2023 World Snooker Championship


The 2023 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 April to 1 May 2023 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 47th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue. The qualifying rounds took place from 3 to 12 April 2023 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The 15th and final ranking tournament of the 2022–23 snooker season, it was organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored for the first time by car retailer Cazoo. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, in Europe by Eurosport, and elsewhere in the world by Matchroom Sport and other broadcasters. The total prize fund was £2,395,000, of which the winner received £500,000.
Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, having defeated Judd Trump 18–13 in the 2022 final. He made a record 31st Crucible appearance, surpassing the 30 appearances by Steve Davis, and reached a record-extending 21st quarter-final—also becoming the first player to compete in 100 matches at the Crucible—but lost 10–13 to Belgian player Luca Brecel. Crucible debutants at the event were Fan Zhengyi, Jak Jones, Pang Junxu, Si Jiahui, and Wu Yize. Si, aged 20, became the first debutant to reach the semi-finals since Andy Hicks at the 1995 event and the youngest player to do so since O'Sullivan at the 1996 event. Brecel came from 5–14 behind in the semi-finals to defeat Si 17–15, the first time a player had won a match at the Crucible after trailing by nine frames. Brecel went on to defeat Mark Selby 18–15 in the final, winning his first world title, first Triple Crown title, and fourth ranking title. He became the sport's first world champion from mainland Europe.
The event's main stage produced 90 century breaks. For the second time, after the 2008 event, two maximum breaks occurred at the main stage of the tournament: Kyren Wilson made a maximum in his first-round match against Ryan Day, and Selby became the first player to make a maximum in a World Championship final. O'Sullivan made both his 1,200th century in professional competition and his 200th Crucible century at the event. The qualifying rounds produced another 135 centuries, including a 115 break by Ng On-yee, the highest by a female player in the tournament's history.

Background

The first World Snooker Championship final took place in 1927 at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England, and was won by Joe Davis. Staged annually until 1940, the tournament was put on hiatus during World War II and went into decline in the post-war era; the 1952 World Snooker Championship was contested by only two players and was replaced by the World Professional Match-play Championship, which was also discontinued in 1957. Revived on a challenge basis in 1964, the World Snooker Championship reverted to an annual knockout tournament in 1969. In 1977, the tournament was first staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it has remained since.
The 2023 event was organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored for the first time by British car retailer Cazoo. It marked the 47th consecutive year that the tournament was held at the Crucible and the 55th successive year that the World Championship was contested through the modern knockout format. It also marked the 40th anniversary of the first maximum break at the tournament, achieved by Cliff Thorburn at the 1983 event. Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, having defeated Judd Trump 18–13 in the 2022 final to win his seventh world title, equalling Stephen Hendry's modern-era record. O'Sullivan made a record 31st Crucible appearance at the 2023 event, surpassing the 30 appearances by Steve Davis.
Ten Chinese players, including 2021 UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong and 2021 Masters winner Yan Bingtao, were ineligible to compete in the 2023 event, having been suspended from professional competition and charged with match-fixing violations earlier in the season. Disciplinary hearings for the suspended players began on 24 April, midway through the tournament, resulting in lifetime bans for two players—Liang Wenbo and Li Hang—and lengthy bans for the others.

Format

The qualifying stage took place from 3 to 12 April 2023 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, featuring 128 players, 16 of whom qualified for the main stage. World Championship qualifiers from 2020 to 2022 had comprised three rounds played as the best of 11 and a final round played as the best of 19 frames, with higher-ranked players seeded through to the second or third rounds. The 2023 event reverted to a best-of-19 format for all four rounds of qualifying, as had been the case before the COVID-19 pandemic, but seeded draws remained in place. Qualification rounds were broadcast by Discovery+ in Europe; Liaoning TV, Superstar online,, Youku and Huya Live in China; and by Matchroom Sport in all other territories. The final qualifying round was also streamed on the World Snooker Tour's Facebook page and YouTube channel.
The first-round draw took place on BBC Radio 5 Live on 13 April, during which the 16 successful qualifiers were drawn at random against the top 16 players in the snooker world rankings. The draw was hosted by Rob Walker, with reactions from Shaun Murphy. The main stage took place from 15 April to 1 May at the Crucible Theatre. First-round matches were played from 15 to 20 April as the best of 19 frames. Second-round matches were played from 20 to 24 April as the best of 25 frames. Quarter-finals were played on 25 and 26 April as the best of 25 frames, and the semi-finals were played from 27 to 29 April as the best of 33 frames. The final was played over two days, 30 April and 1 May, as the best of 35 frames.
The main stage of the tournament was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, Eurosport, and Discovery+, and elsewhere in Europe by Eurosport and Discovery+. Other international broadcasts were provided by Superstar online, Migu, Huya Live, Youku, and CCTV in China; by NowTV in Hong Kong; by FastsportsHD in Pakistan; by Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; by TrueVisions in Thailand; by Premier Sports in the Philippines; by StarHub in Singapore; by Sportcast in Taiwan and Indonesia; and by DAZN in the United States and Brazil. In territories where there was no other coverage, the event was broadcast by Matchroom Sport. The BBC coverage of the last session of the final attracted an average of 2.7 million viewers, with a peak of 3.6 million.

Prize fund

The winner of the event received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The breakdown of prize money 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
A bonus of £40,000 was on offer for a maximum break made at the Crucible and £10,000 for a maximum made in the qualifying rounds. These bonuses were in addition to the £15,000 highest prize and were shared in the case of multiple maximums. No player achieved a maximum in the qualifying rounds, but both Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby made maximums at the Crucible; they each received £27,500, representing half of the combined highest break and maximum break prizes.

Summary

Qualification

First qualification round

The first qualifying round featured players ranked 81 to 112 against players seeded 113 to 144, including selected amateurs. The tournament featured five female players, the most in 31 years, although all five lost in the first qualifying round. Mink Nutcharut lost 7–10 to Dechawat Poomjaeng, but made her first century break in professional competition, becoming the first woman since Kelly Fisher in 2002 to make a century in a World Championship match. The following day, Ng On-yee made a 115 break, the highest by a woman in the event's history. However, Ng lost 8–10 to Michael Holt, while Reanne Evans lost 5–10 to Ken Doherty. The reigning women's world champion Baipat Siripaporn lost 3–10 to Aaron Hill, and Rebecca Kenna lost by the same score to Alfie Burden.
The seven-time champion Hendry lost 4–10 to James Cahill, his ex-wife's nephew, but stated that he still had "a very distant dream" of one day reaching the Crucible again. Stan Moody, aged 16, had recently earned the right to play on the professional tour as he won a two-year tour card to begin in the 2023–24 season by winning the WSF Junior Snooker Championship. He defeated Andres Petrov 10–7 to win his first World Championship match. The 2022 Hong Kong Masters finalist Marco Fu lost 5–10 to Martin O'Donnell. Ukrainian player Iulian Boiko defeated Muhammad Asif 10–2. Austrian player Florian Nüßle defeated Michael Judge by the same score. Evans, Fu, Judge, Ng, and Dean Young all lost their professional tour cards after their first-round defeats. However, Evans secured a new two-year tour card by ending the season at number one in the World Women's Snooker rankings, following her performance at the 2023 British Women's Open. Fu was awarded a two-year invitational tour card. Young later secured a new two-year tour card through 2023 Q School.

Second qualification round

The second qualifying round featured the first-round winners against players ranked 49 to 80. Sean O'Sullivan was on course for a maximum break when he two in one shot, leaving him unable to complete the maximum; he finished on a break of 140. Matthew Stevens defeated Poomjaeng 10–8, despite having in the final frame. Poomjaeng posed for a selfie with Stevens after the first session while trailing 3–6. Jimmy White, who had last reached the Crucible in 2006, had predicted that he was "playing too well" not to reach the main stage in 2023. However, he lost 4–10 to O'Donnell, a defeat he blamed on tweaking his technique late in the season, calling it a "huge mistake" and a "schoolboy error". Si Jiahui led Nüßle 9–1, but Nüßle narrowed his deficit to two frames before Si won the match 10–7. Hill defeated Michael White 10–3 and Zhang Anda beat Moody by the same score.
Welsh player Jackson Page defeated Scotland's Ross Muir 10–2. Doherty made a 137 break as he defeated Hammad Miah 10–6 but broached the possibility of retirement at the end of the 2023–24 season if his overall form did not improve. Ben Mertens defeated fellow Belgian player Julien Leclercq, also by a 10–6 scoreline, while Scott Donaldson defeated 16-year-old Liam Davies 10–1. Stuart Carrington, Gerard Greene, Louis Heathcote, Duane Jones, Mitchell Mann, Miah, Jamie O'Neill, Fraser Patrick, Craig Steadman, and Alexander Ursenbacher all lost their tour cards after their second-round defeats. However, Miah qualified through the one-year ranking list for a new two-year tour card. Carrington, Heathcote, and Ursenbacher later secured new two-year tour cards through 2023 Q School.