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04 WELSH OPEN 08 REVIEW SNOOKER 12 SHOOT-OUT COACH 15 BARRY STARK DOUG 16 MOUNTJOY RAISING MONEY 19 DURING LOCKDOWN SNOOKER LEGENDS 21 CUES OF TOMORROW LOVE IS IN 23 THE AIR GERMAN MASTERS REVIEW

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ello and welcome to edition number ten of The Chalk. We hope you are all keeping safe and enjoy the read. As always thank you for taking the time to subscribe, download, open and flick through the digital pages of the sport’s newest, brightest, freshest publication. Every month we will aim to bring you insight into cue sports from around the globe. In this issue, Monique Limbos writes three great reviews. She covers the German Masters, The Shoot-out and The Welsh Open. We thank Monique for her efforts in putting the reviews together for us. Our resident coach Barry Stark gives two lessons on splitting the pack. As always these are well worth a watch. After a break, Rodney Goggins has returned with a fantastic article remembering the great Doug Mountjoy who sadly passed away recently. We welcome back Alex Jerrard from A Cluster of Reds who has written about some snooker stars and how they are trying to raise money for charities during the latest lockdown. Tom Moorcroft returns and pens his monthly article and this month covers some of the biggest friendships in snooker. You can support us online by liking us on Facebook (facebook.com/TheChalkMag) and by following us on Twitter @_TheChalk. Instagram more your thing? Give _TheChalk a follow. Our thanks as always go also to our advertisers and contributors, your support is really appreciated. If you would like to advertise please get in touch by emailing us at info@thechalk.co.uk. We have been asked if any readers would like to get involved in a weekly snooker radio show. If so please contact us and we will put you in touch. If you have any feedback, then please email us at the same address. Happy reading, stay safe and we hope you enjoy The Chalk.

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THE 2021 GERMAN MASTERS REVIEW >> BY MONIQUE LIMBOS - RETIRED MATHEMATICIAN WHO LOVES SNOOKER AND PHOTOGRAPHY <<

udd Trump successfully defended his German Masters title, beating Jack Lisowski by 9-2 in the final, and becoming the first player to achieve a successful defence of that particular event. This was Judd’s 21st ranking title, his 4th this season, his 12th since the start of 2019. He is clearly the dominant force in snooker currently. For Jack it was another heartbreak; he has now lost all five finals he’s played.

The German Masters trophy was named after Brandon Parker Brandon Parker, who lost his battle against cancer last July, was the man who brought professional snooker to the Tempodrom in Berlin. Here is the story... Between 2007/2008 and 2009/2010, Brandon Parker organised a series of exhibitions in mainland Europe, mainly in Germany, in collaboration with Thomas Cesal from SnookerStars. It was called “Ronnie and friends”. The events featured top players: Ronnie, of course, Shaun Murphy who was then managed by Brandon, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Steve Davis, John Higgins ... to name only a few. They also involved local players and referees. It was a pleasant mix of good snooker and fun. Michaela Tabb was frequently involved as well. I went to a good few of them, taking pictures. Two venues in particular hosted several of those exhibitions: the Circus Krone in Munich and the Tempodrom in Berlin. One night, after a successful exhibition at the Tempodrom, Brandon and Michaela reflected that this would be a great venue for a ranking tournament. They invited representatives from World Snooker to attend the last exhibition of the series, at the Tempodrom. World Snooker accepted the invitation and, having seen the place, and the enthusiasm of the German fans, they went “Wow!”... and that’s how it all started. That was in 2010, and Barry Hearn was just starting at the

helm of the sport. Brandon became a member of the board, and more specifically in charge of developing the sport in mainland Europe, which he did, with passion and dedication. WST wanted to honour Brandon’s memory by naming the German Masters trophy after him. In a joint statement, WST Chairman Barry Hearn OBE and WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: “To name the German Masters trophy after Brandon is a very fitting tribute because this event was such an important part of his life. He dedicated so much energy and enthusiasm towards building this into one of the greatest events on the circuit. “As our European Operations Director, Brandon did so much to develop snooker across the continent. Driven by Eurosport’s coverage, the expansion of snooker into this region has been an incredible success story over the past decade and Brandon played an integral role. This year the players will remember him and miss his presence backstage, particularly when the Brandon Parker Trophy is lifted on Sunday night.” (source: WST) Before it started On the eve of the tournament it was announced that John Higgins had tested positive for covid-19 and had to withdraw from the tournament. As a result, his opponent, Stuart Carrington, got a bye to the last 16 round. The German Masters proper is a 32 players event. This means that players need to go through two rounds of qualifiers. This season, those qualifying rounds had been played mid-November 2020. From the 15 “top 16” members involved, only seven had successfully negotiated the qualifying rounds: Judd Trump, the defending Champion, John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Stephen Maguire, Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham and Jack Lisowski. John Higgins’ withdrawal meant that the third quarter of the draw offered a

“TO NAME THE GERMAN MASTERS TROPHY AFTER BRANDON IS A VERY FITTING TRIBUTE BECAUSE THIS EVENT WAS SUCH AN IMPORTANT PART OF HIS LIFE. HE DEDICATED SO MUCH ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM TOWARDS BUILDING THIS INTO ONE OF THE GREATEST EVENTS ON THE CIRCUIT.” WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson on naming the German Master Trophy after Brandon Parker

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fantastic opportunity for some of the lower ranked players to shine: one of Fergal O’Brien, Michael White, Mark Joyce, Joe O’Connor, Tom Ford, Yuan Sijun and Stuart Carrington would definitely be in the semifinals come the next Saturday. I will now look at the main points of interest, day by day. All detailed results are available on snooker.org On day one Twelve of the sixteen last 32 matches were played on the first day of the tournament. There were two notable casualties: Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire. Losing those two left the tournament with only four of the top 16 players still competing. Shaun Murphy didn’t arrive at this event in an ideal frame of mind by any means. Like many others he had been struggling mentally in recent months because of the impact of the lockdown on everyday s’ life and social interactions. But there was more: on the Saturday before the start of tournament he had written this on twitter: “As we deal with grief, remember that there are no rules. Losing someone is difficult. Beyond terrible. As I write this, with tears streaming down my face I feel completely heartbroken Brandon won’t be here for the German Masters. His event. His legacy. Love you mate.”. I’m convinced that Shaun wanted to win this event badly, to do it for his close friend and former manager. He did probably put far too much pressure on himself: he played very poorly, He kept misjudging his shots, colliding with balls unintentionally and sending them everywhere. It was strange and unsettling. Jamie O’Neill took advantage. Stephen Maguire lost in a deciding frame to Dominic Dale. The last frame before the interval was the crucial one in the match: Stephen was leading by 2-1, and looked set to go 3-1 up. Dominic came back at the table needing three snookers, got the penalties he required and won the frame by one point to make it 2-2 instead. After the MSI they traded frames; it went 3-3 and 4-4 before Dominic sealed victory with a good 70 break. The two other top 16 members in action that day were Ding, and the defending champion Judd Trump. Ding only just scraped past Kaçper Filipiak, who should have won the match really as he was well ahead in the deciding frame. Throughout the match, both players had a lot of chances, and neither could string more than a few balls together, but eventually Ding got over the line with a decent clearance. Judd Trump played well and composed breaks of 57, 78, 68 and 52 in beating Mark Davis who struggled to make any sort of telling break other that the 70 that won him the last frame before the MSI, averting the whitewash. There were also wins for Tom Ford, Jak Jones, Joe Perry, Fergal O’Brien, Jordan

Brown and Barry Hawkins. The latter came back from 4-0 down to beat Ryan Day by 5-4. On day two The morning session on that day saw the conclusion of the last 32 round, with both top 16 members involved, Stuart Bingham and Jack Lisowski, winning their match. Stuart beat Zhou Yuelong by 5-2 in a match that featured a 50+ break in every frame bar one. Jack Lisowski and Louis Heathcote offered the fans a very entertaining affair, played on a high tempo: both went for it, both had some baffling misses, but, equally, both came up with great daring shots. It was a joy to watch. Luca Brecel and Robbie Williams were the other winners. Robbie Williams scored a 135 in his match against Pang Junxu, the highest break of the television stage at that point in time. The afternoon and evening sessions saw the last 16 round played to a completion. Ding Junhui outplayed Dominic Dale, winning by 5-0 and restricting him to only 60 points. Ding’s quotes after the match, were not just about the match but also about Yan’s Masters victory “I haven’t won since the UK Championship last season. I am looking forward to winning another one. I’m watching Judd, Neil, Ronnie and Selby keep winning all of the tournaments. I want to join them. I’m not that bad! “He (Yan Bingtao) deserved to win. He tried so hard. He played great and gave everything for the Masters. Every time his opponent missed he took chances and won some very important frames. It is good for the young players. They are starting to believe in winning tournaments, even the very big ones. Yan Bingtao has also now got a lot of confidence to win more tournaments. He is only very young, just over 20 years old. He has ten or fifteen years to win a lot of tournaments.” (Source: WST). These quotes are interesting for two reasons: first because Ding explicitly mentions how Yan’s win at the Masters will help the other young Chinese players to truly believe that they can do the same and win tournaments. Ding is their hero, but Yan is one of their own. Psychologically that makes a huge difference. The other notable thing is that it’s been a very long time since Ding has actually expressed that much hunger for winning. Yan’s victory at the Masters means sharing the weight of expectations, which must be a relief for Ding, but it also means that he now has an actual challenger on the Chinese scene. Trump was made to work hard to beat Joe Perry. The match had looked set to be going to a decider: Joe led 65-8 in the eighth frame, but missed what was effectively the frame winning ball. However, Judd cleared with a good 58 to steal the frame on the black and win by 5-3. He was probably relieved more than anything after the match: “It is always tough against him. You never win easily against Joe. He is the sort of player you need to beat to win these big events. In the end I made a good break to finish the match.” (Source: WST).

“MY GAME IS AS GOOD AS IT HAS EVER BEEN. I’VE GOT JUDD TOMORROW AND I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. I KNOW I’VE GOT TO BE ON MY A GAME. IT IS COOL THAT WE ARE PLAYING EACH OTHER IN THE FINAL AGAIN. I WILL PROBABLY NEED HIM TO MISS A FEW.” Jack Lisowski ahead of the final against Judd Trump

Jack Lisowski and Luca Brecel provided first class entertainment:. there were some incredible shots from both, and they were not hanging around! Jack won by 5-2. In complete contrast, Stuart Bingham’s 5-4 win over Robbie Williams was hard work, as was Jordan Brown’s win over Jamie O’Neill. Jordan came back tom 4-1 down to win by 5-4. Tom Ford was in high scoring mode against Stuart Carrington; Stuart made the best start, winning the first frame, aided by a 58, then scoring a 61 in the next. Tom took over from there and went on to win by 5-2 with breaks of 55, 66, 124, 77 and 89. Joe O’Connor whitewashed Fergal O’Brien, scoring break of 71, 53 and 51 in the process. Barry Hawkins beat Jack Jones by 5-2, with a top break of 133. On day 3 – Quarter-finals Four members of the top 16 were still in the tournament at the start of the quarterfinals, and they were facing each others in opposite halves of the draw. That meant that only two of them would reach the semi-finals, and that they would face an “outsider” at that stage. Judd Trump beat Ding Junhui by 5-3. Judd, despite not being at his very best, started the match well. He built a 3-0 advantage, aided by breaks of 101 and 79. In the past, Ding has sometimes been guilty of letting his head drop. Not this time though! He reduced his deficit to just one frame, scoring an 83 and a 93 in the process. They traded the next two, before Judd managed to win the hard-fought 8th frame and the match. Despite the victory, Judd was well aware that he had room for improvement: “It was solid, but there were quite a lot of mistakes with my safety. That is something that has happened quite a lot in this tournament. I think that is something that is down to not having a lot of match practice and being a bit rusty.” (Source: WST). The vastly experienced Barry Hawkins completely dominated Jordan Brown who was playing at the quarter-finals stage of a ranking event for the first time in his career. Barry won by 5-1 to earn his place in the semi-finals for the first time since the 2019 World Grand Prix … where he had lost to Judd Trump at that same stage.

Amazingly, the match between Jack Lisowski and Stuart Bingham followed exactly the same pattern as the match between Judd Trump and Ding Junhui. Jack got 3-0 up, with breaks of 88 and 80, Stuart scored two big breaks – 81 and 110 – go come back to 3-2. The next two frames were shared before Jack sealed victory by winning a hard-fought 8th frame. Jack was happy with the win, albeit reckoning that he needs to get more consistent if he wants to be a ranking event winner: “I started really well. Then Stuart got back into it and I was twitching at the end. I felt like I had a bit of luck at the right time today. I managed to get over the line and into the semis. I have been starting the matches well. Maybe I need to reset at the interval and start again. Sometimes I am a bit too relaxed when I get back out there. It’s not nice when you get a lead and it starts slipping away, so it is extra sweet to win.”. (Source: WST). In an “all Leicester” battle Tom Ford demolished Joe O’Connor, beating him by 5-1 and finishing the match with a 134. On day 4 – Semi-finals The two top 16 members left in the tournament won their respective semifinal. Judd Trump came back from 5-1 down to beat Barry Hawkins in a deciding frame. This is a match Judd should never have won: he should have lost it by 6-0. When the match was at 5-1, the only frame he had won, frame 2, should have been Barry’s if it wasn’t for a humongous fluke benefitting Judd at a crucial moment. Barry had just scored a marvellous 140, the highest break of the week. What happened next is not uncommon: with the match as good as lost and over, Judd probably relaxed, and, all of a sudden, all the shots started to go in. The blitz of three consecutive centuries, 131, 131 and 100, clearly rattled Barry, who he went cold as well. He was now the one under pressure. Barry had chances in the last two frames but couldn’t make them count. He will not even have the consolation of the £5000 highest break bonus, as that one went to Shaun Murphy who had scored a 147 at the qualifying stages.

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“I’VE NOT STOPPED PRACTISING HARD. I’VE KEPT UP THAT MOMENTUM. I’VE NOT RESTED AT ALL OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. I’VE PUT THE WORK IN AND AM FULLY GETTING THE REWARDS.” Judd Trump following his final win over friend Jack Lisowski.

Judd was well aware that he should have been on his way home: “I’m very proud of the way I dug in. It would have been easy to give up. At times I was questioning what drink I was going to get from Starbucks on the way home. You just have to put that to the back of your mind. It is so easy to give up. Something clicked at 5-1. I’m in the tournament and I shouldn’t be. I’ve got a free shot at it. The way I’ve played the last couple of seasons, I don’t put any pressure on myself and enjoy my snooker. Even when I’m losing 5-1, I just try to give it my best shot. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, I look at it as a good thing and motivation for the next tournament.” (Source: WST) Jack Lisowski had a much easier passage against Tom Ford, winning by 6-2. Amazingly, in seven attempts, Jack had never beaten Tom before. There was a big break in every frame bar one: 68, 68, 62, 81 and 87 from Jack, 104 and 65 from Tom. Jack was looking forward to the final, but not deluded about how difficulty of the task ahead of him: “I practised so hard for the Masters and I was gutted I couldn’t go in it. Then you have to sit at home for ten days. I don’t think it did me any good, I’m on form and I’m lucky I am managing to keep it going. It is brilliant to be in two finals in a row. “My game is as good as it has ever been. I’ve got Judd tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it. I know I’ve got to be on my A game. It is cool that we are playing each other in the final again. I will probably need him to miss a few. He hasn’t been as on point as he usually is this week. He has scraped through in a few games. I need him to have some sort of off day or I need to play an A star game. Hopefully he wakes up tomorrow and doesn’t feel too good and I cruise it.” (Source: WST) On day 5 – The Final This was the first time in 26 years that successive ranking finals had been contested by the same two players. The previous time was when Steve Davis and John Higgins faced each other in the 1995 International Open and 1995 Welsh Open

finals: John Higgins had won the first, Steve Davis the second. This time, the same player won both as Judd Trump beat Jack Lisowski by 9-2 to lift the Brandon Parker Trophy. The match wasn’t as one-sided as the score suggests: quite a number of frames were close. The worrying thing for Jack is that, despite getting chances, he didn’t win any of them, he missed all the crucial balls. Given his ability, this can only be a mental thing. He may benefit from seeking help with someone like Chris Henry who recently helped Mark Selby regain his confidence. Here are the quotes by both players (Source: WST) Judd was obviously delighted and paid tribute to Brandon Parker: “It is incredible, another win. It was obviously tough for me and Jack to both miss the Masters. It was nice that we both got to the final in this one. “It’s always tough playing against him, being my friend. It’s never going to be as enjoyable as winning against somebody else. It is a game you always have to play your best in. I’m enjoying my snooker. “Whenever you win, you are always going to enjoy it. It is just important for me to keep doing the right things. I’ve not stopped practising hard. I’ve kept up that momentum. I’ve not rested at all over the last couple of years. I’ve put the work in and am fully getting the rewards. ‘Brandon was someone who created snooker in the European countries. He started off with some minor events and in the end he turned the German Masters into a fully fledged ranking event. Berlin was a really special place for the German Masters. I can remember last year, he was so proud of what he had achieved.” Jack tried to stay positive: “I’m not going to get too down on myself. There are a lot of events coming up and it is a good time to be hitting form. I’m definitely doing that. Hopefully I can nick a title soon, as long as I don’t keep running into Judd in finals!”. To conclude … a bit of snooker history Whilst Judd’s feelings and praise for Brandon are certainly genuine, and

fitting under the circumstances, they also highlight the “UK centric” mentality prevalent amongst so many UK fans and young players who don’t know the history of our sport. Brandon did wonders for snooker in mainland Europe, but he didn’t “create” it, he revived it. The ranking German Open was held for thee consecutive years between 1995 and 1997 in various German cities. John Higgins won it in 1995 and 1997 beating Ken Doherty in the 1995 final and John Parrott in the 1997 final. Ronnie beat Alain Robidoux in the 1996 final. The 1998 German Masters was a non-ranking professional event. There was a fifth, minor, professional event played in Germany in 1995: No less than 12 professional events were played in Belgium between 1986 and 1994, four of them ranking: the 1992 European Open (won by Jimmy White beating Mark Johnston-Allen in the final), the February 1993 European Open (won by Steve Davis beating Stephen Hendry in the final), the December 1993 European Open (won by Stephen Hendry, beating Ronnie in the final), and the 1994 European Open (won by Stephen Hendry beating John Parrott in the final). There were also three professional events played in France back in those years, two of them ranking: the 1989 European Open (won by John Parrott beating Terry Griffiths in the final), the 1990 European Open (won by John Parrott beating Stephen Hendry in the final). Eurosport, with its headquarters in France, started in 1989 and used to show the snooker in the 90th. The amateur scene was very strong in The Netherlands and Belgium. Some of those guys are still competing on the World Seniors Tour. In 2019, Joris Maas from the Netherlands qualified for the WSS World Championship. Joris, 46 years old, has never played as a pro but is a multiple national champion. So, no, snooker is not a “new thing” in mainland Europe, and it’s not been brought there by the Hearn administration. It has however been revived by them, and for that , as a Belgian citizen, I’m thankful.

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THE 2021 WELSH OPEN – REVIEW >> BY MONIQUE LIMBOS - RETIRED MATHEMATICIAN WHO LOVES SNOOKER AND PHOTOGRAPHY <<

he 2021 Welsh Open was the 30th instalment of the prestigious event and it produced one of the most inspiring stories in snooker’s rich history, as Jordan Brown lifted the Ray Reardon Trophy on Sunday, 25 February 2021. He beat Ronnie O’Sullivan by 9-8 in the final. Jordan Brown, a 33 years old young man from Antrim in Northern Ireland, started the tournament ranked number 81 in the World. His dream was always to be a snooker player. In 2009/10, he qualified for the main tour for the first time. He didn’t succeed and was relegated at the end of the season, but he continued to chase his dream, and to work hard on his game. It took him a long time, and the journey was far from easy. Three year ago he was working in a garage, for a very modest wage. He was also practicing hard. He got back on the main tour in 2018/19, via the Q-School. As the end of the 2019/20 season approached, he was facing the prospect of being relegated again. Far from giving up, he played his best snooker in the 2020 World Championship Qualifiers, beating Rory McLeod, Hossein Vafaei and Ryan Day en route to the Theatre of Dreams. At the Crucible, he lost to Mark Selby by a very honourable 10-6. His run to the Crucible earned him a new two years tour card. At the 2021 German Masters, end January this year, he reached the quarter-finals stage of a ranking event for the first time. Three weeks later, he became a ranking event winner, beating Mark Selby in the quarter-finals, Stephen Maguire in the semi-finals and the World Champion, Ronnie O’Sullivan, in the Final. Five of his seven matches went to a deciding frame, including the quarterfinals one and the Final. Hard work, grit, determination and unshakable self-belief. Take a bow Jordan Brown! Here is the story... The Welsh Open returns to its home Up to the Welsh Open, all tournaments this season had been played in Milton Keynes and, although both WST and the venue’s management and staff had done a sterling job to make it welcoming and nice, it became increasingly evident that a “Milton Keynes Fatigue Syndrome” was hitting many players, and probably many fans as well. Nothing surprising there: if you eat the same plate every day at every meal, you will get tired of it, no matter how nice it is. Therefore the news that the 2021 Welsh Open was going to be played in Wales, at the prestigious Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, was welcomed by everyone.

The last 128 Prior to the start of the tournament, and on the first day, there were a few withdrawals: Kurt Maflin, Amine Amiri, 8

Alex Borg, Neil Robertson and Mark Joyce. Amine Amiri was replaced by Jamie Curtis-Barrett. Neil Robertson cited personal reasons. Mark Joyce had started developing covid-19 symptoms and decided not to travel. He later confirmed on social media that he had indeed tested positive for the virus. No reasons were given for the other withdrawals. As a result, Ken Doherty, Mark King, Ben Woollaston and Jimmy White got a bye to the last 64. The last 128 was a rather unremarkable round. There were two mildly surprising results as Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Stuart Bingham bowed out. Those were no big shocks though. Thepchaiya doesn’t have much of a B game: when not at his best, he’s vulnerable , and he went down to a solid Sam Craigie. Stuart Bingham had been struggling for some time, and his opponent Robert Milkins is a former top 16 player and a very heavy scorer on form, Other than that, the round provided two maximum breaks attempts and a frame that lasted 66’40”. That lengthy frame was the first in Lee Walker v Mark Davis’s match. Lee Walker is probably the slowest player on the tour. His natural pace is slow at the best of times, and, recently, back issues and sciatica have made things even more difficult for Lee. All credits to him for trying his hardest under the circumstances. As for the maximum attempts, one was by Mark Selby who missed the final pink in the second frame of his match against Barry Pinches, the other one was by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who missed the final yellow in frame three of his match against Sam Craigie. The last 64 The last 64 round didn’t bring many surprises either. The biggest one was probably Ding Junhui’s 4-2 defeat to Pang Junxu, a 21 years old rookie. Now, there is a bit more than meets the eye here: Pang Junxu comes from Jiangsu province, like Ding, and was helped a lot in his junior career by Ding’s father. Along with Lu Ning, Pang is Ding’s most regular practice partner amongst the younger generation. They are very close, and that probably made it quite a difficult match for Ding as Pang would not be intimidated at all and the pressure of expectations would be squarely on Ding. The most dramatic match of the round featured John Higgins and Ben Woollaston. John had lead 3-1, with breaks of 101, 79, 58. Back came Ben with runs of 70 and 62. John then won the deciding frame, by two points, on the last black, after needing a snooker. Earlier in the last frame, Ben had actually fluked the “match ball”. Eurosport had created a lot of hype around the Ronnie O’Sullivan versus Jimmy White match, the “battle of the ES pundits”. Ronnie won it by 4-0 and it wasn’t a good match. There were many

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mistakes from both. I wasn’t surprised: Ronnie doesn’t like to play his close friend in matches that really matter. On one hand, he would dearly like to see Jimmy do well, on the other hand he has to stay professional and get the job done. It didn’t make for great viewing. Finally, Anthony Hamilton was destroyed by Zhou Yuelong who won their match by 4-0, with breaks of 123, 60, 101 and 132. After his first round victory over Ben Hancorn, Anthony had spoken to the excellent sports’ journalist Phil Haigh: Anthony feels that his career is over after a failed eye surgery left him with double vision. Misfortunes and problems have been piling on Anthony over the last months: his cue was damaged during his flight to Gibraltar last season, he got covid and now this. This is how he summed up his feelings: ‘Eyes, new cue, bad back, the coronavirus…it’s all over for me, I can’t possibly stay on the tour with the problems I’ve got. “The cue is the least of my worries, the eyes are my problem, I can’t go back on that, I’ve had the operation and I’ve f***ed it, basically. I needed the eye operation just to see, but for snooker players in the future, do not have the lens replacement because I can’t see under the lights, I can see two of everything. Last season I won £67,000 but it was like £670,000, that’s what an achievement it was. I’m gutted because I don’t want to retire, I love playing matches. I’m absolutely gutted, properly depressed about it. But old age caught up with me in the end.” It’s heartbreaking really and I do hope that Anthony gets to work as a commentator and a pundit. He’s very knowledgeable and he would be excellent. The last 32 “THE” story of the last 32 round was of course Judd Trump’s 4-2 defeat to Hossein Vafaei. Up to this point this season, Judd had won 4 tournaments, made it to two more finals, and reached the semi-finals in every tournament he had entered except for the 2020 Scottish Open where he had to settle for the quarter-finals. This defeat also put an end to a series of 28 wins in best of seven matches. Judd didn’t take it well to say the least. Speaking to Phil Haigh after the match he bemoaned his bad luck and slammed the conditions: ‘It was easy for me at 2-1 up but then he fluked a blue with the balls everywhere. After that, everything he did turned to gold. In those conditions, anyone’s going to be able to win. It’s just so heavy here. It’s like playing in China and that’s why the standard has been pretty poor from what I’ve seen of the tournament. A lot of my games have been bad. Balls are going safe a lot more often, which doesn’t make for good viewing. The venue’s not great and it’s very humid in there. It’s difficult to play in really. People on the outside who stick the

tables in there don’t play snooker in there, so they just set it up and think it all looks good. When you’re out there playing, it’s a different story. I just try and be as consistent as possible but today was just one of those games. I was in control and he’s missed a blue he shouldn’t have gone for and ended up going in the middle pocket. If he doesn’t fluke it, it’s 3-1 as the balls were everywhere. There’s no point dwelling on it – on another day he doesn’t fluke it and I’m in the last 16. It’s just that little bit of luck – I’ve had it recently when I’ve had a bit of luck to get over the line. It’s just the way it goes. It’s not just this tournament, it’s happened in the past – I’ve moaned in the World Championships and no-one ever does anything. I always like to moan after I win, otherwise no-one does anything – but still no-one does anything. It just makes the standard a lot poorer than it would be. Milton Keynes has been very consistent for the past year and the standard has been amazing there. But here it was playing very heavy. Maybe they’d put it in a different room, the standard would have been a lot better. It’s just one of those things. Every tournament I’ve played for the last year has been on a table on its own with no distractions, the table is playing absolutely awful, as well.”… some rant he? Asked about the conditions by the Eurosport pundits, Ronnie said that they are heavy indeed, but to him, those slightly heavier conditions, and cushions that don’t “ping”, allow players to show a side of their skills that has been disappearing of late: the art of developing the balls, gradually, taking care of staying in position after each shot, and planning for the next step carefully. Joe Perry, commentating on Ronnie’s match in the evening totally agreed with these views. Those conditions may not suit Judd Trump, but there is no reason why the conditions should be made specifically to please him. He may be the World number 1, there are still 127 other players on the tour. He says that the standard at the event was poor yet, there were no less centuries in this one – 72 of them – than in former similar events in Milton Keynes earlier in the season: yes there were 85 of them at the 2020 Scottish Open, but only 66 at 2020 Northern Ireland Open and 64 at the 2020 English Open. So? Also the bit about, “in a room on its own with no distractions” is a bit weird: what will he do when fans are allowed back at events? I watched all his games in this event, and the simple truth is that he wasn’t playing well, and, this time, he didn’t get away with it. He had an incredibly consistently very high standard run since the season started, and he deserved every praise he got for this, but nobody, no matter how good they are, can sustain such level forever. It always comes to an end at some point, that that point happened to be the last 32 round in this tournament. Also, Judd often complains on social media that his merits aren’t recognised enough and that he isn’t appreciated as much as he should be. Well, such

ungracious reaction to a defeat, and not giving his opponent the credit he deserved, won’t help his image. There were two other notable results in this round: Tom Ford beat Kyren Wilson by 4-3 and Ali Carter beat John Higgins by the same score. The last 16 Ali Carter and Tom Ford, ranked 26th and 27th, both confirmed their good form by beating Jack Lisowski, ranked 11th and Mark Allen ranked 10th respectively. It’s in this round that Jordan Brown, ranked 81st at the start of the event, began to seriously attract the pundits’ and fans’ attention: he beat Mark King by 4-3. This is when people became aware that something unexpected was in the making as they noticed that he had beaten two very good players – Alexander Ursenbacher and Sam Craigie – by the same score in the two previous rounds. The other matches went pretty much as expected. The quarters-finals Ali Carter was unfortunate to suffer illness at that stage after showing great form in the previous rounds. He was forced to withdraw, giving Ronnie O’Sullivan a bye to the semi-finals. All three remaining quarter-final matches went to a deciding frame. Stephen Maguire beat Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams beat Tom Ford. Nothing extraordinary or unexpected there. Stephen Maguire was is frighteningly good form: he had five 50+ breaks in his match against Shaun Murphy: 105, 84, 55, 90 and 133. The 55 wasn’t enough to win him the frame. But Mark Selby’s defeat to Jordan Brown, and the way of it, stunned the snooker community, or, at least it should have. Jordan was the heaviest scorer in this match: he had breaks of 105, 55,63,52, and 53. Mark himself had two big breaks as well: 90 and 97. Jordan lead 3-1 at the MSI and looked set to go 4-1 up. Mark needed two snookers in the fifth frame, got them, forced a re-spotted black and won the frame from it. In the deciding frame, Mark needed one snooker, and got it after a long battle. Given Mark’s determination and ability in such situations, and what had happened in the fifth frame, he was the clear favourite to win the match at that stage. Jordan however wasn’t to be denied: he won the battle on the last black … and the match. The semi-finals Both semi-finals were completely one-sided. Jordan Brown beat Stephen Maguire by 6-1, with breaks of 135, 56, 52, 113 and 59. Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Mark Williams by the same score with breaks of 73, 102, 77, 54 and 69. Reflecting on his victory, getting to his first ranking final, and qualifying for the Players Championship, Jordan said: “Three years ago I was working in a petrol station and serving customers, getting up at 5:30 and 6:30 every morning. It is crazy to think of the journey that I have

“OUTPLAYED OUTPOTTED OUT SCORED OUTSAFETYED OUTSCRAPPED OUTLUCKED OUTBREAKED OUTCLASSED OUT DRESSED OUT EVERYTHING #OVERANDOUT.” Mark Williams tweet after his semi-final defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan.

had. To be in a ranking tournament final is just incredible.” and added “I’ve been putting the hours in on the practice table. Maybe I was just going in to pot balls in the club before. It is more intense now and I am treating it more like a match occasion. That means something. It is easy to pot balls, but there is a lot more too it than that. It means everything to be in the Players Championship. All of the sacrifices and hard work have led me to this moment. It is very satisfying because I’ve always had the inner belief to compete with the top players. To be in the mix next week will be amazing.” (Source: WST) Ronnie was not carried away ahead of the final despite his trashing of Mark Williams: “If you know you are going to get punched in the face, you know you have to have a better defence. He was capable of doing that, as I knew he was playing well and scoring well. I had to be on my guard. I played pretty solidly. It would be nice to win any tournament. The memories I had with Ray Reardon are far more important than any trophy, but it would be nice to pick the trophy up and say hi to Ray. I’m sure he will be watching at home. Jordan is a really good player. “He has a good temperament and is a good match player. He’s done well against a lot of very good opponents. I’ve watched his matches in the past and he gave Selby a good game, that is always very difficult. I’m impressed with how he plays.” Mark Williams assessment of the match was typical self-deprecating “Willo” stuff as he tweeted: “Outplayed outpotted out scored outsafetyed outscrapped outlucked outbreaked outclassed out dressed out everything #overandout”

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The final Ahead of the final, Ronnie was made an overwhelming favourite by the bookies, by the pundits and by the fans. Although I made him favourite as well, on experience, I saw an “upset” as a real possibility. Here is why: Jordan Brown had played really well all tournament and, more importantly, he had shown that he was not intimidated by the big names, he had scored big breaks, but he also had shown incredible defensive powers and determination, in particular. against Mark Selby. Ronnie on the other hand was on a hiding to nothing: he was expected to win, full stop, and that in itself generates a lot of pressure. Also, Ronnie had not been fully consistent during the tournament: he hadn’t played well at all against Jimmy White. He had been vulnerable in that match, a match that he was expected to win easily. Ronnie struggled at the start of the final, like he had struggled against Jimmy and he found himself 4-1 down, meaning that he had to win 8 of the possible 12 remaining frames. That was never going to be an easy task against an opponent who had settled early into the match, and taken confidence from the way he had beaten several top players to get to this point. From 4-1 down, Ronnie made a fight of it, he scored more heavily than Jordan, made three centuries, but he made mistakes at some crucial moments and his approach to the game is such that he then usually leaves something on. Jordan on the other hand had a very, very high percentage of safety success. He was exceptional in that department. The match went to a decider. When he got an opportunity in the deciding frame, Jordan took it, and took it well, showing fantastic composure under the circumstances, like he had done all week. After his first ranking event win, Jordan Brown was understandably overwhelmed with joy and pride: “It is unbelievable. To beat the greatest player of all time in a major final. It was an honour just to play him. I just had a calm approach coming into today. “I wasn’t playing the opponent. If you just play Ronnie, instead of just focussing on the balls it can be very daunting. I had a strategy to focus on my own game and it worked. I’m a very proud Northern Irishman, to follow in the footsteps of the players that have won events before me is an absolute dream come true. It is fantastic to be in the mix at the Players Championship. It means so much. “I think I proved a lot there today, with what I did and how I held myself together. I’m sure I proved to tour players and people back at home that I can play to the very highest level.” Ronnie was very gracious in defeat: “I have enjoyed every minute of that today, I’ve had a fantastic time. I love Jordan, he’s a great guy. I’m so happy for him to win. He is a fantastic player as well. I played alright today and not many people beat me when I’m playing alright.

He is a proper player. I’m so happy for him to win, he’s a lovely guy and a fantastic player. You don’t beat Selby, Maguire and I played alright tonight, not many people beat me when I’m playing alright so he’s a proper player, you know. Fantastic for Jordan, his night and you couldn’t be happier for him”. (Quotes sources: WST and metro.co.uk) Conclusion Both finalists were interviewed by Phil Haigh after the tournament. Here is what they had to say: Jordan Brown: “He’s the greatest of all time and his speech there at the end meant so much to me, coming from him. You could tell he genuinely meant it. We all know what Ronnie’s like, he’s a bit temperamental, but for someone like him to do that there is unbelievable.” About Ronnie’s comments at the World Championship regarding lower ranked players: “It did annoy me, but it just spurred me on because I just wasn’t having that. “Today I’ve definitely proved him wrong, that I’m not a numpty. I’ve definitely proved a lot, not just to him, but to everyone on tour, people in general, that I can play this game and to a very high level. “I’ve had so many messages from my fellow competitors and it means so much to me. I’ve been very critical of Ronnie, especially recently because I’ve always looked up to him and when he’s making comments like he did, you think to yourself, “What’s he like? Why is he getting on like that?” He’s not proving himself to anybody, he should be the role model, the benchmark for everybody else. I just think he lets himself down. But I’ve sort of changed my opinion of him today, you could tell that was genuine at the end, so thank you to him.” About the impact of this win on his life, the significant prize money,

boosted by qualification for the Players Championship and Champion of Champions: “Even before today it was life-changing. I was thinking to myself,”my God, I’m going to be sitting next Friday with five figures in my account!” I’ve never seen that amount of money before. It’s going to take a while to sink in because I’m not going to know what to do with it, it’s so much money. t’s going to set me up for a long time, I’m one of those people that will be responsible, investments and stuff like that. I’m absolutely not going wild, I’ll be very good at looking after it” Ronnie O’Sullivan: About his comments and Jordan’s reaction to them “Like I said, you can take it in two ways, a negative way and a positive way and Jordan’s took it in a positive way.” He’s said: “You know what, that’s what I needed to hear to motivate me.” It’s worked for me in the past when people have doubted me and knocked me, I’ve just gone, “lovely.” It’s the best inspiration you can get sometimes, so I’m looking for someone to knock me again.” About his opponent and the match: “I don’t know Jordan well enough to know his complete story but I’m over the moon for him to have got that victory today. How can you not be pleased for him? I really enjoyed it, I really did, a good match to be involved in. I was good, I could have been better, but I’ll take that game, scored okay, played some good safety. I’m not disappointed about how I played.” and, as a conclusion … “He can drink some beer out of that trophy, I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.” Northern Ireland has always been a proud snooker nation, although the amateur game has suffered a lot there in recent times, like everywhere. Hopefully Jordan’s story will inspire more young persons, boys and girls to take on this great game. All detailed results are available on snooker.org

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THE 2021 SNOOKER SHOOT OUT – A KALEIDOSCOPE >> BY MONIQUE LIMBOS - RETIRED MATHEMATICIAN WHO LOVES SNOOKER AND PHOTOGRAPHY <<

here is no way I can write a “normal” review about this one. It’s so fast, so many unexpected things happen that what remains in my memory is like a kaleidoscope of telling moments, flashes of brilliance, glaring mistakes, sparks of joy, holes of despair and ultimately someone lifting the trophy. So here goes…

Two female players were invited: the 12 times Women World Champion, Reanne Evans, and Women Snooker number 4, Rebecca Kenna. Neither got past the first round. More than ever before, this event offered great opportunities for lower ranked players to shine and harvest good prize money and ranking points.

White – The Background The “modern” Shoot Out was first played in 2011 , ten years ago. It wasn’t a ranking event at the time. It became a ranking event in 2017. The decision to make it ranking was, and still is, controversial in the views of many fans and players. Barry Hearn will tell you that the players voted for it. This is only a half-truth. They did indeed, given the choice between a ranking Shoot Out and no Shoot Out. They were not offered the third option, the one that would likely have got most of the votes: keep the event as it was, non ranking, fun, and a nice earning opportunity. Allegedly, broadcasters were not interested in this third option. It was expected that most top players would enter if it was ranking. That hasn’t really worked out that way.

Red – The malfunctions Due to the hectic nature of the event, something is bound to go wrong somewhere. It happens every year, and this year was no different. There were two clock malfunctions during the course of the event, one was inconsequential, the other left the “victim” aggrieved. During he first round match against Simon Lichtenberg, Rebecca Kenna was in the balls, and with a decent chance, when she committed a time foul. She was visibly confused and nonplussed, claiming that she hadn’t heard the “beep”. Despite the fact that Simon confirmed that he didn’t hear it either, the referee, who had heard it in his earphones, stood by his decision, awarded Simon the 5 penalty points and, worse for Rebecca, ball-in-hand. Here is the statement that WST released after the match: “The players both agreed that they did not hear the ‘beeps’ in this incident, so it would appear that there was a temporary fault in the sound effects in the arena. The lights in the arena were working so the players still had a warning when the time was ticking out. The referee is able to hear the ‘beeps’ in his ear piece. He made the correct decision that there was a time foul. It is an unfortunate incident for the players but the rules were followed.”. Rebecca was gracious in her post-match interview, but is was absolutely gutted as it transpired on her social media. Regarding the lights in the arena, other players mentioned later that, when concentrating on the shot, there is no way they could, at the same time, pay attention to those lights. The other incident was resolved promptly at everyone’s satisfaction. Liang Wenbo was in a break during his last 64 match against Eden Sharav when the “5 seconds left” warning sound resonated unexpectedly. It came almost immediately after Liang descended on a shot, leaving him

Green – The Field There was a record number of amateurs in the field this year: 33 of of them! That’s more than one in four players competing in the event. How did this happen? It’s simple: there was a record number of withdrawals, 21 of them, amazingly none caused by a positive covid-19 test. Actually, no less than 12 Chinese players, all based in the UK, withdrew. That can’t be just coincidence but I haven’t found a definite explanation for it, especially as the event was broadcast in China. Five of top 16 players hadn’t entered: Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Stephen Maguire. Two more withdrew: Kyren Wilson and Yan Bingtao. The highest ranked player in the draw was Mark Selby, who after the final explained why he had decided compete: the Shoot Out is part of the European series, the fourth event out of six, with a £150000 bonus for the grabs for the player who accumulates the more points/money during the series of 6 tournaments. Judd Trump is currently in the lead, but a win at the Shoot Out would have allowed Mark Selby to overtake him. 12

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rather baffled with no time to actually play the said shot properly, he made a mess of it, but only a couple of balls had moved. It appeared that the clock had not been reset after the previous shot. The balls were replaced, and the shot replayed. Yellow – The flukes When rushed the players are bound to make mistakes, and sometimes they get lucky … This edition of the Shoot Out produced an incredible amount of flukes, some really spectacular. So much so that Eurosport decided to make a “Flukes of the tournament” compilation instead of the customary “Shots of the tournament” thing. You can watch it here, as published by Eurosport. The most significant fluke was probably Martin O’Donnell’s one: he was probably bound to lose the match from the position he was in when he took that rash shot. My favourite is Davis Grace’s one: pure trick shot that one! Blue and Pink – The joys and the heartbreaks Where do we start with this one? There was so much drama, so many turnarounds … Here is a selection, by no way exhaustive. • Pink then blue for Mark Allen: Mark Allen score a marvellous 142 in the first round. The highest break in the Shoot Out to that point was the great 139 that Thepchaiya Un-nooh had made in beating Jamie Clarke in the semifinals in 2019, before winning the title. Mark bettered that: you can watch this fantastic break here. It’s a masterclass in precision break-building. He then immediately went to the Eurosport plateau, blasting the tournament in his post match interview, as you heard if you watched the whole footage. • Pink, blue and pink for Sam Craigie: in his first round match Sam Craigie led Phil O’Kane, an amateur, by 38-33, with just a few seconds on the clock. Victory looked certain. However, Sam carelessly tapped the cue ball at a red, but neither ball hit a cushion, which meant his opponent was awarded five penalty points , leaving them tied at 38-38. That meant a sudden death blue ball shoot, the only one in this instalment of the tournament. A relieved Craigie came out on top: both players missed the first blue, both potted the next two, then Phil missed

on the fourth attempt whist Sam slotted it in. • Blue then pink for Matthew Stevens: Matthew Stevens avoided a first round exit with a last gasp win over young amateur Fergal Quinn. With less than 30 seconds remaining, Fergal led 53-37 but missed a long pot on the final blue. Matthew was faced with a tricky blue to a baulk corner, potted it and added pink and black to book his place in the second round. • Blue then pink for Liam Highfield: in the most dramatic match of the second day, Liam Highfield managed a last-gasp win over Rod Lawler. Liam trailed 52-16 with just 78 seconds remaining, but potted the last three reds with colours then took yellow, green, brown, blue and pink for a fantastic 41 clearance to clinch a place in round two. • Blue for Soheil Vahedi: Soheil trailed Nigel Bond by 31-5 with about 80 seconds left. The table looked unpromising. But Soheil managed to come back to 31-30, with a routine pink to follow for victory… with the clock ticking down the last second, he agonisingly missed it. • Pink for Barry Pinches: his opponent, Josuah Thomond, who replaced Yan Bingtao in the draw, lead Barry by 36-1 with only 1’ 43” left. Barry, faced with a difficult table, produced a remarkable sporting performance to beat him by 41-36: it not only involved some difficult shots under pressure, it actually involved sprinting for the rest and around the table multiple times … which prompted the commentators to compare him to Usain Bolt. Probably the most unlikely comparison in sporting history! • Blue for Shaun Murphy: Shaun could have done with a good run in the event to boost his chances to qualify for the coming Players Championship. It wasn’t to be. Not once, but twice he failed to hit a ball on during his second round match against Allan Taylor, giving his opponent ball-in-hand on each occasion. Allan duly took advantage and won by 38-9. • Blue for Peter Devlin in the second round: triple whammy! He lost by 2511 to David Gilbert, was denied the opportunity of another television rap performance but also got a telling off by his mother on top of it! According to Peter’s Facebook post here is what the good lady had to say to her loser of a son: “I’m really upset that you just walked out of the arena and gave up when you weren’t too far behind. Why didn’t you carry on? You could have caught up.” . Shame on you indeed, Peter! Heart – The “coup de coeur” moment “Coup de coeur” is a French

expression that, as far a I know, has no exact equivalent in English. It’s used to describe something that suddenly “takes” to your heart, an “instant crush”. For me, in this tournament, it was Peter Devlin’s impromptu rap on the Eurosport “plateau” after his win over Jack Lisowski in the last 128. You can watch it / listen to it by following this link to Peter’s youtube channel The whole match is there, with the interview and the “performance” in the last minutes. I have known Peter for many years, since he played as a young teenager in pro-ams. He’s a lovely, extravert, outgoing character and a positive person, but a fierce competitor at the table. He is exactly the kind of young player snooker needs. Grey – Matter … the Shoot Out brain The first idea that comes to mind is that the best asset for a player to win the Shoot Out is speed, and, yes, surely, being a naturally fast player helps, but it’s not enough. Nigel Bond won the first instalment in 2011, beating the fast Robert Milkins in the final. Graeme Dott, who isn’t a slow player, but isn’t fast either is one of the only three players who made it to the final more than once, along with Xiao Guodong and Michael Holt. More important than playing fast, is the ability to think fast and clearly, knowing when to attack and when to defend and … never rush. Commentators and pundits repeat it at every match: there is actually more time than people realise to play “normal: shots. Shots requiring implements are more tricky. Therefore, one other important attribute of the Shoot Out specialist is their ability to keep the white under control. The less the balls travel, the less they “eat” on the clock. Gold - The Winner No top 16 player had ever won the Shoot Out in the first ten years, no player had ever won it twice, never mind defend the title. Was this year going to break the trend? The answer is no. Ryan Day beat Mark Selby in the final by 67-24, ending Selby’s streak of ten consecutive wins in ranking event final, a sequence which stretched back five years. Ryan is a very fluent break-builder when on form, he has two ranking titles to his name – the 2017 Riga Masters and the 2018 Gibraltar Open - and has been as high as 6th in the World rankings, but he started this tournament ranked as low as 50th and fearing for his professional status. This win is absolutely massive for him. His now ranked 32nd, has now qualified for the 2021 Players Championship and is well placed for the 2021 Champion of Champions.

He has been talking to sports journalist Phil Haigh. Here are some excerpts: • About how and why he spiralled down the rankings: “I think it’s the way I live my life, I get a bit complacent if I ‘ve done well. It’s a trait that’s been with me since I was a kid, really. If I’ve done well I tend to sit on it without pushing on, it’s a flaw in my character. But two years on I was desperate for something to happen and it’s a bonus it’s come at this weekend event that no one was expecting. I was in a pretty dire situation ranking-wise. Someone mentioned to me I might be number 57 provisionally at the end of the season. I didn’t realise it was that low. It was a real possibility if I’d lost early in the Welsh and then Gibraltar, because I have final points coming off, so I’d be going to the World Championship under all sorts of pressure to stay on the tour.” • About the Shoot Out and its ranking status: “The Shoot Out is always fun, and obviously made a lot better with the result. You can never go there with any high hopes, you just try to enjoy it and hopefully get the rub of the green, play well and that’s what can happen. They say anybody can win it, I don’t think that’s true. You’ve got to be a certain type of person. Able to keep calm when the beeps start going, it can get you at it and you need to get past that and you need to play well as well. It’s all come together perfectly at the weekend. It’s just something that is completely unexpected. I suppose it is the Shoot Out but its’ been a great event that I’ve supported over the years. Personally I don’t agree with it being a ranking event but whilst it is, I won’t be turning my nose up at the points. It’s come at the right time for me in my career and hopefully I can build on it now.” As a conclusion … Personally, I enjoyed the tournament a lot more without a crowd. Countless players have said it in the ES studio: the pressure was still there, it’s generated by the format and the time constraint. There was drama, twists and turns aplenty. Me, I can perfectly live without the drunken howling in the background. The Eurosport coverage was excellent, with its two pillars, Andy Goldstein and Jimmy White. During the first two days Ronnie O’Sullivan added some extremely valuable insight. He was replaced by Reanne Evans for the last two days. She is “definitely” a great addition to the team: she has presence, personality and she knows what she’s talking about having been there and done it in the sport. All detailed results can be found on snooker.org

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COACH BARRY STARK >> www.patreon.com/barrystarksnookercoach <<

RESIDENT COACH BARRY STARK GIVES HIS MONTHLY ADVICE TO THE CHALK READERS Here at The Chalk we are delighted to have Barry Stark as our resident coach. Every month we will feature two videos from Barry’s YouTube page to help you improve your snooker game. To watch the videos just click the images below.

Barry describes some scenarios for splitting the pack of reds off the yellow, green and blue balls when on their spots. With emphasis on practice, Barry demonstrates a useful practice routine off the blue.

Barry describes some scenarios for splitting the pack of reds off the black when the cue ball is high or low on the black, an essential part of successful break building. With the emphasis on the need for practice Barry demonstrates a useful routine. BECAUSE EVERY CUE SPORTS PLAYER NEEDS IT // www.thechalk.co.uk

DOUG MOUNTJOY

1942 – 2021

>> Rodney Goggins remembers the great Doug Mountjoy <<

inger Gene Pitney wasn’t the only one who turned back the clock on his career in February 1989 when himself and Soft Cell lead singer, Marc Almond, rehashed Pitney’s sixties hit, Something Gotten Hold Of My Heart. It went in at top of the UK Charts for a couple of weeks. 16

In the snooker world, 46-year old Doug Mountjoy, with his best snooker supposedly behind him with him lying 24th in the World Rankings, was enjoying a renaissance over the past 13 weeks. From mid-November 1988 to mid-February 1989, the Welshman, a former Masters and UK Champion and

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a World Championship runner up to Steve Davis in 1981, was not only playing his best ever snooker but probably playing the best snooker on the planet at the time. Back in April 1988, I remember watching Neal Foulds demolishing Mountjoy 13-1 in the second round of

the Embassy World Championships at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Previously, the Ebbw-Vale resident had had a chat in February 1988 with fellow Welshman, Terry Griffiths. He told Griffiths that he was lost on the green baize and struggling with his confidence. From there, Griffiths suggested that he go to snooker coach and fishmonger from Blackpool, Frank Callan. Come the Crucible, he was already using the famous Drill by Callan, but Mountjoy hadn’t got enough time to bed in the new technique. As natural as he was, this would take some time. Conflicting thoughts bothered him at the match table in the Crucible against Foulds, and the invisible gold he sought turned to dust. He went to the practice table, in the summer of 1988 determined to work on his drill, even playing in pro-ams to hone and get used to the new technique. The next time the name Doug Mountjoy was mentioned in my world, my ears pricked up on the first Sunday of the Rothmans Grand Prix at the Hexagon in Reading. There I learned from my father, that he had beaten defending champion Stephen Hendry 5-1 on the previous night. From there he disappointly lost a poor match against Alain Robidoux from 4 nil up in the last 16, losing 5-4. The next TV tournament was the Tennents UK Championship at the Guildhall in Preston. Mountjoy got through to the TV stages by beating Welsh compatriot Wayne Jones 9-7, and World number 3 and his conqueror in the World Championships Neal Foulds 9-4. BBC viewers were treated to some great snooker and a major surprise, with a transformation in store for them when the cameras rolled in for the last 16, when Mountjoy, who at this staged in his career had removed his famous red and yellow ruffle shirts from his wardrobe, beat Joe Johnson 9-5. Then he was involved in a nerve tingling match with former UK champ and WPBSA chairman at the time, John Virgo. He held an 8-3 lead, before Virgo rallied to force a decider at 8 all, only to lose the decider. Mountjoy openly admitted that he aged 10 years in the match. With the tournament down to the last 4, he was still the outsider against Terry Griffiths - that year’s World Finalist versus Davis, and Mountjoy handed him a 9-4 beating. In the final he would play future 90s snooker king Stephen Hendry, who at this stage was a 19 year old pretender to the Steve Davis throne. However, he was dismantling the castle brick by brick, a fact reinforced in his 9-3 semi-final win over the Nugget. At the time, the Scot said subconsciously that after beating Davis, he thought

his name was on the trophy. But Mountjoy enjoying his snooker again, and also appreciating the fact that he was performing so well at 46, was well aware that he was a golden oldie in snooker terms in the 80s. For the best of 31 frame final, the bookies had Hendry at 4-1 on favourite. Mountjoy got out of the blocks quick on a Saturday afternoon to lead 5-2, despite Hendry scoring tons of 103 and 113. That went to 6-2 on Saturday night, but Hendry responded well to get out at 7 all, rounding it off with another century 129 in the final frame on the first day. On a Sunday afternoon, Mountjoy went into overdrive and won all seven frames. The first two frames were scrappy, but then a Welsh barrage of breaks 40 and 81 in frame 17; 72 in frame 18; 32 in frame 19; 131 (the highest break of the tournament in the TV stages) in frame 20, and 106 in frame 21. All this meant Mountjoy went into the last session on the Sunday evening with a 14-7 lead. Any notions of nervousness or a loss of concentration following the afternoon session were quickly banished, as he became the second man on television to knock in three centuries in a row (the first being Steve Davis two months previous). The third ton, a 124, put him 15-7 up. The shackles came off from Hendry trying to make the score respectful. He hit back with breaks of 96, 31, 45 and 51 with Mountjoy getting edgy and needing just the one frame for victory at 15 frames to 12. The Welshman however, in his now familiar grey suit was not to be denied, and fell over the line with a point score in the 28th frame of 67 to 11 to run out a 16-12 winner. He was now a two time winner of the event, the first being 10 years previous. In a very gracious victory speech out in the arena, clutching the Tennents UK trophy as well as the winner’s cheque of £88,000 and also a cheque for the high break of £8,000, he proceeded to talk about his coach Frank Callan, that he “owed it all to him”. With Stephen Hendry respectfully sitting down in his chair and obviously hurting but being very dignified in defeat, the newly crowned champion said of the Scot “you’re going to see an awful lot of this guy in the next few years, to me he’s my number one”. From there he went into the New Year beaming with confidence. His good form continued in the opening ranking tournament of 1989, the Mercantile Credit Classic shown on ITV, (where he collected £55,000 for his win) at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool. He didn’t play as fluently or as confidently but still crossed the winners line, even getting up at as early as 6.30am one morning for a practice session with

his coach Frank Callan just to see him right. It paid dividends, as he chalked up wins against Dennis Hughes (5-0), Nick Terry (5-4), Tony Knowles (5-4), Paddy Browne (5-3), Cliff Thorburn (95). This string of victories put Mountjoy in an all Welsh final against Wayne Jones – a previous practice partner of his. It was also the first final with the two finalists being outside the top 16. Doug triumphed with a very emotional 13-11 win, and was unable to give a winners speech in the arena, as he was in a floods of tears. He became the second man only after Steve Davis to win back to back ranking point tournament. I actually caught his third win as well, which was televised on BBC Wales. Here he won the Senator Windows Welsh Professional Championships for the fifth time, beating Ray Reardon (63), Mark Bennett (9-5) and in the final he beat Terry Griffiths (9-6) after being 5-1 down. His UK Championship form of the previous November returned to for the night session, where he scored Griffiths off the table with breaks of 85, 80, 50, 124, 53, 70. This time Mountjoy collected £10,500 first prize and £1,200 for the highest break, 124. The Llanelli resident and 1979 World Champion said that night was the best he had ever seen Doug play. From there he was a steady campaigner, finishing up at ten in the World Rankings at the end of the 1988/89 season and climbing as high as World number 5 in the 1989/90 season. Looking back now a week after he died, the UK win was a win that put a smile on everybody’s face of everyone who loved the game. There are certain wins in snooker that hit a soft spot with the snooker public. I’m too young to remember Joe Johnson’s World title win, but I do remember it without following it to the same degree. I remember Steve Davis’s 1997 Benson and Hedges Masters win, and there have been complete outsiders that won tournaments before, and will do so again, but I think Doug Mountjoy’s win was globally popular as a breath of fresh air for the game. There have been more famous celebrity snooker players. There have been ones with better records. But Doug was a working class man who worked in the mines early in his life; who started his snooker journey in the famous Abertysswg Working Men’s Club - one of the hotbed’s in the Welsh valleys. He got out and played the game he loved professionally and did it with a smile, as he’s last potted black for the 145 (a new World Championship record at the time), against Reardon in the World semis in 1981 proved, with hands over his head triumph. For me as a player, that man certainly got hold of my heart.

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RAISING MONEY DURING LOCKDOWN >> Alex Jerrard - Cluster of Reds Snooker Blog | www.clusterofreds.com <<

any of us have been scrambling around for something to do during another lockdown. We all try and occupy ourselves with work, sport, volunteering and unusual hobbies to keep ourselves staying sane. We have also looked out for each other more and it’s fantastic to see people raising money for charitable causes. This includes folk in the world of snooker! If you are interested in finding more information about these campaigns and wanting to contribute towards them, please follow the relevant links. Emma Parker The two-time ranking event semifinalist is doing 10,000 steps a day for Cancer Research UK next month. Cancer Research UK is a charity close to her heart as cancer has affected her relatives and closest friends.

One of whom was Billy O’Connor, an inspirational and talented amateur snooker player whose brave threeyear battle with cancer ended in 2015 at the age of 18. Emma (pictured below) has beaten her initial target and has raised over £400. https://www.womenssnooker.com/ parker-supports-cancer-research-uk/ https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk. org/page/emmas-walk-all-overcancer-fundraising-page-1203 Ian Burns Two-time ranking quarter-finalist Ian Burns is raising money for the Alder Hey Children’s Charity by taking part in the 4x4x48 challenge in March. The 4x4x48 challenge was inspired by retired Navy Seal, ultramarathon runner, triathlete and motivational speaker David Goggins. Burns would

need to run a total of 48 miles within 48 hours. This means he will have to run four miles every four hours. The feat starts on the 5th of March and Ian has raised over £200 so far. https://www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/ian-burns7 Shaun Murphy & Phil Seymour Triple Crown winner Shaun Murphy and sports MC Phil Seymour are raising money for Jessie May and Kitchen for Everyone - York by competing against each other in a weight-loss challenge. The duo decided to lose weight om January and are hoping to lose the most pounds by the Betfred World Snooker Championship on April 16th 2021. The fundraiser has been welldocumented in the newspapers, including The Press and The Daily Mirror. It is gaining a lot of traction on social media under the hashtag #snookersbiggestloser because of the playful banter between the two contestants. Murphy and Seymour lost nearly two and a half stone between them after six weeks. The page has raised over £3,000. https://wst.tv/i-produce-my-bestat-my-fittest-murphy/ https://uk.gofundme.com/f/ snookers-biggest-loser Tom Ford Tom Ford and nine of his friends are raising money to pay towards private treatment for a nine-year-old girl with a serious illness. A friend of the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic finalist has a step-daughter called Maya who was diagnosed with a very rare form of epilepsy which causes constant seizure activity. As the National Health Service couldn’t provide this service, the gang decided to raise money for this treatment, which costs around £2,000 a month. Together they will run 1000 kilometres during March. The fundraiser has collected almost £5,000 at the time of writing! https://wst.tv/help-raise-moneyfor-maya/ https://www.gofundme.com/f/ qgzux-mayas-1000km-run

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We hope you’ve been enjoying The Chalk, the first ever digital magazine in snooker. As you can imagine it takes a lot of time and effort from everyone here to produce the magazine and we could not do it without the great team of writers who contribute to the columns each month. We never want to set a price for the magazine, or charge, but we also understand selling advertising is hard at the moment, so we have added an option to donate to The Chalk via the donate button below to help with our costs. We hope you understand that we love providing the content and magazine but we need to start covering costs. The Chalk Team

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SNOOKER LEGENDS ‘CUES OF TOMORROW’ JUNIOR SERIES >> REGISTER YOUR INTEREST NOW - JASON@SNOOKERLEGENDS.CO.UK <<

hat we know so far...You can now register your interest so you can get the details by email as soon as they are released for the Cues of Tomorrow Junior Series. These events are not starting until September 2021 but below are the dates. 4th and 5th September 18th and 19th September 2nd and 3rd October 16th and 17th October 6th and 7th November 20th and 21st November 27th and 28th November 4th and 5th December Finals Weekend 11th and 12th December No entry fees and prize money have been released. Why? Because the more raised in sponsorship and donations the cheaper it will make entry fees and more prize money will be paid out. To enter the Under 14 Competition (U14) you must still be 13 years of age on the 4th September 2021. To enter the Under 18 Competition (U18) you must still be 17 years of age on the 4th September 2021. To enter the Under 21 Competition (U21) you must still be 20 years of age

on the 4th September 2021. It does not matter if you have a birthday during the series as long as you are under the relevant age on that date. The winner of the U14, U18 and U21 series will get the following. 1. Their entry fee funded for the 2022 Professional Q School 2. entry into the “2022 Q School Entry Preparation Programme” this will include, but it not limited to, professional mentoring, WPBSA coaching, promotion of the Cues of Tomorrow Junior Series and a session with a famous Champion of our sport to prepare and get hints on what it takes to be the very best! Matt Andrews has already been announced as part of the team. 3. Should any of our Champions earn a WPBSA Tour Card from the 2022 Q School they will also be offered a two-year management contract with Snooker Legends and be assigned a professional player as a mentor for the first season. Should the player be under 18 the contract would be offered to the player via their designated guardian. If you would like to donate

or support this initiative, either publicly as a partnering company or anonymously please email jason@snookerlegends.co.uk. We delighted to already have Cue Craft and Legends Cue Sports as announced partners. To get on the list to get the entry pack details when they are finalsed please email Jason at jason@snookerlegends.co.uk) with the following 1. Players name 2. Players age 3. Events they would be interested in entering age wise? 4. Looking to enter events local to them or all national events? 5. Parents name if under 16 6. Players email if over 16 7. Parents contact email if under 16 By registering… 1. You are not committing to enter 2. You are ensuring you get the option to enter when it opens if you choose and if you agree and accept the terms and conditions of the entry pack. The ‘Cues of Tomorrow’ Series could be a huge new opportunity for all amateur players out there.

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LOVE IS IN THE AIR: SOME OF THE BIGGEST SNOOKER FRIENDSHIPS >> BY TOM MOORCROFT <<

hether you spent your Valentine’s Day with a significant other or sitting in an armchair reading your favourite snooker-orientated magazine (I’ll let you guess which one I did), one thing’s for certain: in snooker, love is in the air. A lot of sports boast bromances, and we’re not short of loved up relationships when it comes to the baize. So, in this month’s article, I’ll be exploring some of the biggest snooker romances we’ve seen to date. Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui Perhaps the unlikeliest of friendships, and often holstered by Ronnie’s abrasive nature, these two have come to grow a genuine connection with each other over their years on the circuit. Starting with a baby-faced Ding being taken under Ronnie’s wing in the early years, Ronnie and Ding regularly stay at the others house whilst touring across the UK and China. Ronnie was the perfect role model for a tenacious Ding to look up to, and when Ding let out a tear or two after losing to Ronnie in the 2007 Masters final, Ronnie was leading a rally of applause

for his counterpart. This blossomed in the 2019 Masters, when we saw Ronnie egging Ding on as he almost landed a 147 against him! If that isn’t a sign of a true friendship, I don’t know what is. Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis Once former World Final headliners, now best friends off the table, these two seem like two peas in a pod. Revamping their friendship with regular appearances on ITV and BBC as a punditry duo, they seem to have a genuine respect for one another after their years of dominating the circuit. Of course, these brothers-inarms often get broken up by the likes of Virgo, Hendry and Doherty, but I’m sure that when the dust settles, these two always come back to one another. Their friendship was tested on the fateful night of the 1985 black-ball final, but it’s blossomed ever since, and they’ve got a real connection with one another. John Virgo and the Cue ball This one seems like a no-brainer. Time and time again we see Virgo cry out for his beloved cue-ball, as it makes its way towards the pocket never to be seen

again. If I had a penny for every time John shouted out: “Where’s the Cueball going!” - desperate as he sees the love of his life go barrelling towards the pocket - I could probably afford my own table. It just wouldn’t be the same without his passionate love of the cue ball, and the unfortunate repercussions of it leaving us. On this Valentine’s Day I’m sure he sat there, with a risky text waiting to be sent, pondering where it was, or more so, who it was with.

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Doug Mountjoy 1942-2021

Snooker Legends

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