1940 World Snooker Championship

The 1940 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament held at the Thurston's Hall in London, England.[1]

World Snooker Championship
Tournament information
Dates22 February–20 March 1940
VenueThurston's Hall
CityLondon
CountryEngland
Organisation(s)BACC
Highest break Fred Davis (101)
Joe Davis (101)
Final
Champion Joe Davis
Runner-up Fred Davis
Score37–36
← 1939
1946 →

Joe Davis won his fourteenth World title by defeating his younger brother Fred Davis 37–36 in the final, although the winning margin was reached at 37–35 as dead frames were still played out.[2] Joe Davis compiled a century break in the penultimate frame to win the match.[3] This was the last World Championship to be held until the end of the Second World War, the next one being held in 1946.[1]

Schedule
Match Dates Venue, city
Walter Donaldson v Herbert Holt22–24 February 1940Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis v Alec Brown26–28 February 1940Thurston's Hall, London
Fred Davis v Sydney Lee29 February–2 March 1940Thurston's Hall, London
Sidney Smith v Tom Newman4–6 March 1940Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis v Walter Donaldson7–9 March 1940Thurston's Hall, London
Fred Davis v Sidney Smith11–13 March 1940Thurston's Hall, London
Joe Davis v Fred Davis14–16,18–20 March 1940Thurston's Hall, London

Detail

There were nine entries for the Championship. The number in the competition proper was reduced again to eight with a qualifying match between Herbert Holt and Conrad Stanbury.[4]

Holt met Walter Donaldson in the first match of the competition proper. Donaldson won the first four frames and led 6–4 overnight. Donaldson won eight frames on the second day to lead 14–6, two frames from victory. Donaldson won the first two frames on the final day to win 16–6 and eventually won 10 of the 11 frames played, leaving a final score of 24–7. All 11 frames on the final day were completed in 2 hours 15 minutes.[5]

Joe Davis and Alec Brown played in the second quarter-final. Brown had recently won the Daily Mail Gold Cup beating Davis 39–22. However, in that match he had received a start of 25 in each frame. Brown took a 2–1 lead but Davis led 7–3 after the first day. Davis extended his lead to 10–3 but at the end of the second day Brown had reduced Davis's lead to 12–8. By winning the last frame of the final afternoon session, Davis took a winning 16–9 lead. The final score was 20–11.[6]

Fred Davis met Sydney Lee in the third quarter-final. On the first day Lee won frame 4 but Davis led 9–1. The players shared the second day so that Davis led 14–6. Davis won the first two frames on the third day to win the match 16–6. The final score was 20–11, Davis making a break of 88 in the evening session.[7]

The last quarter-final was between Sidney Smith and Tom Newman. Newman won the first frame with a break of 53 but Smith led 8–2 overnight and won comfortably 16–3 on the second day. The final score was 22–9.[8]

Joe Davis and Donaldson met in the first semi-final. Davis won the first three frames but Donaldson levelled the match at 5–5 at the end of the first day.[9] Davis won 7 frames on the second day to lead 12–8.[10] On the final day Donaldson won the first frame but Davis won the next four to win the match 16–9. Davis then extended his winning run to 10 frames to leave a final score of 22–9.[11]

The second semi-final between Fred Davis and Sidney Smith was a close match. Smith took a 7–2 lead, before Davis won the last frame of the day to reduce the gap to four frames.[12] Davis won seven frames on the second to level the match at 10–10 and then won three frames on the final afternoon to lead 13–12. Winning first two frames gave him a 15–12 lead and, although Smith won the next, Davis won the match 16–13. The final score was 17–14.[13]

Brothers Joe and Fred Davis met in the final. Joe took an 8–4 lead on the first day[14] and led 14–10 after the second day.[15] Fred won the first 10 frames on the third day and led 21–15 at the end of the day. Including the last frame on the second day, Fred had won 11 frames in succession.[16] Joe won 9 frames on the fourth day to level the match at 24–24.[17] The fifth afternoon session was shared. Fred made a 101 break in frame 50, including 13 reds, 11 blacks, a pink and a blue. It was the first century of the tournament. Joe won four frames in the evening to lead 31–29.[18][19] On the final day Joe won the first three frames to lead 34–29 but Fred won the next four frames. When Joe won frame 70 he took a 36–34 lead but Fred won the next. In frame 72 Fred scored the first 12 points but Joe then made a 101 break to take a winning 37–35 lead. Joe got his century by potting the blue, leaving just the pink and black remaining. The spectators cheered for nearly a minute when Joe made his century. Fred won the last frame, giving a final score of 37–36.[20][21]

Main draw

Sources:[22][23][24]

Quarter-finals
31 frames 		Semi-finals
31 frames 		Final
73 frames
Joe Davis 24
Alec Brown 7 Joe Davis 22
Walter Donaldson 24 Walter Donaldson 9
Herbert Holt 7 Joe Davis 37
Fred Davis 20 Fred Davis 36
Sydney Lee 11 Fred Davis 17
Sidney Smith 22 Sidney Smith 14
Tom Newman 9

Final
Final: 73 frames.
Thurston's Hall, London, 14–16 and 18–20 March 1940.
Joe Davis
 England		 37–36 Fred Davis
 England
Day 1: 78–36, 74–32, 72–51, 33–58, 93–29, 34–75, 84–23, 62–50, 68–24, 37–76, 52–63, 79–23
Day 2: 64–55, 61–70, 15–102, 97–55, 56–69, 64–68, 75–57, 133–12, 10–104, 70–63, 87–25, 46–80
Day 3: 63–67, 45–80, 35–104 (56), 39–75 (55), 31–90, 25–90, 35–85 (84), 23–114 (76), 41–62, 9–100, 79–21, 41–90
Day 4: 106–15 (88), 80–30, 82–34, 40–79 (78), 85–19, 41–66, 109–2, 70–31, 78–36, 22–91, 92–7, 81–39
Day 5: 102–24 (61), 41–101 (101), 85–25, 27–84, 8–117 (68), 76–49, 85–25, 20–78, 74–71, 91–43, 24–111, 84–14
Day 6: 62–59, 68–66 (Fred Davis 55), 89–26, 31–98 (72), 55–73, 38–76, 19–89, 68–57, 36–90, 76–38, 12–86, 101–12 (101), 24–83
A "dead" frame was played, Joe Davis had won the match 37–35.

Qualifying

Herbert Holt and Conrad Stanbury met at Thurston's Hall for their qualifying match, played from 19–21 February. Holt led 6–4 after the first day and 13–7 after day two. Although he lost the first frame on the final, he won the next three to take a winning 16–8 lead. Stanbury won five of the seven dead frames to leave a final score of 18–13.[25]

31 frames
   
Herbert Holt 18
Conrad Stanbury 13

References
  1. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  2. Everton, Clive (1982). Guinness Book of Snooker (Rev. ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. pp. 58–59. ISBN 0-85112-256-6.
  3. Eric, Hayton (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. London: Rose Villa Publications. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
  4. "Snooker". The Times. 22 December 1939. p. 2.
  5. "Scot's fast scoring in snooker tie". The Glasgow Herald. 26 February 1940. p. 12.
  6. "Snooker – The Championship". The Times. 29 February 1940. p. 2.
  7. "Snooker – The Championship". The Times. 4 March 1940. p. 8.
  8. "Snooker – The Championship". The Times. 7 March 1940. p. 10.
  9. "Donaldson's fine display – Tussle with world snooker champion". The Glasgow Herald. 8 March 1940. p. 10.
  10. "J Davis four frames ahead – Scots adopts cautious snooker tactics". The Glasgow Herald. 9 March 1940. p. 12.
  11. "World snooker title – Scot falls to champion". The Glasgow Herald. 11 March 1940. p. 3.
  12. "Sidney Smith in form – World snooker title semi-final". The Glasgow Herald. 12 March 1940. p. 12.
  13. "Davis brother to meet in snooker final". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 14 March 1940. Retrieved 18 December 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. "Champion leads brother by four frames". The Glasgow Herald. 15 March 1940. p. 3.
  15. "Champion retrieves snooker position". The Glasgow Herald. 16 March 1940. p. 13.
  16. "Champion's snooker set-back". The Glasgow Herald. 18 March 1940. p. 12.
  17. "Joe Davis starts with an 88 – World snooker final against brother Fred". The Glasgow Herald. 19 March 1940. p. 12.
  18. "Snooker – The Championship". The Times. 20 March 1940. p. 6.
  19. "F Davis's century snooker break – Brother regains lead". The Glasgow Herald. 20 March 1940. p. 4.
  20. "Snooker – The Championship". The Times. 21 March 1940. p. 10.
  21. "Joe Davis retains title – Century break in exciting snooker finish". The Glasgow Herald. 21 March 1940. p. 2.
  22. "World Championship 1940". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  23. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  24. Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. p. 143. ISBN 0-9548549-0-X.
  25. "World Snooker Championship". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 22 February 1940. Retrieved 17 December 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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