2020 World Snooker Championship

The 2020 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) is an upcoming professional snooker tournament that is scheduled to take place from 31 July to 16 August at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It will be the 44th consecutive year the World Snooker Championship has been held at the Crucible, and the final ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season. It was originally scheduled to take place from 18 April to 4 May, but qualifying and the televised rounds were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1][2] Qualifying will be at the originally planned venue on different dates, from 21 to 28 July.[3]

2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship
Tournament information
Dates31 July – 16 August 2020
VenueCrucible Theatre
CitySheffield
CountryEngland
Organisation(s)WPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£2,395,000
Winner's share£500,000
Defending champion Judd Trump
← 2019

Englishman Judd Trump is the defending champion, having won the previous year's event, defeating Scot John Higgins 18–9 in the final. This was Trump's first world title. Qualifying for the tournament was to take place from 8 to 15 April 2020 at the English Institute of Sport, also in Sheffield, but this was also postponed.[2]

Background

The world championship sees 32 professional players compete in one-on-one snooker matches in a single elimination format, each played over several frames. The 32 players for the event are selected through a mix of the world snooker rankings and a pre-tournament qualification round.[4] The first world championship in 1927, held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England, was won by Joe Davis.[5][6] Since 1977, the event has been held in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.[7] The event's most successful player in the modern era is Stephen Hendry, who has won the championship seven times.[8] The previous year's championship was won by England's Judd Trump, who won the event defeating Scotland's John Higgins in the final 18–9. The champion of the 2020 event will win prize money of £500,000, from a total pool of £2,395,000.[9]

In May 2019, World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn 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, rather than three.[10]

Format
The main draw of the tournament will be played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

The 2020 World Snooker Championship was set to be held between 18 April and 4 May 2020 in Sheffield, England. The tournament is the last of 17 rankings events in the 2019/2020 season on the World Snooker Tour.[11] It will feature a 32-player main draw to be played at the Crucible Theatre, as well as a 128-player qualifying draw played at the English Institute of Sport from 8 to 15 April 2020, finishing three days prior to the start of the main draw.[12] This will be the 44th consecutive year that the tournament is held at the Crucible, and the 52nd consecutive year the championship was contested through the modern knockout format.[10][9]

The top 16 players in the latest world rankings will automatically qualify for the main draw as seeded players. Defending champion Judd Trump will be automatically seeded first overall. The remaining fifteen seeds are allocated based on the latest world rankings, which are released following the 2020 Tour Championship, the penultimate event of the season. Matches in the first round of the main draw are played as best of 19 frames. The number of frames needed to win a match increased with each successive round, leading up to the final match which will be played as best of 35 frames.[4]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for 2020 is shown below.[9]

  • 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
  • Total: £2,395,000

Main draw

Numbers given in brackets after players' names show the seedings for the top 16 players in the competition.

First round Second round Quarter-finals Semi-finals
Best of 19 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 33 frames
                           
31 July            
  Judd Trump (ENG) (1)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  Yan Bingtao (CHN) (16)  
10 & 11 August
     
   
July/August
       
  Stephen Maguire (SCO) (9)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  Kyren Wilson (ENG) (8)  
12, 13 & 14 August
     
   
July/August
     
  John Higgins (SCO) (5)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  David Gilbert (ENG) (12)  
10 & 11 August
     
   
July/August
       
  Jack Lisowski (ENG) (13)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  Mark Allen (NIR) (4)  
     
July/August            
  Mark Williams (WAL) (3)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  Stuart Bingham (ENG) (14)  
10 & 11 August
     
   
July/August
       
  Ding Junhui (CHN) (11)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  Ronnie O’Sullivan (ENG) (6)  
12, 13 & 14 August
     
   
July/August
     
  Mark Selby (ENG) (7)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  Shaun Murphy (ENG) (10)  
10 & 11 August
     
   
July/August
       
  Barry Hawkins (ENG) (15)  
August
     
   
July/August
       
  Neil Robertson (AUS) (2)  
     
Final: (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 15 & 16 August.
Referee:

 –
Players Session 1:
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
N/A N/A
N/A N/A
Players Session 2:
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
N/A
N/A
Players Session 3:
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
N/A N/A
N/A N/A
Players Session 4:
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Highest break
Century breaks
50+ breaks

= Winner of frame

Qualifying

Qualifying for the 2020 World Snooker Championship will take place from 21 to 28 July 2020 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Starting with a pool of 128 players, the qualifying competition will consist of four knock-out rounds. Originally organised for all matches to be the best of 19 frames, the first three rounds will be played as best of 11 frames with only the final round being best of 19.[13] The 16 winners of the fourth-round matches will progress to the main stages of the tournament at the Crucible Theatre.[14][15] The 112 tour players (ranked outside the top 16) will be joined by 16 wildcard amateur players who achieved success through the WPBSA qualifying criteria:[16]

Players ranked 17 to 80 in the 2019/2020 world rankings will be seeded 1 to 64 in qualifying.[lower-alpha 1] The remaining tour players plus the invited amateurs will be drawn randomly. The first three qualifying rounds will each consist of 64 competitors. The first qualifying round will consist of the 48 players ranked 81–128 plus 16 amateur players. The second qualifying round will consist of players ranked 49–80 against first round winners. The third qualifying round will consist of players ranked 17–48 against second round winners. The fourth qualifying round will be played out between the 32 third round winners.[15]

  Round 1
Best of 11 frames		 Round 2
Best of 11 frames		 Round 3
Best of 11 frames		 Round 4
Best of 19 frames
                                     
    1  Joe Perry (ENG)
       
    32  Anthony Hamilton (ENG)  
   
    16  Mark Davis (ENG)
       
    17  Martin O’Donnell (ENG)  
   
    9  Michael Holt (ENG)
       
    24  Li Hang (CHN)  
   
    8  Jimmy Robertson (ENG)
       
    25  Ricky Walden (ENG)  
   
    5  Graeme Dott (SCO)
       
    28  Yuan Sijun (CHN)  
   
    12  Xiao Guodong (CHN)
       
    21  Luca Brecel (BEL)  
   
    13  Zhao Xintong (CHN)
       
    20  Ryan Day (WAL)  
   
    4  Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA)
       
    29  Stuart Carrington (ENG)  
   
    3  Gary Wilson (ENG)
       
    30  Mark King (ENG)  
   
    14  Lyu Haotian (CHN)
       
    19  Hossein Vafaei (IRN)  
   
    11  Matt Selt (ENG)
       
    22  Ben Woollaston (ENG)  
   
    6  Zhou Yuelong (CHN)
         
    27  Kurt Maflin (NOR)  
   
    7  Scott Donaldson (SCO)
       
    26  Noppon Saengkham (THA)  
   
    10  Tom Ford (ENG)
       
    23  Anthony McGill (SCO)  
   
    15  Matthew Stevens (WAL)
       
    18  Liang Wenbo (CHN)  
   
    2  Ali Carter (ENG)
       
    31  Robert Milkins (ENG)  
   

References
  1. Peter Ebdon, ranked 55, will not compete in the championships as he retired from professional snooker earlier in the year.[17]
  1. "Coronavirus: World Snooker Championship at Crucible postponed". BBC Sport. 20 March 2020. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  2. Hafez, Shamoon (22 April 2020). "World Snooker Championship rescheduled to start on 31 July". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  3. "EIS Sheffield To Host The Qualifying Rounds For The Betfred World Championship". World Snooker Tour. 16 June 2020. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  4. "World Snooker Championship Provisional Format of Play" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  5. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  6. "1927 World Professional Championship". globalsnookercentre.co.uk. Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 10 October 2004. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  7. Historic England. "The Crucible Theatre (1392311)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  8. "World Championship – Roll of Honour". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  9. "2019–2020 Season Summary" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  10. "Hearn announces World Championship qualifying changes, 147 bonus and new tour card for White". Eurosport UK. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  11. "2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  12. "World Snooker Championship 2020 – Sheffield". Snooker Trips. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  13. "Dates and format confirmed for World Snooker Championship Qualifiers". livesnooker.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  14. "EIS Sheffield To Host The Qualifying Rounds For The Betfred World Championship". World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 16 June 2020. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  15. "A New World". World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 15 February 2020. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  16. "WPBSA Qualifiers Announced For 2020 World Snooker Championship". World Snooker Tour. 11 March 2020. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  17. "Ebdon Retires From Pro Snooker". World Snooker Tour. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.