2023 UK Championship


The 2023 UK Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 25November to 3December 2023 at the York Barbican in York, England. The 47th edition of the UK Championship, first held in 1977, it was the eighth ranking event of the 2023–24 snooker season, following the International Championship and preceding the Snooker Shoot Out. It was also the season's first Triple Crown event, preceding the Masters and the World Championship. Organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by online casino MrQ, the event was broadcast by the BBC domestically, by Discovery+ and Eurosport in Europe, and by other broadcasters worldwide. The winner received £250,000 from a total prize fund of £1,205,000.
The event featured the top 16 players in the world rankings along with 16 qualifiers who came through a 128-player four-round qualifying tournament held from 18 to 23November at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. Mark Allen was the defending champion, having defeated Ding Junhui 107 in the final of the 2022 event, but he lost 56 to Ding in the first round. After becoming the first player to win 100 matches in the history of the UK Championship when he defeated Zhou Yuelong in the quarter-finals, Ronnie O'Sullivan progressed to the final, where he defeated Ding 107 to win a record-extending eighth UK Championship, his 22nd Triple Crown title and 40th ranking title. Aged 47 years and 363 days, he became the oldest winner in the tournament's history, surpassing Doug Mountjoy, who had been 46 years and 172 days old when he won the title at the 1988 event. O'Sullivan also holds the record as the tournament's youngest winner—set 30 years earlier at the 1993 event—which gives him the distinction of simultaneously being the youngest and oldest UK Champion.
The main stage of the tournament produced a total of 63 century breaks, with a further 80 centuries made during qualifying. The highest was a maximum break by Xu Si in his second-round qualifying match against Ma Hailong. Judd Trump made his 950th century break in professional competition and recorded his 1,000th professional victory during the event. Ding and Mark Williams scored a record total of 195 points in frame eight of their quarter-final match, breaking the previous professional record of 192 points set by Peter Lines and Dominic Dale during the 2012 Wuxi Classic qualifiers.

Format

The 2023 UK Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 25November to 3December at the York Barbican in York, England. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it was the eighth ranking event of the 2023–24 snooker season, following the International Championship and preceding the Snooker Shoot Out, and the first Triple Crown title. It was the 47th edition of the UK Championship, which was first held in 1977 as the United Kingdom Professional Snooker Championship. For the tournament's first seven years, only United Kingdom residents or passport holders were eligible to compete. At the 1984 event, the UK Championship became a ranking tournament open to players of any nationality.
The event used a format adopted for the 2022 edition, which is similar to the format of the World Championship. The top 16 players in the snooker world rankings were seeded through to the round of 32. An additional 128 players—comprising professionals ranked outside the top 16, leading amateur players from the Q Tour and other amateur events, and top-performing junior players from the UK—competed in a four-round qualifying tournament from 18 to 23November at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, with higher ranked players given byes to the later rounds. The 16 successful qualifiers advanced to the round of 32, where they were drawn at random against the top 16 seeds.
All matches were played as the best of 11 up to the final, which was the best of 19 frames. The defending champion was Northern Irish player Mark Allen, who won his first UK Championship title in 2022, defeating China's Ding Junhui 107 in the final.

Broadcasters and viewership

The qualifying matches were broadcast by Discovery+ and Eurosport in Europe ;, Youku, and Huya in China; and Matchroom.live in all other territories. Round 4 of qualifying, called "Judgement Day", was also streamed on World Snooker Tour's YouTube and Facebook pages.
The main stages of the event were broadcast by the BBC in the UK; Discovery+ and Eurosport in Europe ; CCTV-5, Migu, Youku, and Huya in Mainland China; DAZN in the US and Brazil; Now TV in Hong Kong; Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; TrueVisions in Thailand; Sportcast in Taiwan; Premier Sports Network in the Philippines; Fastsports in Pakistan; and Matchroom.live in all other territories.
The last of the final attracted a peak viewership of 2.6million on the BBC, an increase of 59 percent over the previous year. The cumulative British audience for the tournament—on BBC and UK Eurosport combined—was 14.3 million, an increase of 35 percent over the previous year. Every session broadcast on the BBC achieved viewership figures that were either equivalent to or greater than the 2022 event.

Prize fund

The event featured a total prize fund of £1,205,000, with the winner receiving £250,000. The tournament was sponsored by online casino MrQ. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:
  • Winner: £250,000
  • Runner-up: £100,000
  • Semi-final: £50,000
  • Quarter-final: £25,000
  • Last 16: £15,000
  • Last 32: £10,000
  • Last 48: £7,500
  • Last 80: £5,000
  • Last 112: £2,500
  • Highest : £15,000
  • Total: £1,205,000

    Summary

Qualifying

Qualifying took place from 18 to 23 November at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. In the first round, former women's world champion Mink Nutcharut eliminated 96th seed Adam Duffy 63, but was defeated by 65th seed Michael White in a in the second round. Xu Si defeated Ma Hailong 61 in the second round, making his first career maximum break in the second frame. Six top-32 seeds were defeated in the third round. The 19th seed Ryan Day was eliminated 26 by 78th seed Lukas Kleckers. The 20th seed Gary Wilson lost 36 to 77th seed Zak Surety. The 22nd seed Chris Wakelin was beaten 46 by 75th seed Ken Doherty. The 23rd seed Stuart Bingham was eliminated 26 by 74th seed David Lilley. The 31st seed Jimmy Robertson lost 56 to amateur player Craig Steadman. The 32nd seed Si Jiahui was beaten 56 by Michael White. Steadman had the best run of all the amateur and unseeded players in qualifying, reaching the fourth round before losing 26 to 34th seed Pang Junxu.
Four more top 32 players lost in the fourth and final qualifying round. The 25th seed Ricky Walden lost 36 to 40th seed Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. The 27th seed Stephen Maguire was beaten 36 by 38th seed Joe O'Connor. David Gilbert, the 28th seed, was defeated 56 by 60th seed Jamie Clarke. The 62nd seed Mark Joyce progressed with a 64 victory over the 30th seed Joe Perry. Three-time winner Ding Junhui, runner-up in the previous year's event, qualified for the main stage by defeating Daniel Wells 64 and Robbie Williams 63.

First round

The first round was played from 25 to 28 November. On the first day, Ding Junhui faced defending champion Mark Allen, a repeat of the previous year's final. The score was tied at 22 at the mid-session interval, after which Allen made of 106 and 60 to lead 42. Ding won three consecutive frames before Allen took the tenth frame with a 70 break to take the match to a decider. Allen led 370 before missing a, and Ding made a break of 102 to win the match 65. Commenting on his ill health leading up to the match, Ding said afterwards that he had seen the doctor and taken some tablets. "I felt a bit better before the match. I was thinking I might have to give him a walkover," Ding commented. Mark Williams defeated Fan Zhengyi 64. Jamie Clarke trailed 15 against Kyren Wilson, but won the match with five consecutive frames, including a century break of 104 in the last frame. Noppon Saengkham also led Tom Ford 51, having made breaks of 126, 100, and 127. However, Ford won the next five frames for a 65 victory, making a break of 130 in the eighth frame.
On 26 November, the reigning world champion Luca Brecel defeated Yuan Sijun 64. Zhang Anda missed the 13th red while attempting a maximum break in the second frame of his match against Elliot Slessor. The match went to a deciding frame, which Zhang won for a 65 victory. The evening session was delayed by an hour after a small fire at the venue led to the building being evacuated. Shaun Murphy played Hossein Vafaei in their second professional meeting, following the 2023 Shoot Out. The scores were tied at 22 at the mid-session interval, after which Vafaei made breaks of 100 and 71 to lead 53. Murphy won the ninth frame, but Vafaei made a break of 67 in the tenth for a 64 victory. Matthew Selt made century breaks of 111 and 102 to lead Ali Carter 32, and went on to win the match 63.
File:Neil Robertson at Snooker German Masters 2015-02-05 02.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Three-time UK champion Neil Robertson lost 26 to Zhou Yuelong in the first round. This ended his winning streak of at least one professional tournament every calendar year since 2006.
On 27 November, Judd Trump defeated Pang Junxu 61 in their first professional meeting, making breaks of 114 and 124 in the first and fourth frames. After the match Trump said he was playing well: "I feel like I'm a player that is either amazing or terrible and I feel if I can get through the first two rounds then nothing is stopping me. It is quite rare for me to lose in a semi or quarter-final." Ben Woollaston made a break of 100 in the first frame against Barry Hawkins and went on to lead 31. However, Hawkins won five of the next six frames to win the match 64. Mark Selby advanced with a 60 over Mark Joyce. Jack Lisowski made an 86 break in the first frame and won the second frame on a for a 20 lead over Jamie Jones. However, Jones tied the scores at 44 and then won the last two frames for a 64 victory.
On 28 November, seven-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan lost the first two frames against Anthony McGill, but then won six frames in a row for a 62 victory. John Higgins defeated Joe O'Connor 63, making a 122 break in the eighth frame. Zhou Yuelong made breaks of 80 and 134 to lead Neil Robertson 21. Robertson tied the scores with a 135 in the fourth frame, but Zhou took four consecutive frames with breaks of 67, 99, 136, and 74 for a 62 victory. The defeat ended Robertson's winning streak, in which he had won at least one professional tournament every calendar year since 2006. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made breaks of 93, 127, and 85 for a 31 lead over Robert Milkins. Milkins attempted a maximum break in the fifth frame, but missed the last red. Milkins made further breaks of 99 and 121 and won the match in a deciding frame.