2020 World Snooker Championship


The 2020 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 July to 16 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 44th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible. The final ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season, the tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 18 April to 4 May 2020, but both the qualifying stage and the main rounds were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was one of the first to allow live audiences since the onset of the pandemic, but on the first day, it was announced that the event would be played behind closed doors for subsequent days. A limited number of spectators were allowed in for the final two days of the championship.
The tournament was organised by the World Snooker Tour, a subsidiary of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and was broadcast by the BBC, Eurosport and Matchroom Sport. The event had a total prize fund of £2,395,000, with the winner receiving £500,000. Qualifying for the tournament was due to be held between 8 and 15 April 2020, but instead took place from 21 to 28 July at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. There were 128 participants in the qualifying rounds, with a mix of professional and invited amateur players, 16 of whom reached the main stage of the tournament, where they played the top 16 players in the snooker world rankings. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred.
Judd Trump was the defending champion, having won his maiden world title at the previous year's event, defeating John Higgins 18–9 in the final. He lost in the quarter-final stage to Kyren Wilson, falling to the Crucible curse. Ronnie O'Sullivan won his sixth world title, defeating Wilson 18–8 in the final. This was O'Sullivan's 37th ranking event win of his career, the most of any player. Higgins made a maximum break in the 12th frame of his second-round loss to Kurt Maflin. This was Higgins' tenth career maximum break and his first at the World Championship; aged 45, he became the oldest player to make a maximum in a professional competition.

Background

The World Snooker Championship features 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each match played over several. The 32 players for the event are selected through a mix of the snooker world rankings and a pre-tournament qualification round. The first World Snooker Championship took place in 1927, with the final held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England, and the title was won by Joe Davis. Since 1977, the event has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England., Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the event's most successful participants in the modern era, having both won the championship seven times. The 2019 championship had been won by England's Judd Trump, who defeated Scotland's John Higgins in the final 18–9 to win his first world title. The winner of the 2020 championship received £500,000, from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The event is organised by World Snooker in partnership with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.

Format

The tournament was scheduled to take place between 18 April and 4 May 2020 in Sheffield, England, but was postponed to between 31 July and 16 August as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event featured a 32-player main draw that was contested at the Crucible Theatre, as well as a 128-player qualifying draw played at the English Institute of Sport. Qualifying was originally due to take place from 8 to 15 April but was also delayed, eventually taking place from 21 to 28 July 2020 and finishing three days prior to the start of the main draw. In May 2019, the World Snooker Tour announced the event's qualifying format would be changed from the previous year, with seeding given to players with a higher ranking, and played over four rounds instead of three. The tournament was the last of 17 ranking events in the 2019–20 season on the World Snooker Tour. This was the 44th consecutive year that the tournament had been held at the Crucible, and the 52nd successive world championship to be contested through the modern knockout format. The tournament was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred, as it had been since 2015.
The top 16 players in the latest 2019–20 snooker world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players. Defending champion Judd Trump was automatically seeded first overall. The remaining 15 seeds were allocated based on the latest world rankings, released after the 2020 Tour Championship which was the penultimate event of the season. Matches in the first round of the main draw were played as the best of 19 frames, second-round matches and quarter-finals were played as the best of 25 frames, and the semi-finals were played over a maximum of 33 frames. The final was played over two days as a best-of-35-frames match.

Coverage

The tournament was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Television and BBC Online, as well as Eurosport. Internationally, the event was broadcast by Eurosport in Europe and Australia; by Superstars Online, Zhibo.tv, Youku and CCTV in China; by NowTV in Hong Kong; and by DAZN in Canada, the United States, and Brazil. In all other countries, Matchroom Sport broadcast the main tournament, as well as the qualifying rounds, via their new online subscription service.
The World Snooker Championship was intended to be one of the first sporting events to allow spectators after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. A reduced audience was to be admitted to allow for social distancing. The event, along with the Glorious Goodwood Festival and two county cricket matches, was being used as a trial for live audiences by the UK Government, ahead of restrictions being lifted in October. On the first day of the event, UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced that the sporting pilots were being ended, and spectators would no longer be allowed inside the venue. The World Snooker Tour confirmed an hour later that fans would be admitted for the rest of the first day, but matches were to be played behind closed doors for the remainder of the tournament.
During the semi-final stages, the UK Government announced that the previously postponed sporting event pilots would resume. This meant that the reduced-capacity crowd from the start of the tournament would be allowed back for both days of the final.

Prize fund

The winner of the event received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below.
  • Winner: £500,000
  • Runner-up: £200,000
  • Semi-finalists: £100,000
  • Quarter-finalists: £50,000
  • Last 16: £30,000
  • Last 32: £20,000
  • Last 48: £15,000
  • Last 80: £10,000
  • Last 112: £5,000
  • Highest break : £15,000
  • Maximum break : £40,000
  • Maximum break : £10,000

    Tournament summary

Qualifying stage

Qualifying for the event was held between 21 and 28 July 2020 over four separate rounds, with 16 players progressing into the main draw. James Cahill, who defeated five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the main stage in 2019, lost in the opening round to amateur player Ben Mertens. Mertens, aged 15, became the youngest player to win a match at the event. Mertens lost in the second round to Sam Baird. Allan Taylor won the Challenge Tour play-off to gain a two-year professional tour card prior to qualifying, and won both of his first two matches 6–1. In these matches, he scored four century breaks, including a career-high 145 – the highest break in qualifying. Six-time runner-up Jimmy White won his first two qualifying matches over Ivan Kakovskii and Michael Georgiou, but lost in the third round to Robert Milkins. Gary Wilson, who reached the semi-finals in the 2019 event, lost in the third round of qualifying to Swiss player Alexander Ursenbacher 3–6. Twice runner-up Ali Carter started in round three, but lost his opening match to Louis Heathcote. This was the first time since 2002 that Carter did not play in the main stage of the event.
The final round of qualifying was played on 27 and 28 July, with matches played as the best of 19 frames over two. Ursenbacher became the first Swiss player to play the main stage of the tournament, after defeating Andrew Higginson 10–8. Ursenbacher led 6–2 after the first session, but the lead was cut to 9–8 before he won frame 18. Alan McManus qualified for the main stage for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2016 after defeating Heathcote 10–5. Elliot Slessor won the final nine frames of the match to defeat Martin O'Donnell 10–3. Slessor had promised to plan a wedding with his girlfriend if he made it through the qualifying rounds. Liang Wenbo led Fergal O'Brien 5–2, but won just two frames of the next eight to trail 7–8. The match went to a at 9–9 which Liang won with a break of 141. Anthony McGill lost only one frame in his win over Baird, whilst Norwegian player Kurt Maflin defeated Matthew Selt by the same scoreline, 10–1, to qualify for the first time since 2015.
Slessor and Ursenbacher made their debuts in the main draw of the World Championship. Other debutants in the main draw were Jamie Clarke, Ashley Carty and Jordan Brown. Anthony Hamilton qualified for the main draw for the first time since 2008, but withdrew because of health concerns over COVID-19. As an asthmatic, he had criticised the decision to allow a limited number of spectators into the Crucible. Defending champion Judd Trump said Hamilton should have made his decision earlier, as by participating in the qualifiers despite knowing there would be spectators in the final stages he had denied a place to another player.

First round

The first round took place between 31 July and 5 August, each match played over two sessions as the best of 19 frames. Defending champion Judd Trump played Tom Ford in the opening match. Ford won the first frame, and was on track for a maximum break but missed the pot on the 13th. Ford won the second and third frame as well, before Trump won the next two. Ford won the following two frames, including a break of 140 to lead 5–2, but lost the last two to lead 5–4 after the first session. Ford won the opening frame on the resumption of play, but Trump won the next three frames to take the lead for the first time in the match. Ford won frame 14, before Trump made a break of 131 in the next – his 100th century break of the season. Trump also won the next frame to lead 9–7. Ford won frame 17, but Trump won the match in the next 10–8. Trump became only the second player to make 100 century breaks in a season, after Neil Robertson in the 2013–14 snooker season.
File:Stuart Bingham PHC 2016-1.jpg|thumb|alt=Stuart Bingham playing a shot|The 2015 champion Stuart Bingham defeated Ashley Carty 10–7.
The 2015 winner Stuart Bingham met qualifier Ashley Carty and led 5–4 after the first session. Bingham then won the next four frames, including a maximum attempt that fell apart on 12 black balls, and a 109 to lead 9–4. Carty then won the next three frames, before Bingham won frame 17 with a break of 82 to win 10–7. The 2019 UK Championship winner Ding Junhui played Mark King. Ding had not played in any tournaments since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but took a 5–4 lead after the first session. The pair were tied at 5–5 to 7–7 before Ding won two frames to lead 9–7. Two long frames were won by King to tie the match at 9–9 and force a deciding frame. Ding won the frame after potting a mid-range to win 10–9.
Three-time champion Mark Williams was drawn against Alan McManus. After the first session of play, McManus led 5–4, despite losing the first two frames. In the second session, Williams won six straight frames to win the match 10–5. After the victory, Williams said "he outplayed me and I was happy to be 5–4 down because it could have been 7–2" after the first session, and added that in the second session he "put pressure on , then he got frustrated and I knew I had him as long as I didn't make silly mistakes". Four-time champion John Higgins met Matthew Stevens, and held a 6–3 lead after the first session. Stevens won frame 10 with a break of 138, before Higgins won the next two frames to lead 8–4. Stevens won frame 13 but Higgins won the next two frames, including requiring in frame 14 to win 10–5. The 2010 winner Neil Robertson, met Liang Wenbo and led 5–4 after the first session after breaks of 140, 123 and 87. Liang won the opening frame of the second session to tie the match at 5–5, before Robertson won the next five frames to win the match 10–5.
File:Noppon Saengkham PHC 2015-2.jpg|thumb|alt=Noppon Saengkham playing a shot|Noppon Saengkham defeated the 2005 champion Shaun Murphy 10–4.
The previous year's semi-finalist David Gilbert played Kurt Maflin, who had not qualified since the 2015 event. Maflin led 3–1 and later 5–4 after the first session. Between frames 9 and 13, there were four century breaks in a row. Maflin attempted a maximum break, scoring 105 in frame 16 to tie the match at 8–8. After running out of position for the 14th black, he gave "the finger" to the table, and received a warning from referee Tatiana Woollaston. Maflin then won the next two frames to win 10–8. Five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan averaged less than 14 seconds per shot as he opened an 8–1 lead in the first session against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. This was quicker than any player's average during the season. In the second session, O'Sullivan clinched the next two frames in less than half an hour to win the match 10–1. With a match time of 108 minutes, O'Sullivan's victory set a new record for the fastest best-of-19-frames match; this was 41 minutes faster than the previous record set by Shaun Murphy in his 10–0 victory over Luo Honghao in 2019. Yan Bingtao played debutant Elliot Slessor, and led 8–1 after the first session. Yan also led 9–2, before Slessor won five frames in a row. Yan won the match 10–7. Anthony McGill took a 5–4 lead after the first session over Jack Lisowski. McGill led 9–6 before Lisowski won three frames to force a deciding frame. The frame was fought over the final, which was potted by McGill to win 10–9. The 2005 champion Shaun Murphy was defeated by Noppon Saengkham 10–4 in a match Murphy described as "the worst two days of my snooker years".
Three-time champion Mark Selby struggled for form as he defeated Jordan Brown 10–6. In his match against Jamie Clarke, Mark Allen scored two century breaks in the first two frames, and made three other century breaks but lost the match 8–10. Alexander Ursenbacher won the first frame in his match against Barry Hawkins, but won only one other frame and lost 2–10. The final match of the first round was held between Stephen Maguire and Martin Gould. Maguire had won the preceding event at the Tour Championship. Gould made three breaks of 103 and a break of 100 to open a 7–2 lead after the first session, and eventually won the match 10–3.