contested the eighth session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of six and five players at the Heroes website.
Neil Young and Kylie Hedges won the groups, both of them on the head-to-head tiebreak.
Kev Peters still leads the WGP points table, with Nick Barham back in second place.
There were also Premier League and Brunel Trophy matches played.
In the first round of the Brunel Trophy there were wins for Adam Sinclair (over Ann Pocknell) and Paul Watts (over James Newman).
And in Premier One Steffen Nowak beat Adam, While Michael Petrakas was defeating Tim Line.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended Simon Dicken, Penny Walters, Eli Ratzel and Negin Eskandari (complete with minder).
22/02/26: Sunday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played online on Sunday.Chris Rogers and Adam Sinclair played a Premier One double header, where each scored an 11-7 win.
And in Premier Three Yellow Ian Tarr beat Neil Edwards.
22/02/26: Saturday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played online on Saturday.Michael Petrakas played twice in Premier One, succumbing to Chris Rogers before defeating Adam Sinclair.
And in Premier Three Green Ed Turner beat Peter Wise.
20/02/26: Friday's results roundup
There were three Premier League matches played on Friday.Neil Young, Gerald Whitehouse and Warner Solomon -- in Torquay for the weekend's tournament -- took the opportunity to play Premier Two Red matches, Neil succumbing to both Gerald and Warner.
And in Premier Three Purple Flora von Michel defeated Alp Ozbas at the Garden of Easton.
20/02/25: Nick and Jim in deja vu Masters final
There were twenty players in action on Thursday, sixteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the twenty-sixth annual Bristol Masters tournament.Nick Barham and Jim Green made it to the final, which will be played at another date and time.
This is an uncanny echo of last year's event, when the same two players adjourned the final, and they also contested the 2022 final, Jim winning on both of those occasions!
Nick got past Hazel Harper, Phil Doubtfire and Steve Morris en route to the final, while Jim's victims were Steffen Nowak, Ian Tarr and Kev Peters.
Jim will be in his fourth final in five years.
Online, there was Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Ed Turner and Jordan White played a double header, Ed winning both convincingly, first in the first round of the Brunel Trophy, then in Premier Three Green.
And Natalie Singh was another Brunel winner, defeating Mike Smith.
18/02/26: Gaz wins second successive Wednesday online tournament
There were twelve players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the seventh of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner -- for the second successive week -- was Gaz Owen, who defeated Tim Line, Kev Peters and -- in the final -- James Newman.
James had arrived in the final by beating John Curran and Stephen Little.
John took the consolation flight by beating Nick Barham and Jon Organ.
Ian Tarr won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League action.
Michael Petrakas registered his first win in Premier One, Phil Doubtfire his victim.
And Carwyn Jenkins is setting a hot pace in Premier Three Yellow, this time beating Photis Gittoes.
18/02/26: Tuesday's results roundup
There were three matches played on Tuesday.The two early Premier One front runners met, Gaz Owen narrowly defeating Chris Rogers.
In Premier Two Red Ian Hedges beat Mike Smith.
And in the first round of the Brunel Trophy Steffen Nowak overcame John Curran.
17/02/26: Nineteen in Monday action
There were nineteen players in action on Monday, fifteen of them competitively.Eleven of the fifteen contested the seventh session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of 3-point round robins of six and five players at the Heroes website.
Gaz Owen and Cynthia Roberts won the groups.
Kev Peters still leads the WGP points table, with Gaz now second, eleven points behind.
There were also Premier League and Brunel Trophy matches played.
In the first round of the Brunel Trophy Elias Hamati defeated Ian Hedges.
Warner Solomon lost to Dicky Biddle 5-11 in Premier Two Red for the second successive Monday.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended Penny Walters, David Ralston (returning after a ten year absence), and first timer Negin, who last played many years ago with her late father in Iran.
16/02/26: Sunday's Premier League roundup
There were two Premier League matches played on Sunday.In Premier Two Blue Steve Pickard beat Natalie Singh.
And Neil Edwards defeated Ismail Yilmaz in Premier Three Yellow.
15/02/26: Saturday win for Ann
The only Saturday action saw Ann Pocknell defeat Nick Barham in Premier Two Blue.13/02/26: Friday win for Ian Anderson
The only Friday action saw Ian Anderson defeat Steve Pickard in Premier Two Blue.13/02/26: Nick wins February Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were twenty-two players in action on Thursday, seventeen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the second instalment of our 2026 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.Nick Barham took the main flight, defeating John Rixon, Stephen Little, Hazel Harper and -- in the final -- Ian Hedges.
Ian H had got past Steve Morris, Ed Turner and George Georgiou en route to the final.
Barry Vasili took the consolation flight, defeating John, Alp Ozbas and Ian Tarr.
Nick has edged ahead of previous leader Barry at the head of the BGP points table and, considering the high turnout, is a virtually certain qualifier for the 2027 Bristol Masters.
There was also some online action.
In Premier Two Blue Richard Owsley defeated Steve Pickard.
And in the first round of the Brunel Trophy Richard and Dicky Biddle were winners over Fred North and Mitch Tucker.
11/02/26: Gaz wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the sixth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Gaz Owen, who defeated Tim Line, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- Nick Barham, after receiving a first round bye.
Nick had arrived in the final by beating Neil Young and Ian Tarr.
Stephen Little took the consolation flight by beating Alp Ozbas, Tim and Neil.
Ian won the post tournament jackpot.
There was also Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
First round Brunel Trophy winners were Steve Pickard and Phil Doubtfire, who beat Charlie Hetherington and Matt Sharp.
And Flora von Michel visited Mandy Macdonald at the Windmill Hill City Farm, coming away with a Premier Three Purple victory.
10/02/26: Tuesday Premier League roundup
There were five Premier League matches played on Tuesday.The Rose and Crown, Two Mile Hill Road, was the venue for a Premier One meeting between Tim Line and Gaz Owen, where Tim was the victor.
In Premier Two Blue Steve Pickard beat Cliff Blofield.
Alp Ozbas defeated Paul Watts in Premier Three Purple.
And Simon Dicken suffered two Premier Three Yellow defeats, against Marcel Bancroft and Ian Tarr.
09/02/26: Twenty-eight in Monday action
There were twenty-eight players in action on Monday, twenty-three of them competitively.Fourteen of the twenty-three contested the sixth session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of two 3-point round robins of seven players at the Heroes website.
Steve Pickard and Gaz Owen won the groups, Gaz with a clean sweep.
Kev Peters still leads the WGP points table, now eleven points ahead of second placed Nick Barham.
There were also five Premier League matches played, plus one from the first round of the Brunel Trophy.
Simon Blinkhorn was the Brunel winner, narrowly over Freddy Doubtfire.
Alan Joicey pipped Premier One leader Gaz Owen, ending Gaz's longest top flight winning sequence of ten wins, stretching back into last season.
Warner Solomon made his first league appearance of the season, losing out to Dicky Biddle in Premier Two Red.
In Premier Three Purple Eamonn Reay and Mathew Nicholls shared the spoils of a double header, while in the same division Paul Watts played host to Barry Vasili in Redfield, and scored his first league win of the season.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended Eli Ratzel, Kate Waldron, her friend Andy, and John Allen.
08/02/26: Sunday action roundup
There were four matches played on Sunday.The Bolero Lounge, Yate, was the venue for a first round Brunel Trophy meeting, where Pearl Foster defeated Cliff Blofield.
Gaz Owen is still unbeaten in Premier One after his victory over Phil Doubtfire.
Robin Gunney won a Premier Two Red match against Ian Hedges.
And Andy Zographou defeated Mathew Nicholls at the RAFA Club in Premier Three Purple.
07/02/26: Flora wins in Easton
There was just one match played on Saturday.Flora von Michel defeated Mandy Macdonald in Premier Three Purple at the No 12 Cafe, Easton.
06/02/26: Andy defeats Cynthia in Brunel Trophy
There was just one match played on Friday.Andy Boysan defeated Cynthia Roberts in the first round of the 2026 Brunel Trophy.
06/02/26: Steffen wins February Speedgammon Grand Prix event
There were eighteen players in action on Thursday, eleven of them to contest the opening session of the year's Speedgammon Grand Prix at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel.The eleven were split into round robin groups of six and five, with the top three in each progressing to the final knockout phase.
Group winners were George Georgiou and Steffen Nowak, who both had clean sweeps, to earn seeded byes into the semi-finals of the knockout phase.
Stephen Little and Ian Tarr won their quarter-finals, Ian and Steffen then progressing to the final, which Steffen won.
So Steffen has a handy 35 points lead over second placed Ian.
Before the tournament Ian and Nick Barham fought out the held over main final from the previous week's GP20 event, where Ian won to take the lead in the GP20 table.
Online there was Premier League and Brunel Trophy action.
Gerald Whitehouse was the first match winner in this year's Brunel Trophy, pipping Ian Anderson, who then whitewashed Stuart Mann in a Premier Two Blue match.
Kev Peters played two double headers in Premier One.
He began with a victory over Adam Sinclair, but Adam then gained his revenge, Kev then losing twice to Gaz Owen.
Jordan White in Premier Three Green was the day's other winner, Mitch Tucker his victim.
04/02/26: Ian Anderson wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fourteen players in action on Wednesday, eight of them to contest the fifth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Ian Anderson, who defeated Stephen Little, Kev Peters and -- in the final -- James Newman.
James had arrived in the final by beating Neil Young and Tim Line.
Gaz Owen took the consolation flight by beating Stephen and Nick Barham.
Phil Doubtfire joined the fray in the post tournament jackpot and won it.
There were also three Premier League matches played.
Natalie Singh scored two Premier Two Blue wins, beating Ian A and Stuart Mann.
And Barry Vasili hosted Alp Ozbas in a Premier Three Purple match, and won.
03/02/26: Tuesday's Premier League round-up
There were five Premier League matches played on Tuesday.Adam Sinclair defeated Alan Joicey, and Phil Doubtfire beat Steffen Nowak in Premier One.
The Greyhound, Lodge Causeway, was the venue for a Premier Two Red double header, where Neil Young scored a brace of victories over Hemal Getalal.
And in Premier Two Blue Stuart Mann fell to his first defeat of the season at the hands of Cliff Blofield.
02/02/26: Eighteen in Monday action
There were eighteen players in action on Monday, fourteen of them competitively.Twelve of the fourteen contested the fifth session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of two 3-point round robins of six players at the Heroes website.
Nick Barham and Kev Peters won the groups.
Kev still leads the WGP points table, but Nick is now second.
There was also a single Premier League match, in Premier Three Purple.
And Mathew Nicholls was the victor over Mandy Macdonald.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended Arina Redina, Penny Walters and John Allen.
02/02/25: Brunel Trophy first round draw made
The draw for the first round of the thirteenth incarnation of the year-long Brunel Trophy double elimination tournament was made on Monday, using the regular practice of matching two sequences of random numbers.
The entry has surpassed the previous record, with sixty-five toeing the start line this time.
Matches are to be played by March 8th.
The full draw can be found here.
01/02/26: Sunday's Premier League round-up
There were three Premier League matches on Sunday.Phil Doubtfire and Adam Sinclair played a Premier One double header, winning one apiece.
And in Premier Three Yellow Neil Edwards began his season by defeating Pearl Foster.
01/02/26: Saturday's Premier League round-up
There were four Premier League matches on Saturday.Nick Barham defeated Titus Simen in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Three Green Mitch Tucker won twice, despatching Charlie Hetherington and Jordan White, but Charlie later scored his opening win of the season at the expense of Cynthia Roberts.
30/01/26: Friday's Premier League round-up
There were five Premier League matches on Friday.Alan Joicey marked his return to Premier One with a victory over Cecilia Rogers.
Elias Hamati wrapped up his Premier Two Blue campaign on day thirty of the 334 day season by twice defeating Frank Jones.
Elias's tally of 33 points could prove an interesting benchmark for those looking to avoid relegation!
Winners in Premier Three Green were Cynthia Roberts and Jordan White.
Cynthia's win came at the expense of Charlie Hetherington, who was playing his first Premier League match since 2008, while Peter Wise was Jordan's victim.
30/01/26: Nick and Ian reach GP20 final
There were sixteen players in action on Thursday, nine of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre Hotel to contest the opening instalment of the year's GP20 series.Nick Barham and Ian Tarr will meet in the main final, which was adjourned until next week.
Nick made light of being drawn in the only round one match, beating Barry Vasili, Savas Christodoulou and Alp Ozbas, while Ian got past George Georgiou and Ian Hedges.
Steve Morris took the consolation flight by defeating George, Kylie Hedges and Barry.
So Nick has the early GP20 lead, but that would change if Ian were to win the final.
There were also six Premier League matches played online.
Richard Owsley beat Elias Hamati in Premier Two Blue, while Ian H defeated Dicky Biddle in Premier Two Red.
Carwyn Jenkins moved to the top of Premier Three Yellow with three victories.
Ben Crowden lost to him twice, Ismail Yilmaz once.
And Alp began his league career with a narrow Premier Three Purple win over Eamonn Reay.
29/01/26: Ann wins Wednesday online tournament
There were sixteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the fourth of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Ann Pocknell, who defeated Nick Barham, Elias Hamati and -- in the final -- Chris Hughes, after receiving a first round bye.
Chris had arrived in the final by beating Ian Tarr, Neil Young and Jon Organ.
Nick took the consolation flight by beating Kev Peters and Simon Tracy.
Ian Anderson won the post tournament jackpot.
There were also four Premier League matches played.
Elias and Steve Cox shared the spoils of a double header in Premier Two Blue.
Dicky Biddle beat Robin Gunney in Premier Two Red for the second successive day.
And Pearl Foster defeated Carwyn Jenkins in Premier Three Yellow.
27/01/26: Tuesday's Premier League round-up
There were three Premier League matches on Tuesday.Stuart Mann defeated Elias Hamati for the second day in succession in Premier Two Blue.
Dicky Biddle beat Robin Gunney in Premier Two Red.
And in Premier Three Yellow Ben Crowden overcame Freddy Doubtfire.
27/01/26: Backgammon or breakdancing: a tricky decision?
There were twenty-seven players in action on Monday, twenty-two of them competitively.Nineteen of the twenty-two contested the fourth session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of three 3-point round robins -- one of seven players, two of six -- at the Heroes website.
Playing out of order is an issue which will be addressed after one or two procedural hiccups last night.
Jon Organ made it a clean sweep victory in the group of seven, where second placer Kev Peters took the side pool.
In the groups of six Gaz Owen also won all matches to take the honours in one group, while Ismail Yilmaz won the other on the tiebreak, with Ian Anderson taking the side pool.
Cynthia Roberts has been overtaken at the head of the WGP points table, where Kev is now just ahead of Stephen Little.
There was also Premier League action, with three results reported.
Stuart Mann whitewashed Elias Hamati in Premier Two Blue.
And Carwyn Jenkins scored a brace of wins over previously unbeaten Marcel Bancroft in Premier Three Yellow.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended at first by Eli Ratzel and first timer Tony.
But the main story of this session surrounded the arrival of Gerald Whitehouse, visiting from Devon.
On his way into the venue, he encountered a total stranger, Russian native Arina Redina, prompting her to change her plans for the evening.
The focal point of her Monday evenings is usually a breakdancing session, but Gerald was able to persuade her that an introduction to the great game would be preferable.
She was last to leave, and has already been invited to join Heroes.
What will she decide on future Mondays?
25/01/26: Sunday's Premier League round-up
There were seven Premier League matches on Sunday.Phil Doubtfire defeated Michael Petrakas in Premier One.
Ann Pocknell won again in Premier Two Blue, Cliff Blofield her whitewashed victim.
In the same division Nick Barham beat Elias Hamati.
Cynthia Roberts played three times in Premier Three Green, sharing the spoils of a double header with Jordan White before succumbing to Fred North.
And in Premier Three Purple there was a new live venue for Bristol Backgammon when Flora von Michel emphatically beat Barry Vasili at the Garden of Easton cafe.
24/01/26: Saturday's Premier Three round-up
There were two Premier League matches on Saturday, both of them in Premier Three.Kylie Hedges was emphatically defeated by Mandy Macdonald in Premier Three Purple.
And in Premier Three Yellow Richard Davies lost to Freddy Doubtfire.
23/01/26: Ian Anderson wins on Friday
There was a single Premier League match played on Friday.Ian Anderson defeated Natalie Singh in Premier Two Blue.
23/01/26: Steffen wins opening GP10 event
There were twenty-one players in action on Thursday, eighteen of them to contest the opening session of this year's GP10 series at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel.And coming out on top of the bumper entry -- apart from the November 2022 GP20 the largest Thursday field post-Covid -- was Steffen Nowak.
Steffen defeated Stephen Little, Barry Vasili and George Georgiou before pipping Nick Barham in the final.
Nick had made light of being one of four players who had to negotiate a round of 32, getting past Hazel Harper, Tim Line, Chris Rogers and Ian Hedges to reach the final.
Cynthia Roberts took the consolation flight by beating Ed Turner, Steve Morris and Stephen Little.
So Steffen is the GP10 points table's first leader, with Nick 20 points behind.
For the second successive season there's a secondary prize associated to the GP10 -- a grand prix within a grand prix -- exclusive to players not in either Premier One or Premier Two.
And the joint leaders after tournament one are George and Kylie Hedges.
There was also Premier League action.
Before the tournament Chris defeated Tim in a Premier One encounter.
And online Ian Hedges beat Robin Gunney in Premier Two Red, while Richard Owsley defeated Ian Anderson in Premier Two Blue.
21/01/26: Ian Anderson wins Wednesday online tournament
There were fifteen players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the third of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Ian Anderson, who defeated Chris Rogers, Jon Organ and -- in the final -- Tim Line, after receiving a first round bye.
Tim had arrived in the final by beating John Curran, Stephen Little and Elias Hamati.
Chris took the consolation flight by beating Gaz Owen, Chris Hughes and John.
Elias won the post tournament jackpot.
There were also two Premier League matches played.
Stuart Mann began his Premier Two Blue campaign by defeating Natalie Singh.
And Eamonn Reay maintained his impressive Premier Three Purple start by beating Barry Vasili.
20/01/26: Tuesday's Premier League round-up
There were three Premier League matches on Tuesday.Elias Hamati defeated Ian Anderson in Premier Two Blue.
Kylie Hedges completed an adjourned Premier Three Purple match against Mathew Nicholls, winning narrowly.
And in Premier Three Green Fred North began his season by defeating Dom Verrall.
20/01/26: Alp takes up Purple Division vacancy
Ten days after the resignation of James Timoney from Premier Three Purple Director Ian Tarr has restored the numerical balance of the third tier by admitting Alp Ozbas in James's place.20/01/26: Twenty-three in Monday action
There were twenty-three players in action on Monday, eighteen of them competitively.Fourteen of the eighteen contested the third session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of two seven player 3-point round robins.
For the first time the new tiebreaker format worked perfectly in separating all contestants.
Nick Barham won his group outright, while Chris Hughes won the other group, coming out above Ismail Yilmaz and Elias Hamati on the head-to-head tiebreak.
Cynthia Roberts has extended her WGP lead to 4.2 points, with Nick now in second place.
There was also Premier Three action, with two results reported.
Eamonn Reay maintained his solid start to the Premier Three Purple campaign by defeating Paul Watts.
And Peter Wise beat Mitch Tucker in Premier Three Green.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by Alp Ozbas, Kate Waldron and her friend Andy, and former Premier League champion Andy Boysan.
18/01/26: Sunday's Premier League round-up
There were three Premier League matches on Sunday.Natalie Singh and Cliff Blofield scored Premier Two Blue victories, Chris Hughes and Ian Anderson their victims.
And in Premier Three Green Cynthia Roberts beat Mitch Tucker.
18/01/26: Saturday's Premier League round-up
There were four Premier League matches on Saturday.Elias Hamati is still running at a league match per day!
His sixteenth and seventeenth Premier Two Blue encounters of the season resulted in defeat to both the unbeaten Ann Pocknell and to Steve Pickard.
Ismail Yilmaz scored a Premier Three Yellow win over Pearl Foster.
And in Premier Three Green Dom Verrall beat Cynthia Roberts.
16/01/26: Friday win for Natalie
In the only Premier League action on Friday, Natalie Singh defeated Titus Simen in Premier Two Blue.16/01/26: Alp wins opening Handicap event
There were twenty-four players in action on Thursday, fifteen of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the opening instalment of our 2026 Handicap Trophy series.The winner this time was Alp Ozbas, who defeated Stephen Little, Kylie Hedges, Chris Aquilina and -- in the final -- Tim Line.
Tim had got past debutant Gerasimos Kouvielos, Andy Zographou and Cynthia Roberts en route.
Barry Vasili won the consolation flight, beating Kylie, Ian Tarr and Nick Barham.
The "Golden Zone" was a popular feature of these events last year, so has been continued this year.
This time Ian Hedges and Cynthia Roberts were the happy recipients of £10 bonuses.
Alp is thus the first leader of the HT table.
There were also six Premier League matches played.
Four of these were in Premier Two Blue, and each featured an opening win of the league season.
Stephen's victory over Nick occurred pre-tournament, while online Elias Hamati was narrowly succumbing to both Steve Pickard and Richard Owsley, and Titus Simen was beating Cliff Blofield.
Mitch Tucker moved to the top of Premier Three Green by beating Dave Pym.
And in Premier Three Yellow Ben Crowden defeated Simon Dicken.
14/01/26: Nick and Ian share Wednesday online tournament spoils
There were twenty players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the second of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's event broke new ground when the two main finalists -- Ian Anderson and Nick Barham -- decided to split the spoils without playing the final.
Neil Young took the consolation flight by beating Stephen Little and Ann Pocknell.
Tim Line again won the post tournament jackpot.
There were also five Premier League matches played.
In Premier Two Blue Elias Hamati celebrated reaching the halfway point of his campaign by defeating Titus Simen.
Dicky Biddle scored an emphatic win over Scott Wood in Premier Two Red.
Ismail Yilmaz defeated Freddy Doubtfire in Premier Three Yellow.
And winners in Premier Three Purple were Eamonn Reay and Kylie Hedges, who beat Mandy Macdonald and Andy Zographou.
13/01/26: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were five Premier League matches played on Tuesday.Chris Rogers scored a brace of Premier One victories over Kev Peters at the Rising Sun, Lacock.
Meanwhile online Gaz Owen began his title defence with an emphatic win against Michael Petrakas.
Dom Verrall beat Dave Pym in Premier Three Green.
And in Premier Three Yellow Ben Crowden whitewashed Freddy Doubtfire.
13/01/26: Twenty-seven in Monday action
There were twenty-seven players in action on Monday, twenty-two of them competitively.Eighteen of the twenty-two contested the second session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of three six player 3-point round robins.
Once again the new tiebreaker format did its best to embarrass the Director.
For the second successive week we had a group with a five player tie for first place!
Neil Young won his group outright, while the third had a three way tie for the lead, although of the three only Scott Wood was a side pool entrant.
The decision to forego PRs in favour of head-to-head records as the tie breaker, means that there are more shared prizes and WGP points than used to be the case.
So Cynthia Roberts remains the WGP leader, although Stephen Little, Kylie Hedges and a host of others are not far behind.
There was also Premier Three action, with three results reported.
Marcel Bancroft and Ben Crowden played a Premier Three Yellow double header, where Marcel prevailed twice by the narrowest of margins.
And the RAFA Club in Westbury-on-Trym became the latest new Bristol Backgammon venue, as Andy Zographou defeated Mathew Nicholls.
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by Simon Dicken, Jenny Baillie-Grohman, Kate Waldron and her friend Andy, a keen first timer.
11/01/26: Sunday's Premier League action
There were six Premier League matches played on Sunday.In Chippenham Cecilia Rogers and Chris Rogers played their return Premier One match.
This time it was Cecilia's turn to prevail so, as these have been the only top flight matches played so far this season, they stand first and second in the league table, Chris ahead by virtue of his superior points difference.
The other matches played took place online.
Natalie Singh defeated Stephen Little in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Two Red Mark Dixon beat Robin Gunney.
Dave Pym and Cynthia Roberts were winners in Premier Three Green, defeating Mitch Tucker and Peter Wise.
And in Premier Three Purple Kylie Hedges beat Flora von Michel.
11/01/26: James withdraws from the Purple Division
James Timoney has resigned from this season's Premier Three Purple, citing a variety of personal pressures.While regrettable from the league's point of view, James has at least made his exit without playing any matches, which limits any damage.
And this has occurred early enough in the season to allow Director Ian Tarr the opportunity to hunt for a replacement, should a suitable candidate emerge within the next couple of weeks.
That would leave the third tier well balanced numerically.
11/01/26: Saturday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Saturday.Elias Hamati whitewashed Cliff Blofield in Premier Two Blue.
In Premier Three Yellow Marcel Bancroft narrowly defeated Richard Davies.
And Andy Zographou visited Barry Vasili's apartment, where Barry edged home in their Premier Three Purple encounter.
09/01/26: Friday's Premier League action
There were three Premier League matches played on Friday.Premier One was the last of the six divisions to get under way, when Chris Rogers defeated Cecilia Rogers at home in Chippenham.
Online Jordan White scored a Premier Three Green victory over Peter Wise, and Freddy Doubtfire did likewise against Photis Gittoes in Premier Three Yellow.
08/01/26: Barry wins opening Bristol Grand Prix tournament
There were fifteen players in action on Thursday, eleven of them at the Ibis Bristol Centre hotel to contest the first instalment of our 2026 monthly Bristol Grand Prix series.Barry Vasili took the main flight, defeating Kylie Hedges, Ian Tarr and -- in the final -- Cynthia Roberts, after receiving a first round bye.
Cynthia had got past Ian Hedges, Tim Line and Nick Barham en route to the final.
Steve Morris took the consolation flight, defeating Steffen Nowak and Kylie.
So Barry is the first leader of the BGP points table.
There was also some Premier Two Blue action.
Nick defeated Stephen Little before the tournament.
Online Chris Hughes scored a brace of victories over Elias Hamati, while Natalie Singh narrowly defeated Cliff Blofield.
08/01/26: Neil wins Wednesday online tournament
There were twenty-two players in action on Wednesday, ten of them to contest the first of the year's series of stand-alone Wednesday online tournaments.And this week's winner was Neil Young, who defeated John Curran, Stephen Little and -- in the final -- Chris Hughes after receiving a first round bye.
Chris had arrived there via wins over Kev Peters, Scott Wood and Elias Hamati.
Gaz Owen took the consolation flight by beating John, Tim Line and Ian Tarr.
Scott was the recipient of a special bounty prize, which Gaz had kindly provided for his conqueror.
Tim Line won the post tournament jackpot.
There were also seven Premier League matches played.
One of those was the first to be registered in Premier Two Red, and the first of this year's league matches to be played live.
Ben's Farm Shop, Yealmpton, Devon, was the venue where Gerald Whitehouse defeated Dicky Biddle.
Premier Two Blue continued at a rate of knots, Titus Simen succumbing to both Natalie Singh and Cliff Blofield.
Ismail Yilmaz played twice in Premier Three Yellow, beating Ben Crowden before losing to Carwyn Jenkins.
Rob Clarke narrowly beat Dave Pym in Premier Three Green, and in Premier Three Purple Eamonn Reay defeated Kylie Hedges.
06/01/26: Tuesday's Premier League action
There were eight Premier League matches played on Tuesday.Winners in Premier Two Blue were Ann Pocknell, Cliff Blofield and Elias Hamati, their victims Stephen Little, Richard Owsley and Titus Simen.
Cynthia Roberts played twice in Premier Three Green, edging home against Dave Pym before succumbing to Mitch Tucker.
Ismail Yilmaz scored a brace of Premier Three Yellow wins over Simon Dicken, while in the same division Ben Crowden beat Photis Gittoes.
06/01/26: Twenty in Monday action
There were twenty players in action on Monday, sixteen of them competitively.Ten of the sixteen contested the opening session of the Monday Club Winter Grand Prix in the form of two five player 3-point round robins.
Cynthia Roberts won one group while the other group stress-tested the revised format to the max.
The decision to forego PRs in favour of head-to-head records as the tie breaker, taken partly to avoid the same players winning the prizes all the time, was always recognised as being likely to see prizes and WGP points shared.
In Cynthia's group those finishing second, third and fourth could not be separated by the tie-break, which was no problem in itself.
However the other group finished with all five players on two wins, so the entire group finished equal!
Sod's Law, perhaps, but unfortunate that this should happen in the opening session when there had only been five similar occurrences in eighteen years of 3-point Monday round robins.
Director Ian Tarr is now considering asking Terje Pedersen, owner of the Heroes website, to provide alternative tiebreak options for these round robins.
In the meantime Cynthia is the year's first WGP leader.
There was also Premier League action, with four results reported.
Inevitably Premier Two Blue, the league's busiest division thus far, provided one result, a victory for Natalie Singh over Elias Hamati.
Other winners were Kylie Hedges (over Barry Vasili in Premier Three Purple), Dave Pym (over Cynthia in Premier Three Green), and Marcel Bancroft (over Ismail Yilmaz in Premier Three Yellow).
Meanwhile Ian's Backgammon Clinic at Sportsmans, hosted by Director Ian Tarr, was attended by Amarvir Singh, Peter Wise and Simon Dicken.
04/01/26: Sunday's league action
There were four Premier League matches played on Sunday.And once again it was Premier Two Blue leading the way, with more than 6% of all fixtures completed in the first four days!
Elias Hamati scored a brace of emphatic wins -- at the expense of Nick Barham and Natalie Singh.
Natalie had earlier defeated Stephen Little.
The other result came in Premier Three Green, where Peter Wise played his first ever competitive match, and beat Dave Pym.
03/01/26: Saturday's Premier Two Blue action
The only division of the 2026 Bristol Premier League to see action yet is Premier Two Blue, where there were six results reported on Saturday.Ann Pocknell had the most productive day, recording victories over Nick Barham, Elias Hamati and Cliff Blofield to go top of the table.
Elias had the busiest day.
After his defeat by Ann he scored a brace of wins against Stephen Little, before succumbing to Ian Anderson.
02/01/26: Premier Two Blue first off the starting blocks
The 2026 Bristol Backgammon season is under way, and three matches in Premier Two Blue produced the first results.On Thursday Ann Pocknell was first to win, defeating Steve Pickard, while Cliff Blofield later edged home against Elias Hamati.
Cliff won again on Friday, whitewashing Natalie Singh to go top of the embryonic league table.
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