2023 International Championship


The 2023 International Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 5 to 12 November 2023 at the in Tianjin, China. It was the ninth iteration of the International Championship first held in 2012, a return of the event to the tour after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time the event had been held in Tianjin, introducing it as a new host city for World Snooker Tour tournaments.
Judd Trump was the defending champion, after defeating Shaun Murphy in the previous final, but he lost to Stephen Maguire in the last 32.
Chinese player Zhang Anda won his first ranking title, by defeating England's Tom Ford in the final, and made a maximum break in the third frame. Ryan Day made the highest break in qualifying with a maximum break, the fourth in his career, in his win against Mink Nutcharut.
By winning the event, Zhang advanced to within the top 16 for the first time in his career, received £175,000 from a total prize fund of £825,000, and secured a place in the 2023 Champion of Champions invitational event which started on the day following the end of this event.

Format

The event was the ninth iteration of the International Championship, first held in 2012. The event took place from 5 to 12 November 2023 in Tianjin, China.
Qualifying for the event was held from 18 to 23 September 2023 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. Matches were best of 11 until the semi-finals, which were best of 17 frames, and the final was a best-of-19-frames match.
The event was broadcast domestically in China by CCTV-5, Migu, Youku, and Huya Live; in Thailand on True Sports; in Hong Kong on Now TV; and in Europe by Eurosport and Discovery+. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:
  • Winner: £175,000
  • Runner-up: £75,000
  • Semi-final: £33,000
  • Quarter-final: £22,000
  • Last 16: £14,000
  • Last 32: £9,000
  • Last 64: £5,000
  • Highest break: £5,000
  • Total: £825,000

    Summary

Qualifying round

made his fourth professional maximum break in his qualifying match against Mink Nutcharut, which Day won.
The 12th seed, Robert Milkins was beaten by Marco Fu, and the 24th seed, Joe Perry was beaten by Dylan Emery.
Mark Williams made his 600th career century break in his win over Rebecca Kenna.

Early rounds

Held-over matches

The held-over qualifying matches were played on 5 November. Top seed Trump extended his winning streak to 21 matches with a defeat of 12-year-old Chinese wildcard Wang Xinzhong, who previously prevailed over another wildcard Gong Chenzhi by on the same day. Second seed Luca Brecel had a win over Daniel Womersley. Third seed Ronnie O'Sullivan scored a win over Ken Doherty.

Last 64

The last-64 matches were played on 5 and 6 November. Fourth seed Mark Allen came from down to beat Oliver Lines. Brecel was defeated by Mark Davis, and tenth seed Mark Williams was beaten by Zhang Anda by the same scoreline. O'Sullivan defeated Mark Joyce, Daniel Wells beat sixth seed Neil Robertson, and Dominic Dale beat seventh seed Murphy.

Last 32

The last-32 matches were played on 7 November. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh defeated fourth seed Allen, and Jordan Brown beat eighth seed Kyren Wilson.
The defending champion and top seed Trump was beaten by Maguire, ending his winning streak of 22 consecutive ranking matches.

Last 16

The last-16 matches were played on 8 November. Jordan Brown defeated ninth seed John Higgins, and Tom Ford beat fifth seed Mark Selby by the same scoreline. Both O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui won their last-16 matches by, beating Anthony McGill and Pang Junxu respectively.

Later rounds

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were played on 9 November. In the afternoon Ford defeated Barry Hawkins, and Brown beat Maguire. Maguire's century in the tenth frame was his 500th as a professional. In the evening session O'Sullivan defeated Ali Carter, and Zhang beat Ding.

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played as the best of 17 frames over two sessions on 10 and 11 November.
Ford played Brown on 10 November, and the afternoon session ended at with both players making a century. In the evening session, Brown made a century of 134 in the ninth frame and went on to establish a lead. Ford then made three centuries in a row to lead by, and won the match with a break of 57 in the last frame. Ford said: "I don't feel as though I'm going to fall apart this week. It doesn't matter who I play, I feel like I can get in the balls and play as well as anybody." Brown said: "I was disappointed with the way I played to be honest. I don't want to take anything away from Tom. I thought he finished off the match very well. I think I just ran out of gas in the end."
O'Sullivan played Zhang on 11 November, with the afternoon session ending all square at. In the evening session, Zhang won the match, taking all of the last five frames with a century in the 13th frame. Zhang said: "I personally like to play the long matches, because my performance in these matches is quite good. It makes it easier for me to feel involved, and it will slowly get me into the rhythm of the game." O'Sullivan said: "He played well and deserved to win. He was the better player on the day, so fair play to him. I expected him to be like that as I've played him a few times, he was solid. He is a fantastic player, I don't know where he has been for the last ten years."

Final

The final was played as the best of 19 frames over two sessions between Ford and Zhang on 12 November. It is the first ranking event final since the 2022 Scottish Open to feature two players who have not won a ranking title before.
In the afternoon session Zhang made a 147 break in the third frame, his second as a professional. The session ended with Zhang leading Ford, with Zhang making a 101 break in the ninth frame. In the evening session, Ford made a 91 break to even the score at. Zhang won four consecutive frames to lead by, making a 108 break in the 13th frame, and won the final. Zhang said: "I'm feeling extremely excited. During the pandemic, I had considered retiring and giving up. But later on, I couldn't bear it and chose to return to the arena. I have been doing quite well in the past two or three years." Ford said: "I am gutted I got beat. Zhang was the better player so hats off to him. He deserved to win. It has been an amazing week. A nice arena and a big crowd. It is always good to come to China."

Main draw

The draw for the tournament is shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, whilst players in bold denote match winners.

Top half

Bottom half

Final

Qualifying

Qualification for the tournament took place from 18 to 23 September 2023 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, whilst players in bold denote match winners.

Tianjin

Qualifying matches featuring the defending champion, the top two players in the world rankings, the two highest ranked Chinese players, and four Chinese wildcards were held over to be played in Tianjin. The results of the held over matches played in Tianjin on 5 November were as follows:

Morning session

  • 5–6
  • 4–6
  • 6–0

    Afternoon session

  • 6–2
  • 6–1
  • 6–0

    Evening session

  • 6–1
  • 6–0

    Sheffield

The results of the qualifying matches played in Sheffield were as follows:

18 September

  • 6–2
  • 3–6
  • 6–3
  • 5–6
  • 6–3
  • 6–1
  • 6–3
  • 6–3
  • 6–0
  • 6–1
  • 6–3
  • 6–5

    19 September

  • 4–6
  • 6–0
  • 6–1
  • 6–4
  • 3–6
  • 6–2
  • 6–0
  • 2–6
  • 6–4
  • 6–3

    20 September

  • 6–4
  • 6–1
  • 6–0
  • 6–3
  • 6–2
  • 6–3
  • 4–6
  • 6–1
  • 6–0
  • 6–4

    21 September

  • 6–2
  • 6–3
  • 6–5
  • 6–2
  • 6–2
  • 6–3
  • 6–2
  • 6–4
  • 6–0

    22 September

  • 4–6
  • 6–5
  • 5–6
  • 6–3
  • 6–1
  • 6–2
  • 6–1
  • 6–1
  • 6–4
  • 6–0

    23 September

  • 6–1
  • 6–4
  • 6–3
  • 6–4
  • 6–2
  • 2–'''6'''

    Century breaks

Main stage centuries

A total of 112 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament.