The Challk - Issue 11 - May 2021

DAVID LILLEY WINS WORLD SENIORS CHAMPIONSHIP >> PAGE 22

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SELBY WINS HIS FOURTH WORLD TITLE

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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP REVIEW

17 NEWS FROM THE 19 BAIZE IPA POOL 21 NEWS DAVID LILLEY WINS 22 WORLD SENIOR TITLE DID YOU VISIT 27 RONNIE’S SHOP? COACH BARRY STARK

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ello and welcome to edition number eleven 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 the most comprehensive review of the World Championships you will find! We would like to thank Monique for her time in writing this review and we hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we have. Thanks Monique!

We also revisit the recent Seniors World Championships where David Lilley picked up the trophy after an exciting final against Jimmy White.

Coach Barry Stark shares two videos about positional play. I know I could do with watching these over and over again!

You can watch the emotional video of Dennis Taylor officially retiring from competitive snooker.

Have your tissues at the ready - you have been warned!

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THE 2021 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – A REVIEW >> BY MONIQUE LIMBOS - RETIRED MATHEMATICIAN WHO LOVES SNOOKER AND PHOTOGRAPHY << THE QUALIFYING EVENT The qualifying event was played at the English Institute of Sports (EIS) in Sheffield from April 5 to April 14, 2021. Ten days is longer than usual for this event but, with only four tables in use, it allowed for Eurosport, the main broadcaster, to show half of the matches live during the first three rounds. During the fourth round, they were also showing two tables, out of eight in operation, plus the “roving” coverage of all tables, and interviews, by Ken Doherty and Rob Walker. Eurosport did a sterling job during those qualifiers.

It’s impossible to go through every match, it would be tedious, therefore I will focus on the highlights and talking points, round by round.

BEFORE IT STARTED The wildcards “row”: Mid March WPBSA published the list of the 16 “wildcards” they nominated to play in the 2021 World Championship qualifying rounds: Connor Benzey (Eng), Dylan Emery (Wal), Reanne Evans (Eng), Ivan Kakovskii (Rus), Rebecca Kenna (Eng), Antoni Kowalski (Pol), Mark Lloyd (Eng), Robbie McGuigan (Nir), Ben Mertens (Bel), Ross Muir (Sco), Florian Nuessle (Aut), Brian Ochoiski (Fra), Fergal Quinn (Nir), Hayden Staniland (Eng), Wu Yize (Chn) and Dean Young (Sco).

It trigged some angry reactions mainly coming from some the players high in the 2020 Q-School list: their opinion was that many in this list were undeserving, stood no chance and that players from the Q-School should have been selected instead, some arguing that WPBSA/WST were contractually bound to do so via the “top-up” system. They missed the point: WPBSA’s selection aims at promoting young talents, and players from areas that need further development, notably mainland Europe and women snooker.

Top-ups are there to fill the draw when main tour players chose not to enter an event or are forced to withdraw. This is a different situation and nothing new actually as WPBSA has done this for years. I d o understand the Q-School top players frustration as there was no Challenge tour this season, and not that many main tour players skipping events either, but, all the same, they were barking at the wrong tree.

Rebecca Kenna, women snooker’s number 4, in particular was targeted and it got rather nasty: allegedly she had “no right to be there”, would “not win a frame” … and worse.

As you will read below, at the table, she actually gave a better account of herself than most. To me, the scorn she was subjected to and the prejudices expressed only vindicated WPBSA’s decision to include her as it showed that there is a lot of work still to do before girls and women can feel truly accepted and made welcome in clubs, leagues and in the sport in general.

Antoni Kowalski was later forced to withdraw with a hand injury and was replaced by Julien Leclercq from Belgium.

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Four time World Champion Mark Selby.

Wu Yize was not able to travel in time for the event.

The draw and the big story: The draw was made as soon as the last 16 line-up was definitely decided, on 24th of March 2021. The BIG story was of course about Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White being drawn against each other in the first round.

When they learned their fate they found it hard to believe, and, to be honest, so did a lot of fans, myself included. What were the chances really? There was a possibility that Jimmy would not need to play the first round, depending of players entering the event or not.

As it happened he was the highest ranked player in that bracket. That being the case, there was 1 in 32 chances for Jimmy to draw his nemesis, that’s just above 3%. Not much isn’t it. It was a great story for WST and it got the press and broadcasters excited, there was a huge build-up into the qualifying event but it was an awful draw for both players.

ROUND 1 – HIGHLIGHTS AND STORIES Stephen Hendry beats Jimmy White by 6-3 After the big media build-up … this proved to be a disappointing match and ultimately a sad show from both players. Jimmy White had shown some form towards the end of

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the season, reaching the last 16 at the 2021 Gibraltar Open and winning five of his seven matches in the group phase of the 2021 WST Pro Series, but he was terrible against his old foe Stephen Hendry who gave a very honest assessment of the match and of their performances: “I’m not happy about the way we both played, I had hoped we would both play well and it would be a great match. There was a lot of tension, Jimmy looked bang under it. I was trying to relax and enjoy the occasion. The result probably meant more to Jimmy than it did to me.

“When you look back at the finals we played, we both had natural, flowing cue actions. Tonight it was stuttered and staggered, our average shot time felt like about four minutes. The only time when I found some rhythm was when I made the clearance to go 5-1. Something switched on inside me – that instinct to pinch a frame.

And I won a frame when I needed a snooker – that’s a collector’s item! So there were a couple of little highlights and I’ve got to be happy with the win.

“The rhythm I have on the practice table, I’m not taking into the match yet. There were only a handful of shots I hit well tonight. I don’t think I will have frightened anyone with that performance and I’ll be the underdog again in my next match. I’ll just go and enjoy it and keep my expectations low. It’s too soon for me to qualify for the Crucible. Every match is a bonus and helps me get used to

being out there.

“Next season will be a different matter because I will have more competitive snooker under my belt. Who knows, I might come back on Wednesday and get on a roll. But there are frailties in my game that won’t hold up over four matches. My goal at the moment is just to improve.”

This was probably the worst draw Jimmy could get and he did not cope well either with the expectations or with the ghosts of the past. Following this defeat, and results going against him in the later rounds, Jimmy was set to be relegated but, unsurprisingly was awarded yet another two years invitational card.

“Last minute” Julien Leclercq wins on debut.

The 18 years old Belgian was only invited after Antoni Kowalski was forced to withdraw because of a hand injury. He made the most of it! It was an excellent and very mature performance for someone so young, with no experience of the professional conditions.. Despite the late call and a very difficult travel to the UK, Julien played a very good match. He beat Soheil Vahedi by 6-5. Being Belgian myself, I was obviously happy to see Julien play so well and win, but I felt truly sorry for Soheil Vahedi, who was relegated from the main tour after this defeat. Soheil is a great guy, he loves his snooker and he looked utterly disconsolate and extremely distraught towards the end of the match.

Julien is from Crisnée, near Liège, the French speaking part of Belgium. Snooker is nothing big in that area, and is not helped by the poor quality of the Eurosport France coverage.

Julien is coached by Danny Moermans who also coached Luca Brecel, and he practices in Flanders with Flemish players, amongst others with Luca and Kobe Vanhoppen.

After the match, I published an interview with Julien, in French, and it triggered considerable interest and a high number of engagements on social media. Julien also got mentioned the the local press. Julien will compete in the coming Q-School, and now, Liège’s television channel has been filming and broadcasting a feature about him and about snooker. Things like that totally vindicate WPBSA policy regarding World Championship Wildcards.

Young Chinese and young Europeans do well.

Six young Chinese players were involved in this round: Fan Zengyi (20), Gao Yan (16), Zhao Jianbo (18), Bai Langning (19) and Lei Peifan17). All of them won their opening match. Remarkably Bai Langning had not played a single match before this one on the main tour all season, due to the covid-19 situation and being stuck in China because of it.

Two of the European wildcards won their match as well: Julien Leclercq (Belgium) and Florian Nüßle (Austria). Two more young amateurs from mainland Europe pushed their opponent to a deciding frame: Ben Mertens (Belgium) and Brian Ochoiski (France). Ben Mertens remains the youngest player to win a match at the World Championship: he was only 15 when

“I MADE THE DECISION BEFORE CHRISTMAS FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS. THIS YEAR HAS BEEN PRETTY TOUGH AND I’M WORKING ON TV AT TOURNAMENTS AS WELL. I’VE NOT BEEN ABLE TO PLAY AND PRACTISE.” Alan McManus announces his retirement

he beat James Cahill at that same stage last season.

All three professionals from Mainland Europe involved in this round - Kaçper Filipiak (Poland), Lukas Kleckers (Germany) and Simon Lichtenberg (Germany) - went though as well.

Clearly WPBSA efforts to make the sport more global are paying off and “young” snooker is no more a UK quasi monopoly.

No it’s time to consider some structural changes when it comes to the scheduling and location of qualifying events and the Q-School.

from sore gamblers unhappy to have lost their money. Peter’s reaction was brilliant: a rap … watch and listen here.

Rebecca Kenna proves her critics wrong.

Rebecca got a lot of stick-on social media after she was included in the list of WPBSA wildcards.

People who have probably never watched he play branded her “undeserving” to be invited to the World Championship and predicted that she would not win a frame out there.

Actually, she gave her professional opponent a stern test. She played hard match snooker and even got 4-3 ahead, before eventually losing 6-4. Considering that Rebecca had only played in professional conditions once before, in the Shoot-out, she certainly didn’t disgrace herself, on the contrary.

Alan McManus retires.

Alan McManus was beaten by Bai Langning on a 6-3 score. As a result he was relegated from the main tour and immediately announced his retirement and he felt comfortable with it: “I made the decision before Christmas for a number of reasons. This year has been pretty tough and I’m working on TV at tournaments as well. I’ve not been able to play and practise.

“If this continues then there is no point in me playing. I’m pretty happy with the decision. I really love the television work. It is a privileged position to have and it has just been really difficult doing both.

“I’ve always thought 50 was a good number. It is a young guy’s game and you have to face up to that. I don’t have a problem with that though, it is all fine and well. For me it isn’t so much a results game.

For me it is the experience and that is what I take from it.

“Results and beating someone isn’t my thing. I had getting to the semi-finals of the World Championship five years ago and that was pretty cool. I’m happy and I’m settled. I’m really content to not play. What I will miss is being 4-4 and deciders.

“Those are the times that you really find out who you are. That is why when I watch, I don’t look at the table, I look at the guy. Who he is, who he is going to be and who he is going to become in that moment.”

Alan had a very good career and is at peace with this decision, precisely because it was his decision. Three extremely talented young players are also facing relegation, barring Q-School success, after defeats in this round: Luo Honghao, Yuan Sijun and Jackson Page.

All three impressed as amateurs and in their first year – Luo had qualified for the Crucible on his first year on tour – but

Amine Amiri foreseeable withdrawal.

Amine Amiri withdrew from the event and David Lilley got a bye to the next round as a result. People who don’t know the facts published very harsh comments about Amine on social media.

Now this is what I heard from trustworthy persons involved in snooker in Morocco: two weeks before the start of the qualifiers, Morocco closed its borders because of the covid-19 sanitary crisis.

Amine who had every intention to play did everything in his power to get the permission to travel despite the restrictions.

It was in vain despite WPBSA’s help. The only thing that I don’t understand here is why WPBSA didn’t have a “reserve” player at the ready. This was foreseeable.

Peter Devlin’s brilliant answer to death threats.

Peter Devlin lost by 6-1 to Lukas Kleckers and subsequently had to cope with serious abuse on social media, including death threats. More often than not this comes

ROUND 2 – HIGHLIGHTS AND STORIES Unsurprisingly, Stephen Hendry didn’t get any further in the competition as he was beaten comprehensively by 23 years old Xu Si from China.

The win was important for Xu who was in danger of being relegated, whilst Stephen of course is only in the first year of his two years tour card. The round two “stories” were mainly about casualties unfortunately.

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suffered after that. Surely the covid-19 crisis did not help but there is more to it.

Many young play ers struggle in the second year of their initial two years tour card: the pressure to get into the top 64 is extreme and for many financial sustainability is an issue.

For the young Chinese players, relegation often means an end to their career as well as the Chinese authorities support may be withdrawn in favour of more promising prospects. Luo and Yuan are 20 years old, Jackson Page is only 19.

This is heartbreaking, and bad for the future of the sport as well. The system is too brutal, it doesn’t nurture young talents.

ROUND 3 – HIGHLIGHTS AND STORIES Noppon Saengkham tested positive for covid-19 and was withdrawn from the tournament; as a result Lyu Haotian got the bye into the final round.

Kaçper Filipiak retires from snooker at only 25 years old.

Kaçper Filipiak was beaten by 6-3 by Zhao Xintong, meaning that he was relegated unless he managed to get through the Q-school.

Only a few hours later, Kaçper announced that he was done with snooker. Kaçper got on the main tour aged just 15, having won the EBSA Under-21 European Championship in 2011. His first year on tour wasn’t a happy one.

He was practicing at Paul Mount’s SWSA and, at the time, Janie Watkins had told me: “He’s a lamb for the slaughter.” Tour cards were just for one year back then, and Kaçper was immediately relegated at the end of his first season. He was too young, he was not ready, his game was far too raw. He won the EBSA European Snooker Championship in 2019.

This got him a two-year professional tour card and he returned return to the main tour for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons.

He only won twelve matches during those two seasons, never going past the last 32 in any event. His retirement announcement triggered considerable reactions on social media, mainly coming from European amateurs urging him to reconsider.

Maybe Kaçper simply isn’t good enough, maybe his first year on tour was irretrievably damaging … who knows?

My personal opinion is that his game is lacking in aspects that are essential in the professional game. Despite those shortcomings, he was able to win major amateur events and that, to me, shows that the “quality gap” between the amateur and professional sport is widening, something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later otherwise the future of snooker is in jeopardy.

The most dramatic match of the round was the encounter between Zhou Yuelong and Xu Si. Zhou was 5-4 and 67-0 down. He then made a 73 to force the decider which he won with a 71.

Mark Davis, aged 48, made a 143 in the second frame of his victorious match against Stuart Carrington. It proved to be the highest break of the qualifying rounds.

THE FINAL ROUND The Judgement Days produced the 6

“THERE’S NOTHING GOOD TO SAY ABOUT THE FIRST TEN FRAMES. I PLAYED WELL TOWARDS THE END, HOPEFULLY I CAN USE MY EXPERIENCE AND BUILD ON THAT.” Ronnie O’Sullivan following his win over Mark Joyce

following list of qualifiers: Mark Davis, Tian Pengfei, Liam Highfield, Jamie Jones, Matthew Selt, Lyu Haotian, Kurt Maflin, Liang Wenbo, Sam Craigie, Mark Joyce, Stuart Bingham, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Chris Wakelin, Martin Gould and Ricky Walden.

Mark Joyce and Sam Craigie were the only ones who had never played at the Crucible before. For Mark Joyce in particular it had been a long wait … fifteen years!

Mark Davis returning to the Crucible at the age of 48 is remarkable especially as his opponent, Jamie Clarke was 7-2 up after the first session. Mark Davis won seven frames in a row in the beginning of the second session.

Equally remarkable is Jamie Jones’ season: having regained his professional status last summer after his suspension, via the Q-school, he managed to get back to the top 64 and to qualify for the Crucible.

Chris Wakelin was under huge pressure, he needed to win to avoid relegation and did just that.

Kurt Maflin, Ricky Walden, Gary Wilson, Liam Highfield and Tian Pengfei all “emerged” from hard times.

Kurt was stuck in Norway for months during the second part of the season, unable to play competitively, Ricky is finally getting back near his best after years of pain because of back injuries.

Gary struggled with severe mental health issues throughout the lockdown, Liam Highfield has been battling Crohn’s disease for some years now and it has impacted his performances and his ranking and Tian was ill with covid-19 and subsequently decided to stay in strict self-isolation to make sure that he would be virus-free and fit to play.

Hats off to those guys.

It wasn’t a happy round for the Chinese players: Zhou Yuelong, Zhao Xintong, Li Hang, Lu Ning, Chang Bingyu, Xiao Guodong and Bai Langning all fell at the last hurdle.

Bai, who had not played on the main tour all season, managed to win three matches in the qualifiers but will now need the Q-school to stay on tour despite his very commendable efforts.

All detailed results for the qualifying event are on snooker.org.

THE CRUCIBLE The main event was played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from April 17 to May 3, 2021. Ronnie O’Sullivan was the defending Champion.

Mark Selby beat Shaun Murphy by 18-15 in the final, becoming World Champion for the fourth time. By doing so he became only the fifth player to take the title more than three

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times at the Crucible.

The victory propelled him to the second place in the rankings, only £124,000 behind Judd Trump, and with a realistic chance to regain the number one spot in the coming season, something that Mark has set as a goal for himself.

He has now won nine Triple Crown events, bringing him level with John Higgins. Only Ronnie O’Sullivan (20), Stephen Hendry (18) and Steve Davis (15) have won more.

He also became the eighth player to win 20 ranking titles or more and has now won 11 of his last 12 ranking finals. His only defeat came at the one-frame Shoot Out … which is unlikely to bother him too much!

CONGRATULATIONS MARK SELBY! The last day of the Championship was played in front of a full capacity crowd.

Thanks to Barry Hearn and his team snooker has been a leader when it comes to staging events, returning to normality and welcoming back crowds during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

THANK YOU BARRY HEARN! THE LAST 32 The seeds are always under pressure in this first round. They face players who are sharp, having already won at least two matches in the championship whilst they come cold.

Should they lose, they get no ranking points, whilst their opponent has already secured £20,000 both in points and in prize money during the qualifying rounds.

Only two qualifiers managed to win their last 32 match: Jamie Jones and Stuart Bingham. This is the lowest qualifiers’ “success rate” in the first round since 2009.

Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-4 Mark Joyce Ronnie was playing at the Crucible for a remarkable 29th consecutive occasion having made his debut in 1993.

As per tradition, the defending champion opened the proceedings on the first day of the Championship and played his match to a finish in the evening session.

Both players appeared nervous and tense during the error-strewn first session.

This isn’t surprising: there is always a lot of additional pressure and media attention on the defending Champion and his opponent, Mark Joyce, was playing at the Crucible for the very first time. The first session ended on a 6-4 score in favour of Ronnie who looked vulnerable at that point. However, the defending champion came good in the evening, winning the four frames he needed with breaks of 58, 124, 137 and 112, denying

his opponent a single point in the session.

Ronnie was well aware that he would need to improve if he was to defend the title.

Speaking to WST, he said: “There’s nothing good to say about the first ten frames. I played well towards the end, hopefully I can use my experience and build on that.

“It’s a long tournament so things can turn around but I will need to play like that for 60 or 70 per cent of the time to have a chance.

There are times out there when I wonder why I’m playing, then I look at the bigger picture. Snooker has been good to me and I enjoy it.”

Bingtao 10-6 Martin Gould The first session was close but Yan dominated the second session and finished the match on a comfortable 10-6 score.

Since his victory over John Higgins at the 2021 Masters, Yan had not really impressed.

During the 2020/21 season, before the World Championship, his best runs in ranking events were two quarter finals.

Therefore winning this match was important for his ranking.

Yan was quite happy with his performance in the second session: “From 5-5 I made back to back centuries and then made a good clearance to go 8-5, that gave me a lot of confidence. Martin is very dangerous.

“Winning the Masters changed my life.

I am working hard on practice for this Championship. If I miss a ball I just keep a poker face. Maybe I am too young to have a chance. Ding Junhui has a bigger chance, he is 13 years older.” (Quotes source: WST) Yan did his press conference in English.

A lot of Brits just expect everyone to speak English, whilst themselves never make the effort to learn a second language. It isn’t that easy, especially when your “native” language is totally different to English in every aspect. Well done Yan. David Gilbert 10-4 Chris Wakelin David Gilbert came to the Crucible on the back of a very poor season. To his own admission, he had struggled mentally during the covid-crisis and the lockdown. He was also under pressure because reached the semi-finals in this event in 2019, and was set to lose the ranking points he got for it.

Since the start of this year though, he’s turned things around: he worked on his fitness and deliberately opted for a positive mindset. It paid off.

He did most of the damage in the first session: he went 7-2 ahead with breaks of 60, 132, 111, 50, 90 and 100. In the second session, Chris Wakelin came back fighting, and the first mini-session was shared. It was too late however as David Gilbert sealed victory with a good 84 when they returned.

This is what he had to say after the match: “Since January I have been hard at it in practice and I have put a gym in my garage to do some weights. When I am fitter I play better, I should have done it ages ago. Last night I found a good rhythm and I fancied potting the balls.

“I don’t think about the money or the rankings, but I know that you plummet if you don’t win matches. This tournament can turn a bad year into a great year.

“Last night the wall between the tables went up and I was thinking about the semi-final against John two years ago. I

Neil Robertson on his way to a 10-3 victory over Liang Wenbo. Pic: WST World Snooker Tour

envisaged myself in the chair on the other side. My biggest goal in snooker is to get back to that one table situation.” (Quotes source: WST) Chris Wakelin certainly can play better than he did but he had done what he needed to do by reaching the Crucible: he had secured his professional status.

Maybe he came into this one a bit flat after achieving that important feat.

Neil Robertson 10-3 Liang Wenbo Neil Robertson came into this event on the back of winning the 2021 Tour Championship. He had beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-4 in the final to seal his 20th ranking title.

Clearly he was in good form, but also, and maybe more importantly, in good spirit as well. Ahead of the Tour Championship he was reunited with his father Ian, who was given special dispensation to fly to Britain from Australia.

It had been nearly two years since they had been together because of travel restrictions caused by the the coronavirus pandemic. It gave Neil a massive mental boost as he explained during his postmatch interview with WST: “It had been a long time not seeing my family from Australia, nearly two years. My dad came over before the Tour Championship and gave me a massive boost.

“Alexander my son was so happy as well. Penelope my daughter didn’t even recognise him, it is really sad that he hadn’t seen her for so long. It is great that he is able to enjoy being with her and that he can take Alexander to his footy training. He can give me feedback on the training as well so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much.”

Despite the easy win , he refused to get carried away regarding his chances in the tournament: “Over the last seven or eight years, in probably five of those I’ve blitzed through the first two rounds and everyone has been putting my name on the trophy.

“I’ve maybe relaxed a little bit, expected to win and thought that my opponent couldn’t possibly beat me over 25 frames. Coming here, I’m just ignoring all of that and playing the game on my terms. It is important I

make players worry about playing me, rather than letting them dictate the pace of play.”

Neil was also happy to have the crowds back.

Stephen Maguire 4-10 Jamie Jones It was a rather one-sided match, especially during the second session where Stephen Maguire didn’t win a single frame.

Stephen Maguire became the first seed to fall in the last 32. He didn’t play well, didn’t feel good within himself and was brutally honest about it all: “I’m frustrated. I don’t think there’s a word for how I played. If there is a word, I’d get fined! I didn’t do anything in the whole match. Jamie upped his game from 3-1 down. I wasn’t good enough. I lost trust in my cue action and everything I was doing. I’ll have to keep the TV off for the next two weeks.”

For Jamie Jones, who had reached the quarter-finals at the Crucible in 2012 but had lost his tour card and needed to regain it through the Q-school last summer, after his suspension, it was, of course, a fantastic achievement.

Starting at zero point in the rankings some eights months ago, he has managed to get back in the top 64. Some achievement!

He had spoken openly about how his ordeal has made him a better player and a better person. He was just as positive in his post-match with WST: “I am proud of myself.

I felt I had lost everything. I’d say to anyone going through difficult times, it’s important to talk to people and make positive choices, which I did.

“It’s a fantastic win for me. It’s always special to play here. I felt as comfortable out there tonight as I ever have. I felt as calm as you can be under pressure. It was a nice feeling. You can’t compare the player I am now to the way I was in 2012.

“I am a much more rounded player now.

Even at 9-4 up I was prepared to wait, and make it difficult for Stephen. That comes with experience. Having come through the qualifiers, “I am under less pressure and expectation.

I can just really enjoy the experience and I love the longer matches. I have come so far in a short space of time this season and

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now I am riding the wave.”

Anthony McGill 10-5 Ricky Walden This was a match of two halves. The first session was very close, Anthony lead 5-4 at its end. The second session was one-sided, Ricky winning just one frame out of the six they played.

After the match, Anthony expressed his delight at the way he played and relished the prospect to play Ronnie in the next round: “I feel really good about myself when I play good snooker, and I did that today. It might be the best I have played here. I have not been getting results this season, though my performances have been better than my results.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes, then you just have to stick with it and be patient and hopefully it will turn. That was a cracking win because Ricky is quality, I rate him so highly.

“To beat him 10-5, I’m delighted. I love it here, I grew up watching it. Even now at 30 years old, I’m a grown up man, but there is part of me that still feels like a kid out there.

It’s the best place ever.

“There are not that many players who get the chance to play here. Each World Championship from now on, my sights will be set on at least making the one-table set up now that I have done it before. Playing Ronnie at the Crucible, how could you not be excited about that? I’ll try my best.”

(Quotes source: WST) Neal Foulds was impressed by Anthony’s quality in this match and predicted that he could cause Ronnie serious problems. He was proved right.

John Higgins 10-7 Tian Pengfei This was a strange one! It’s a match that Tian should never have lost. John Higgins was all at sea in the first session and found himself 6-3 down at the end of it. The Scot didn’t play significantly better at the start of the second session, but Tian simply disintegrated: he was in front in most frames but struggled to finish them off and ended up losing them.

This of course helped his opponent to regain his confidence. Tian Pengfei only managed to win one frame in the second session, whilst John Higgins eventually found something and finished strongly with two centuries: 127 and 135.

John Higgins himself couldn’t make much sense of how the match had unfolded: “That was a whole range of what I’ve been through over 27 years here. Some good, some bad, some embarrassing. I’m delighted to get through, I dodged a big

bullet there. The first round is always the most pressurised game each year.

“That is what I always feel. When you get that out of the way, you can relax into the tournament. I was actually struggling to breathe at one point. I don’t know what happened, that’s just what this theatre does to you. I think I stopped breathing for a few frames, but it was good to get through.

“When you are struggling mentally it is tough. I’ll take the positives. I finished it off pretty decently with a couple of 100 breaks.

I’ll try to grasp on to that and get a couple of days practising in.” (Quotes source: WST) Kyren Wilson 10-8 Gary Wilson In the clash of the Wilsons, it was Kyren who prevailed. Gary made the better start: he lead by 5-1 aided by breaks of 63, 55, 94 and 84. Kyren however is nicknamed “the Warrior” for a reason.

He produced breaks of 82, 115 and 139 to finish the first session only one behind. When they resumed, he won three more frames on the trot which allowed him to lead 7-6 when they reached the last MSI. Gary wasn’t going down without a fight: every frame of the last mini-session had a 50+ break, 54 and 56 by Gary, 58, 119 and 73 for Kyren. It was a high quality, entertaining match.

Kyren who was runner-up at the Crucible last season acknowledged how his experience had helped him to overcome his deficit after a slow start: “My years of experience got me through. In the past I would have panicked. I know how important momentum can be, and once I had it I held on to it.”

He added: “In the early stages I felt a bit loose. The tables are very fast so I had to get more compact with my action and control the cue ball better. I scored like a demon from 5-1 down. It was nice to have a crowd, especially when the partition went up.

“The fans add the feeling of butterflies in your stomach. I have adapted to the conditions now and I can look forward to round two. I learned a lot from my run to the final last year and how to look after my body to avoid burning out. The hotel I am staying in has prepared a meal plan for me to make sure I get enough protein.

I am eating well and trying to make sure I practise at the right times.” (Quotes source: WST) Jack Lisowski 10-9 Ali Carter Jack Lisowski had only won one match at the Crucible before this one and, in Ali Carter, he was facing one of the hardest match players in the game, a twice a World

IN THE EARLY STAGES I FELT A BIT LOOSE. THE

TABLES ARE VERY FAST SO I HAD TO GET MORE

COMPACT WITH MY ACTION AND CONTROL THE

CUE BALL BETTER. I SCORED LIKE A DEMON FROM 5-1 DOWN. IT WAS NICE TO HAVE A CROWD, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE PARTITION WENT UP. Kyren Wilson after his 10-8 victory over Gary Wilson.

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Championship finalist and the man who had beaten him in 2018 on the only occasion he had reached the second round. It was a very close match from start to finish.

Jack was ahead at the end of the first session, just … he lead 5-4. But Ali won the first two of the second session and lead 6-5, 8-6 and 9-8.

Jack managed to win the last two for victory, aided by breaks of 82 and 60. The long red he potted to start his 60 break in the decider is one of the best pressure shots of the tournament.

This is how Jack assessed his performance and his attitude: “Ali was the one player out of the 16 qualifiers I didn’t want to face.

When the draw came out I knew it would be tough. But you have to beat the best players to have a chance. We both missed a few balls.

“To win 10-9 after losing 10-9 last year is a big relief. I held myself together well from 8-6 and 9-8 down. It’s a game I would have lost a few years ago. I was losing it, my concentration was going a few times. But overall I’m more composed, my game is getting better, my safety is better.

“It wasn’t a great performance but I did what I had to do to win. I’ve been to three finals this season so I am doing something right in terms of consistency. I want to do better than the second round here and build my way into it.” (Quotes source: WST) Mark Allen 10-2 Lyu Haotian This was an onslaught. Mark Allen started with a 139 and basically the match was over.

That’s how it felt, and how it proved to be.

Mark Allen produced a good performance, but wasn’t really challenged.

This is what he told WST after the match: “It was a steady performance all day, I didn’t miss much in the first session. It was a bit scrappier tonight but I was just happy to win… I have had no form since the Champion of Champions. “ It has been a very poor season. I lost early in the UK Championship and the Masters and haven’t gone deep in any ranking events. I have been working hard on the practice table, working on the right things and it hasn’t clicked so far, so hopefully it can click here. I love playing here, it’s great to have fans and the crowd will grow through the event.”

In many ways, Lyu Haotian story’s is a tragedy. He’s only 23, supremely talented but looks “finished” as a payer. I met him for the first time in Yixing in September 2012 at an APTC. He was a tiny 14 years old boy, a child. He was also a very hot prospect: less than two weeks before he had beaten Marco Fu as a wildcard in the Shanghai Masters.

The attention he received, and the pressure it generated were overwhelming.

The coaches were all over him, every match was recorded, debriefed. The next season he got a tour card. His experience of living in UK was traumatic. At the time the academies that now support the Asian players did not exist. He was 15, didn’t speak the language, and was left very much on his own devices.

He was living in the same place as two Thai players, Passakorn Suwannawat and Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon. The place was subjected to an arson attack possibly

linked with match fixing.

Lyu had nothing to do with it, but he was there and could have died in the fire. Later during his stay, he was seriously beaten up in Sheffield, allegedly in an attempt to rob him of his wallet.

When he lost his tour card after two years as a pro he reflected that he had been too young, and had become lonely and disoriented living in England without speaking much English. He stopped playing for six months. He came back but never looked the same. His confidence is shattered.

Ding Junhui 9-10 Stuart Bingham This was an excellent match and it’s a shame that one of them had to go out of the tournament. They had fifteen breaks over 50 between them including four centuries: 105 by Ding, 131, 129 and 104 by Stuart.

The match went to a deciding frame and had to be pulled off before they could finish the second session.

It’s clear that in many ways Bingham is a “false qualifier” if that makes sense. Quality wise, he clearly still is a top 16 player. For Ding it was another World Championship campaign ending in disappointment.

As it happens the only two qualifiers who went through the first round, Stuart Bingham and Jamie Jones, were set to play each other in the second round. Stuart knew fairly well that his task in the last 16 wasn’t going to be any easier for it.

This is what he had to say in his postmatch interview: “I’m over the moon to get through that game, it was a classic match.

I was gutted to get pulled off at 9-9, but it probably did us both a favour to chill out for a few hours.

“The first eight or nine minutes of that deciding frame had some unbelievable safety. We weren’t giving each other a chance. Luckily for me, he missed after he got in and I produced one of my best 70 breaks and one of the best at the Crucible Theatre. It’s going to be tough against Jamie Jones.

“It’s his first season back on and he is probably playing the best snooker of his life. After what he went through and coming through Q School straight away, at the end of the year he is in the last 16 of the World Championship. He is going to be one hell of a tough player.” (Quotes source: WST) Judd Trump 10-4 Liam Highfield Judd Trump dominated a one-sided match without playing at his best. This win made sure that he would finish the season as World number one.

Ahead of the championship there was a possibility that Ronnie could be the end-ofseason number one but for that to happen Judd had to lose in the first round, and Ronnie had to win the title.

Throughout the season, Judd had missed the crowd and the excitement it provides so he was happy to have it back and determined to enjoy the tournament: “I have tried to approach this tournament as if I was 21, saving some excitement for it and trying to enjoy myself. I have spent a lot of time at home over the past year so I want to take it all in while I’m in Sheffield.

“There have been times this season when I have won a tournament, picked up a

trophy, got in the car and driven home.

“The enjoyment of that couple of hours afterwards when you celebrate with your friends and family has not been there. I have got my brother with me backstage this time which brings back the chance to share it with someone.” (Quotes source: WST) Barry Hawkins 10-3 Matthew Selt Barry Hawkins is a bit of a Crucible specialist. He was runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2013 and reached the semifinals four times since, in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. The match was closer that the score suggests as Barry won several frames from behind.

After the match he spoke about the importance of confidence, especially at the Crucible: “The scoreline flattered me, in the first session I won a lot of frames from behind. I was over the moon to be 6-3 up because I could have been 5-4 down.

“I was determined to concentrate hard tonight and I didn’t give him many chances.

pressure. I don’t think he did much wrong tonight to be honest.

“The first session was a bit scrappy. For me to come out with a 5-4 lead, I was very happy. I thought I was really solid tonight.

I’m looking forward to facing John Higgins.

I’ve lost count of how many times we have played. We’ve had so many good games here.

“Close ones, I’ve beat him, he’s beat me.

The final I played him was probably the best match of my life, just because of the standard, the atmosphere and the drama at the end. This one isn’t going to be as good, but I’m going to enjoy it, win or lose. I can guarantee you I won’t be frightened of the occasion.

“I will be going for some pots that if they go in, I will look a million Dollars. If they don’t, I will look like an absolute donkey. I’m happy with that. I don’t play the game to worry about what people say I should or shouldn’t go for. If I think it is the right shot, I will go for it.” (Quotes source: WST)

Barry Hawkins during his 10-3 victory over Matthew Selt. Pic: WST World Snooker Tour

I played Matt in the first round here in 2015 and he came from 9-4 down to 9-9 before I won 10-9, so I didn’t want to see that happen again. It’s all about confidence – if you have that behind you then you can get on a roll.

“And how you handle it out there is huge.

It’s nice when you are playing well, but it’s the toughest place in the world when you are struggling. Then it’s all about damage limitation – if you are playing badly but you can share a session 4-4 then you are still in the match.” (Quotes source: WST) Mark Williams 10-4 Sam Craigie The first session of this encounter was close – it ended 5-4 in favour of Mark – but when they resumed “Willo” upped his game and ran away with the match.

He was well aware of how well he played, and determined to continue to attack the game and play it on his own terms no matter what.

He was also looking forward to yet another battle with John Higgins: “Tonight I played really well to be honest. Every part of my game was strong and I kept him under

I always find it entertaining to watch Mark Williams on form. He plays the game differently from everyone else on the tour.

His shot selection is unconventional, his attitude is unconventional and, at 46 he still has the soul of a cheeky teenager. Long may it last!

Shaun Murphy 10-7 Mark Davis At 48, Mark Davis was the oldest player in the draw, and he put up a valiant fight against Shaun Murphy, especially in the first session that he managed to win by 5-4.

Shaun was relieved more than anything else after his win: “There was a moment in the first session where I was all at sea and there for the taking. I stole the seventh frame from nowhere and that gave me the catalyst to get back into the match. I had a good night’s sleep and felt optimistic about today.”

He also reckoned that the presence of a crowd was helping the top players: “The top 16 are there because they are better at performing in front of a live audience. When you walk out here, we get excited and we’re

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stood backstage, it’s like watching people jump out of a plane.

You’re thinking ‘it’s my turn next’ and you have to walk out. That sorts the men from the boys. I’m not surprised that the players who are more used to it have flourished so far.” (Quotes source: WST) I’m not too sure about the latter. There have been crowds at the Crucible every year except in 2020 and the seeds have not always been as dominant as they have been this time, far from it. In 2012 for example, no less than half of them fell at first hurdle.

Mark Selby 10-1 Kurt Maflin The score speaks for itself: there wasn’t a match really. Mark scored heavily: he had breaks of 68, 54, 60, 50, 101, 142, 50 and 65 en route to victory. Kurt had a 91 in the only frame he won.

Unsurprisingly, Mark Selby was happy in his post-match: “My game this season has been close to my best and I feel very good mentally as well. Beating Kurt 10-1 is up there with my best performances, especially as the first round here is always a difficult hurdle.

“I am playing well in practice and, more often than not, bringing that game to the match table. I have been working with my coach Chris Henry and I owe a lot to him.

“Losing to Ronnie here last year hurt me but then Chris gave me the belief to come back and win my first tournament this season” adding “Playing against a qualifier when you are a massive favourite brings another type of pressure.” (Quotes source: WST).

THE LAST 16 The last 16 line-up was probably one of the strongest ever: it featured every World Champion since the start of the millennium except for Peter Ebdon who is now retired and Graeme Dott.

Ronnie O’Sullivan 12-13 Anthony McGill The defending champion bowed out in the second round, narrowly defeated by an excellent Anthony McGill.

The first session was shared. Ronnie made the strongest start: breaks of 81, 105 and 138 gave him a 4-1 lead. The session “turned” however in frame 6: Ronnie looked set to steal that one too but went in-off screwing back off the last red allowing Anthony to make it 4-2. In the next frame, the Scot embarked on a 147 attempt but it ended on 97 as he missed the 13th black.

Both players made errors in the lowscoring last frame of the session but it was Anthony who prevailed.

Ronnie was really poor in the second session and his opponent took full advantage: he won it by 6-2, scoring breaks of 97, 71, 126, 89, 105 and 56 in the process.

When the players went for the MSI break, Anthony had won the last seven frames they had played. Crucially Ronnie managed to share the second mini-session, with breaks of 92 and 69. Trailing 10-6, he still had a chance.

Ronnie came back fighting with all he had, winning the five first frames of the last session of the match with breaks of 71, 97 and 73.

He found himself 11-10 in front having won

Anthony McGill during his nailbiting win over Ronnie O’Sullivan. Pic: WST World Snooker Tour

six frames in a row. Anthony stopped the rot with a break of 87, restoring parity. They shared the next two, Anthony knocking in a great 136 to force a decider.

Ronnie was first in a the decider. Leading by 37, he suffered a kick on a red, scuppering his position on the next colour, a blue. He managed to pot the blue, but left himself a tricky straight mid-long pot on the next red.

It proved fatal: he missed it and Anthony cooly stepped in and won the match with an excellent 85. Ronnie’s defence had come to an end.

For the neutral this was a fantastic match to watch: it had everything. Both players showed passion and an iron will to win. There were twists and turns: both had dominant spells where they played unbelievable snooker, both scored well, both made mistakes.

Speaking to WST, Anthony was obviously delighted: “I played brilliant this morning, the best session I have played, taking into account the magnitude of the match.

Tonight Ronnie was awesome, his safety was so good. I was making mistakes and couldn’t get any rhythm going.

“I managed to turn it on in the end. It’s the best win of my career, no doubt about it. Ronnie was really up for it, he wants that seventh world title. He will get it – he is too good not to. To beat him in such an important match is a massive confidence boost. “ A few years ago I thought I was rubbish, but now I believe in myself to at least play well. To play in front of the crowd is just so good. But you need to win tournaments in order to be on the TV tables more often. I was calm in the last frame, I had it in my mind that it wasn’t the last frame and we were going to play all night.

“I wanted to play all night, it was just so good! It only hit me when I potted the last red that we were in a decider. Ronnie said to me at the end that I had played well and deserved it. The semi-final from last year didn’t cross my mind at all – that’s gone.”

Ronnie was very gracious in defeat, as always. He was also positive about his own future in the sport, which is good news. This is what he had to say to WST: “I want to wish Anthony good luck, no one could begrudge

him winning the tournament. I am pleased I made a game of it and stayed true to the task. I had a good mindset having been working with (psychiatrist) Steve Peters for the past few days.

“For the next five or ten years if I want to play and enjoy it then I will need to keep working with him because it’s a tough sport when things are not going your way. There’s no reason why I can’t win it again, but I have long gone past playing snooker for a living.

“I am a bit like Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus in golf, they are still a presence because of what they have achieved.

If I said goodbye to the Crucible and to playing I would be saying goodbye to a lot of good things that are happening in snooker for me, and I don’t really want to do that. It’s better for me to play because my sponsors get excited when I get my cue out of the case.”

Speaking to the press about his conqueror he added: “That match he lost in the semifinals last year, he didn’t lose it because he bottled it, he was just unlucky. He deserved his victory.

“I think any snooker player watching that last year can’t begrudge Anthony McGill a world title after that. It’s hard to lift yourself up after something like that but I thought he handled himself fantastically well last year.

“Anybody else I’d probably have really been a bit sore but I think the snooker gods have done the right thing.” (Quotes sources: WST and express.co.uk) Anthony’s win is in no way a shock. He has a very good record at the Crucible, the long format suits him. In 2015, he had knocked Mark Selby, the defending champion, out of the tournament at this same stage.

Last year he had reached the semi-finals, narrowly denied in the deciding frame by Kyren Wilson after the latter had benefitted from an outrageous fluke. This misfortune is what Ronnie alluded to in the above quotes.

This defeat means that for the first time in his 29 years as a pro, Ronnie finishes the season without winning a professional event.

Stuart Bingham 13-6 Jamie Jones Only two qualifiers had survived the first round and they met in this match. The

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first session was shared, but after that the former World Champion ran away with the match, winning nine of the remaining eleven frames they played, with eight 50+ breaks including three centuries: 109, 117 and 102.

The last session, that featured three frames, only lasted 43 minutes during which Jamie scored only 7 points. Speaking after the match, Stuart reckoned that having to come through the qualifiers actually helped him massively: “Coming through the qualifiers has definitely helped me. In the first match I was confident. Normally being in the 16 you have to wait three or four weeks between the end of the season and the World Championship.

“Going there and getting the confidence by winning matches, you can’t buy that. I was ready more or less from the first ball in round one.” (Quotes source: WST) John Higgins 7-13 Mark Williams The two had met in the 2018 Final, here, at the Crucible, Mark Williams prevailing by 18-16. It wasn’t that close this time, but it was high quality all the same. John Higgins made seven breaks over 50, including two centuries (113 and 107), Mark Williams had ten breaks over 50 including three centuries (102, 101 and 108).

Mark enjoyed the battle, was very pleased with the way he played but was still not confident in his chances for the title: “I think I played really good solid stuff the whole way through. I can’t play much more solidly than that. My safety was good and some of my long balls were good. Some of the ones I went for were ridiculous.

“I loved every minute and I was enjoying it.

If I get on a roll, I can win a few frames in half an hour. It can put a bit of pressure on their safety more than anything. If their safety isn’t any good, I’m going for it regardless of where the balls are.

“I probably played as well tonight as I did back in 2018. I’m just being honest though.

Back in 2018, I thought I had a great chance of winning this and told people that before we even started.

“I don’t feel like that this year. If I felt like that I would tell you, whether or not you believe me, I don’t know.” (Quotes source: WST) Mark Allen 7-13 Mark Selby This was the last match of the round and another high scoring one: twelve breaks over 50 from Selby, including 132, 134 and 135, six from Allen. Selby though was the strongest in the safety department and that made the difference.

Here are quotes from both players after the match: Mark Selby: “I started off playing as well as I did in the first round. My scoring was good. I knew if I wasn’t on top of my game I would have been going home. If you are making breaks over 50 every frame you won’t lose many.

“It’s an incredible line-up, probably the strongest for many years. It will be tough to win it, so if I managed to do that it would have to be up there with my best achievements. I’m looking forward to playing Mark. I get on well with him, he’s a great lad and a fantastic player. Hopefully it will be a good game for the fans.”

Mark Allen: “I thought I was in with a 12

chance at 8-6. The last frame yesterday was important because 9-5 was hard to come back from. Mark’s safety throughout the whole match was some of the best I have ever seen. He is granite. (Quotes source: WST) The quarter-finals line-up that emerged after this match was indeed very strong: six former World Champions amongst the eight remaining players, the other two having reached the one table setup last year.

Neil Robertson 13-9 Jack Lisowski As you would expect from those two, this match was a high scoring affair. It really caught fire from the second session on. Neil lead 5-3 at the end of the first session. They played another fourteen frames after that and every single one of them featured a 50+ break. It was a one-visit snooker breakbuilding fest.

It was a rather comfortable score in favour of Neil eventually but he knew that he had to stay focussed from start to finish given Jack’s natural ability: “When you are playing Jack, you need to be ready at the start line because he can get away from you quickly. He is so talented and exciting.

“I matched him in terms of scoring, I was fluent among the balls. It was a terrific match and I hope everyone at home enjoyed it.”

Neil loves the excitement brought by the long format and the presence of a crowd: “The Tour Championship was the perfect build up for me because it’s long matches against the same players I could face here.

Everyone loves to see a long match like Ronnie O’Sullivan and Anthony McGill last night which went 12-12, there is nothing more exciting.

“It’s great to have a crowd back here and to hear the genuine applause instead of the clapping machine! Today it was a different level to the atmosphere we had yesterday and hopefully that will keep building round by round.” (Quotes source: WST) Barry Hawkins 10-13 Kyren Wilson Both players came into this match with good records at the Crucible. Barry Hawkins was runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2013, and had since reached the semi-finals four times and made it to one more quarterfinal.

Kyren Wilson had reached the quarterfinals or better every year since 2016 and, of course, was runner-up to Ronnie last year. Unsurprisingly, this match was a high quality affair.

They played twenty-three frames during which they scored twenty-two breaks over 50 between them. That included four centuries: 123 and 107 by Barry, 107 and 102

by Kyren. Kyren lead 9-4. From there Barry fought hard – as he does – winning the next five, to make it 9-9.

Kyren however regained the momentum, winning four of the next five as he finished in style: a 90 and a 102 got him over the line.

Kyren was pleased with the result of course, but even more pleased with his mindset and attitude during the match: “I was really pleased with the way I handled it.

I never got on top of myself at any moment.

I give myself a kick up the backside every now and then, but I kept in check and made sure I stayed positive.”

He was also determined to maintain that positivity and focus going into his next match: “Anything below my best in the quarter-finals against Neil Robertson and I am going home. That only gives me one thing to think about in my mind.

“I have to play good snooker. Sometimes it is quite nice to have that main focus. Neil has been tipped to win the tournament and is a heavy favourite. I feel like that is a win win situation there.” (Quotes source: WST) Shaun Murphy 13-7 Yan Bingtao Ahead of the tournament Yan Bingtao had the opportunity to steal one of Stephen Hendry’s prized records; he could have become the youngest ever World Champion. It wasn’t to be as he got beaten convincingly by Shaun Murphy.

A lot of the damage was done in the first session: Shaun won it by 6-2. He won the first three frames with two centuries, 109 and 144, the latter being the highest break of the tournament at that stage.

Yan scored two big breaks as well, 88 and 101, but was unable to win the closer frames. That trend continued over the two remaining sessions: Yan fought hard and was scoring well when in, but so was Shaun: between them they had eleven 50+ breaks in the last twelve frames, six for Yan, five for Shaun.

Since moving to Ireland, Shaun has been practicing with Fergal O’Brien and, although it’s not his game, he has become quite good in the safety department.

Shaun had a rather torrid season.

Because of the travel restrictions he had to spend a lot of time away from home and his family.

Motivation and inspiration were hard to find playing in empty arenas. After the match he was grateful for being able to play at the Crucible in front of a crowd: “I’ve come here with a renewed gratitude for the position I’m in as a sportsman and for each and every one of the fans who have come here this week.

“I’m grateful they have all turned up and it really has added something to my game.

As a nine-year-old boy, I came here and lived the dream as a massive snooker fan.

That is what got me hooked on the game.

“I came to this very building as a child and my love affair with snooker started. So to come here last year and play to nobody was very challenging. Although the Crucible

I HAVE LOST A LOT OF DECIDERS THIS YEAR AND THAT CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR SEASON. BUT THIS TIME I HELD MYSELF TOGETHER AND MAYBE THAT’S A GOOD OMEN. Stuart Bingham after his victory over Anthony McGill.

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isn’t full yet, it is better to play to somebody than to play to nobody.”. (Quotes source: WST) David Gilbert 8-13 Judd Trump Judd Trump was nowhere near his best and he knew it. His opponent, David Gilbert, often looks vulnerable under pressure and he certainly didn’t handle it well in this match.

David is usually a good break-builder but he only had four breaks over 50 in the entire contest. That’s poor by his standards, especially if you consider that two of them came in the first mini-session that David won by 3-1.

Judd won the next mini-session by 4-0 with breaks of 114, 65 and 105. From then on David’s confidence appeared to desert him and his game seemed to disintegrate.

To his credit, he didn’t give up: from 11-5 down at the start of the last session he fought back winning the fifth mini-session 3-1 with breaks of 68 and 79.

It was too late though and when they resumed Judd won the one frame he needed for victory.

After the match, Judd was honest about the state of his game and wary about his next opponent: “I don’t feel as if I played well against David, but my scoring is there and I can’t be too critical of myself. My brother told me I am playing solid snooker.

“I will take any win against David because it was a tough second round draw. There are so many players looking good and a lot of the quarter-finals matches will be 50/50 games.

“Shaun hasn’t had a great season but he is due a run, and he loves the limelight and being centre of attention here.

“He still plays like a kid, and when the balls are going in it is intimidating to play against. You can’t feel comfortable against him because nothing is safe.”. (Quotes source: WST) THE QUARTER-FINALS Anthony McGill 12-13 Stuart Bingham Anthony McGill started the third session of the match 9-7 ahead and immediately made it 10-7.

At that point he had won seven of the last six frames they had played, with breaks of 126, 83, 92, 130, 75 and 106. It looked bleak for Stuart but he responded emphatically, winning the next five frames with runs of 75, 51, 90 and 91. In no time he had gone from trailing by three frames to leading by 12-10, just one frame from victory.

Anthony didn’t roll over: he won the next two forcing a deciding frame. It was in vain however as Stuart finished the job with a fantastic 125.

Stuart Bingham was in tears after the match: “At 12-10 I went into the reds and landed on nothing. After that I felt it wasn’t going to happen for me. Fair play to Anthony he came back strong to go 12-12. Luckily for me he didn’t fall on anything in the decider.

“My break was the best of my career. Last night I had a great sleep because I was so drained. I was a bit gutted to be 9-7 behind but I felt I hadn’t done much wrong.

“I have lost a lot of deciders this year and that can make or break your season. But this time I held myself together and maybe that’s a good omen.

“My game is getting stronger and

hopefully I can keep scoring heavily. The emotion is coming out now when I think about playing on the single table for the first time in six years. It’s a totally different atmosphere. I will enjoy every second.”

Anthony was gracious in defeat and, despite what just happened, he was happy with the state of his game and his attitude: “I didn’t play that well today and Stuart played brilliant. I wish I could have put a bit more pressure on him. One part of my game I don’t doubt is my bottle.

“I made a great dish at 12-10, and then held my nerve for 12-12. In the last frame I couldn’t have hit the brown any better, but I didn’t finish on a red.

“I have played a lot of good stuff here, my game is so good right now. I won’t let today’s result get me down. What I am doing is working, I am going in the right direction.”. (Quotes source: WST) Mark Williams 3-13 Mark Selby This match was totally one-sided and the score reflects that. Mark Selby played well.

Mark Williams did not.

Towards the end of the second session the feeling was that Willo had given-up and didn’t fancy to come back in the evening for a third session. In the last two frames he just went through the motions.

Mark Selby had no complaints about the outcome of the match and the session to spare: “I felt great from start to finish – I have done since the start of the event … It’s nice not to have any stress tonight, I’d much rather have the night off than be going out there again at 8-8.”

Mark Williams had no complaints either: “I was totally outplayed, I knew it was over once it got to 10-2. If Mark plays like that then no one can stop him.” (Quotes source: WST) Neil Robertson 8-13 Kyren Wilson Last year runner-up made it as hard as he possibly could for the then tournament favourite and got a comfortable win eventually.

Kyren Wilson managed to shut Neil Robertson out completely in the third session: breaks of 133, 59, 62 and 84 got him in the semi-finals, whilst his opponent only scored 42 points in last five frames of the match.

Neil was honest in his assessment of his own performance: “I feel I lost it in the second session yesterday. Not every session is going to be free flowing, certain players will make it tough and Kyren did that very well against me. “ I wasn’t good enough to keep the game open. I allowed the frames to go on for too long and that knocked me out of my rhythm.”

Kyren was delighted to see his game plan work a treat, and confident in his chances to win the title: “I am delighted to get over the line. Today I focussed on what was at stake and what I needed to do. I channelled the positive thoughts and went for it.

“The century in the first frame today got me motoring. Neil can go off into the distance if you let him so I had to put a stop to that and make him think. He can go into his shell sometimes.

“When he is scoring fluently he is probably the best player in the world so I had to

“NOT EVERY SESSION IS GOING TO BE FREE FLOWING, CERTAIN PLAYERS WILL MAKE IT TOUGH AND KYREN DID THAT VERY WELL AGAINST ME.” Neil Robertson after his defeat to Kyren Wilson

neutralise that. I wasn’t going to hand him the table and say mop them up. I was going to try to make him earn it and work for it.

Neil started the match strongly, he had his scoring boots on.

“I had to get the best result I could out of the first session, and to be 5-3 down and then 8-8 last night gave me a great opportunity going into today. Last year Judd was tipped to win the event and I managed to beat him, this time Neil was tipped for it and I have knocked him out.

“I believe in what I can do, I can beat anyone on my day. I don’t see the point in being in this sport to just turn up for the money and say quarter-finals will do. If I lose in the semi-finals I will go away from here annoyed, it wouldn’t be good enough.

I want to push on and I believe I can win it.”

(Quotes source: WST) For Neil is was another disappointing run at the Crucible, a venue he doesn’t like in the early rounds because it’s too small and cramped: “I don’t like the venue, from a technical point of view it’s very difficult for me to walk into my shot properly, it’s actually almost impossible to do.

“I know a lot of players don’t like the setup, it’s very cramped, not much room. If you put the white in the jaws of the yellow pocket you can’t really play the shot without sitting on that table.”

Indeed, Neil isn’t the only player who struggles with the two tables setup at the Crucible, there really isn’t much space out there.

Shaun Murphy 13-11 Judd Trump Shaun Murphy sent the World number one packing and he was over the moon with it: “It was epic, it was a really high quality match. I’m just thrilled to take the chances in the last two frames having taken an onslaught before that.

“Between sessions I was watching the other match on TV, then they were talking about our game and Stephen Hendry said ‘I expect Judd Trump to come out and play like a world number one.’ I was thinking ‘I don’t want that!’ But the way Judd started tonight was outrageous. “ I’m not an O’Sullivan, a Williams or a Higgins where runs to semis and finals of

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Shaun Murphy looks on as Kyren Wilson builds a break.. Pic: WST World Snooker Tour

this event are commonplace. My career has taken a different path. These matches are a big deal. I will savour it because Judd has been the best player on the planet for the last two years.

“I have won a match that nobody expected me to win. Without doubt it’s one of my best wins of recent years. Judd threw everything at me. But at 11-11 it was the calmest I felt all night because the equation was simple, I still had to win two frames.

“I have played enough of those matches to know that I will get a chance, I just had to be patient. The Crucible has been a house of horrors for me to come back to every year since 2015.

“I had only won two matches here in the last five years. Usually I’d be at home now watching it on the sofa so I’m very excited to be here.”

Actually Judd Trump was nowhere near his best and has not been for some time now. He knew that he wasn’t good enough: “I had a lot of support and it was amazing to feel the energy of the room, that was the only thing that kept me going because I was poor all day. I tried to dig in and find something but I couldn’t get into a rhythm and missed too many easy balls.”. (Quotes source: WST).

It was pleasingly refreshing not to hear Judd moaning about bad luck after a defeat!

Shaun said that it was a high quality match, and it was but he was actually the main provider of that quality.

He came into the last session leading by 10-6 and had scored eleven breaks over 50 at that point, including a 124 and a 104. Fair play to Judd Trump, he made a real fight of 14

it, but he was well below par by his own high standards.

THE SEMI-FINALS Both semi-finals were close and eventful, triggering some strong emotional reactions from all four players involved, and from a lot of fans as well. The whole spectrum of emotions was there on show: delight, anger, disappointment, exultation, there was passion aplenty: sport at its best.

Stuart Bingham 15-17 Mark Selby For the first time at the Crucible, a semifinal match required a fifth session. The whole match lasted over eleven hours and that’s not counting the time spent on frames that were re-racked and there were no less than four re-racks in this match, two in frame 22 and two in frame 26.

The third session, played in the evening of the Saturday finished around 2 am on the Sunday, after Mark Selby played for five snookers in the last frame… in vain.

Stuart Bingham was the heavier scorer: he had sixteen 50+ breaks during the match (60, 92, 82, 62, 83, 127, 51, 131, 96, 78, 68, 63, 100, 51, 85 and 54), whist Mark Selby “only” scored nine of them (52, 134, 134, 52, 62, 51, 68, 125 and 132). The first two sessions were shared. Stuart won the third by 5-3, finishing 13-11 ahead at ungodly hours.

During that third session, Mark Selby was warned by the referee, Ben Williams, for taking too long over a shot. The incident happened in frame 18.

The 19th frame took over 63 minutes, frame 22 featured two re-racks, and the last frame of the session took over 53 minutes, notably because Mark went on for

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an extended period of time, chasing five snookers.

The pace was slow as well in the fourth session, resulting in the players being pulled off after seven frames out of the scheduled nine: the score was 15-16 in favour of Mark Selby. During that session, Mark Selby had an outrageous fluke and celebrated extravagantly.

Stuart Bingham wasn’t impressed. In the additional fifth session, they only played one frame: Stuart had been in front for most of it, had done all the running, but a fiendish snooker from Mark erased his advantage, and forced an error that proved fatal.

Mark Selby was over the moon speaking to WST after his win: “All the hours I put in on the practice table, all the sacrifices being away from home and the family – getting to a world final makes it all worthwhile.

“I need to be on top of my game because Shaun is playing as well as he has for a long time.

“We grew up together, there is only one year between us. We used to play together at Willie Thorne’s club when I was 14 and he was 15. We are still battling now.”

After the match, Stuart claimed that his opponent had been “out of order” and accused him of gamesmanship: “It was maybe on the brink of a bit of gamesmanship.

“Some of the shots, three minutes, then just trickle into the reds. It’s probably [too much]. I think everyone wanted to get out of there … obviously I had a bit of run… the antics he did after that were a bit out of order.”.

Mark however dismissed his opponent’s claims: “I’m not going to go out there, lay

down and make it the Stuart Bingham show, what’s the point of me being here if I’m going to do that?

“He’s probably said things after he’s lost which is always not nice, getting interviewed straight after you’ve lost. He said I’ve played a slow game but our average shot time was the same, we’re playing at the same speed.

“There were a couple of shots that I sort of over-thought a couple of times, but when I got my chances I tried to pick the tempo up among the balls, those two 134s I got on with it. Every time I got a chance, I felt they were always tricky and I had seven or eight difficult shots to get going, “ I had to graft for my chances. Does he expect everyone to go out there and play like Ronnie O’Sullivan? Not everyone is capable of playing like that and as naturally talented as that. Some people have to work harder at the game than others. “ Stuart’s a natural player, you can tell by his technique. I’m not going to just go out there, lay down and roll them over the hole for him, what does he expect?”

Kyren Wilson 12-17 Shaun Murphy This was truly a match of two halves.

Kyren lead by 10-4. At that point he had scored breaks of 110, 72, 127, 121, 70, 69, 52, 60 and 131. He only had one other break over 50 in the rest of the match: a run of 86 in frame 21. From that point on, Shaun Murphy started playing really well and very aggressively. He won 13 on the next 15 frames.

In frame 16, Kyren gave his opponent 57 points in penalty, 53 coming from one particular snooker. It all started when Murphy rolled up behind the blue near the

yellow pocket, with a lot of reds available in open play.

Wilson’s problems began when he misjudged a three-cushion escape, hitting the black close to the target red. He missed on eight attempts in total , hitting the black on seven occasions, and completing missing the balls once.

Those 53 points in penalty are a new – unenviable – record at the Crucible. The previous record was 44 points in 11 attempts.

Kyren wasn’t amused, he was actually furious, especially as the crowd was loving it and Shaun Murphy was playing on it.

Ronnie, in the studio, was impressed by both players. After the first session he compared Kyren to John Higgins: “I’ve never seen Kyren play eight frames of snooker like that. He’s obviously been working really hard on his break-building over the years.

“It comes in bits and pieces but today he was as good as anybody. Even a John Higgins on form would have been very happy with that type of positional play.”

Shaun Murphy though came to life towards the end of the second session: he won the last two frame of the afternoon on Saturday and he started involving the crowd, giving it a big fist pump on his way out of the arena.

The match turned on its head. Shaun continued in the same vein for the next two sessions: going for everything, getting most, celebrating his shots wildly and getting the crowd on his side.

Speaking to WST Kyren declared: “I am having to hold myself back from throwing the microphone out of the window. I am raging. I came here to win the tournament,

not to get to the semi-finals. I’m still knocking on the door and I’ll be back next year.”

Whilst Shaun said: “Apart from winning the tournament, this is the best feeling you get in snooker. Will I sleep tonight? I’m not sure. My game is in really good shape.

“I have run into people playing out of their skin this season, but this fortnight things have gone my way. I was 6-2 and 10-4 down but I kept telling myself the finish line was still a long way off.

“In matches of that length there is always ebb and flow. The crowd has made a massive difference, they have been my 12th man. They have fed me and I have tried to give them a bit back. I have always needed that big stage.

“All the top psychologists say you have got to enjoy it out there to perform to your best. There have been times this season where I have not really enjoyed it. But I have this week.

“It would mean the absolute world to win a second title. It would be a thrill to be in that club of players who have won it more than once. I’ll be second favourite in the final and that suits me down to the ground.”

Phil Haigh reported further reactions from both players. Kyren said: “I think it looks a bit silly, it’s not for me. Shaun’s got to do what he’s got to do to try and get to me. I’m not saying it did. But fair play to him, he’s a great champion and he got on a roll.”

Shaun of course defended his own behaviour as well as involving the crowd: “‘Fist pumps, I personally don’t have a problem with it, I think we need that in sport, I think it’s something that snooker, we don’t have that in common with other sports. I

The two finalists touch elbows. Pic: WST World Snooker Tour BECAUSE EVERY CUE SPORTS PLAYER NEEDS IT // www.thechalk.co.uk

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don’t think there’s anything wrong with it or I was disrespectful to Kyren in any way, it was celebrating my shots at my time and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.

“We are in a theatre, this is a show, it wasn’t designed to annoy him in any way or put him off at all.

“There is much more to winning major snooker events in front of live audiences than just hitting the cue ball in a straight line and putting balls in pockets, there’s a lot more going on. Maybe that’s a stone that Kyren hasn’t looked under just yet.”

THE FINAL Mark Selby 18-15 Shaun Murphy Mark Selby won the title in the second session, on Sunday evening. Shaun Murphy had won the afternoon session by 5-3, but Mark managed to win seven of the nine frames they played in the evening: it was hard match snooker.

That gave him a three frames cushion that he managed to maintain throughout the next two sessions. Ronnie and the ES pundits reckoned that Shaun’s only chance to win would have been to do what he does better: attack and score.

That wasn’t enough though, partly because, under extreme pressure, Shaun struggled to finish off frames when first in, partly because he took too many risks at times and, mainly, because Mark was playing very well himself and granite under pressure.

Here is what both players had to say after the match: Shaun Murphy: “Mark is super granite. I have known him since we were nine years of age and he has always been the same.

I started the match well and he went into super-hard mode.

“He broke me last night and it was tough to give him a three frame lead, in the end that’s what made the difference. When I made two centuries to go 17-15 I thought I was in with a chance, but it wasn’t to be.

“Life has been very difficult for everyone in the last 12 months. I want to say a very deep personal thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket and come here over the last 17 days.

“Sport is nothing without the fans and we have been so delighted to have everyone back for the past fortnight. I am gutted to lose but thrilled to have been part of a great match.”

Mark Selby: “It’s unbelievable to win it for a fourth time. It’s such a tough tournament.

To beat O’Sullivan to win my first title in 2014 was a dream come true.

“To win it tonight with my daughter Sofia there, now she is old enough to understand what’s happening, is on a par. Shaun played fantastic, he is a great player and a great ambassador.

“A few years ago I had some really dark days, times were tough. All my family and people who are close to me will understand what I am going through now. This is a special one.

“When I came here last year I wasn’t too confident, and Chris Henry got me within one frame of the final. And by working with him this year I have seen a massive change in terms of my self-belief because I was fragile before.

“It is such a tough sport mentally and you 16

can’t win this event if you doubt yourself.

My aim now is to get back to world number one, but that will be tough because Judd Trump has been winning so much for the past two years.”

THE TALKING POINTS Willo’s defensive break-off Mark Williams started breaking off differently in the course of the season because he was sick and tired of leave a red for his opponent off the commonly used break-off: instead of bringing the white back to baulk, he decided to send it to rest at the back of the pack.

A few players and pundits branded this move as “negative”. Judd Trump and Neil Foulds were the most “vocal” ones and even suggested that this shot should not be allowed. Judd’s argument was that nobody wants to spend five to ten minutes sorting out the situation before going back to “normal”.

This argument doesn’t hold: in all the frames we witnessed starting that way the situation was back to “normal” after three to five shots at most and it came with a bonus.

Indeed the black was free, contrary to what happens most of the time with the more commonly used break-off.

Early in the Championship, Antony Hamilton mentioned in commentary that WPBSA had sent a letter to the players, asking their opinion on the matter.

Anthony’s feeling was that this was an indication that they were seriously considering to “ban” that shot. It’s a perfectly legal shot, and if one such shot is banned because it is deemed negative and some players don’t like it, where does it stop?

Would they also consider to “ban” rolling behind a colour or pushing a ball safe on a cushion? This would be opening a can of worms really. Meanwhile more players were adopting Willo’s way of breaking off: Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Allen amongst them.

Fortunately WPBSA eventually decided that there wasn’t a case to do anything. All the same, the fact that they sent that letter because a minority was displeased with a perfectly legal shot is in itself worrying.

I’d dare to say that what annoyed Judd the most was to be “robbed” of the opportunity to slot in a long red at the start of each frame and win right from there because “smart” Willo had found “the parry”.

Refreshed BBC coverage and a pundit kicked out of the studio Ahead of the championship, Judd Trump had claimed that snooker is stuck in the past and needs fixing. I don’t agree with everything he says there, but I certainly agree with the fact that there is too much focus on the past, particularly from the BBC. Some of their commentators have stopped playing professionally a very long time ago and the way snooker is played nowadays seems to elude their understanding. They often fail to do their research about the younger players, shamelessly admitting that the know nothing about them.

They also tend to rehash the same anecdotes about players of the past every year, and about the 1985 final of course. A lot of younger viewers can’t related to those stories and people because it all happened

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“A FEW YEARS AGO I HAD SOME REALLY DARK DAYS, TIMES WERE TOUGH. ALL MY FAMILY AND PEOPLE WHO ARE CLOSE TO ME WILL UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM GOING THROUGH NOW. THIS IS A SPECIAL ONE. ” Winner Mark Selby after the win over Shaun Murphy.

well before they started getting an interest in snooker.

This year the BBC invited Reanne Evans, Jack Lisowski and Judd Trump in the studio and/or the commentary boxes. All three were excellent: their contributions were intelligent, relevant to the matches situation, articulate and up-to-date.

There was one incident that shocked me though: on the first day of the quarterfinals, Reanne Evans was asked to leave the studio, because Mark Allen complained that her presence was a distraction.

According to Hector Nunns, a well respected sports journalist, this is what happened: Reanne Evans was in the BBC studio with Radzi ready for the live show, Mark Allen was in the nearby practice area ahead of his match and asked for her to be removed because she was a “distraction”.

WST has the final say on such matters and Reanne was asked to leave the studio for a short while, which she reluctantly did.

She was quite upset. Mark and Reanne were an item years ago and have a fourteen year old daughter, Lauren.

They are currently in a dispute over Lauren’s maintenance payments. This is obviously a private matter and one about which Mark Allen seems to be bitter but does that give him the right to ask for his ex to be removed from the work place when she clearly isn’t doing anything wrong or unusual? I don’t think so.

Conclusion It was a great championship made even more special by the return of the crowd.

Mark Selby was the best player by far in the early rounds and managed to stay solid during the semi-final and the final.

Now a four times World Champion and still only 37, he has a realistic chance to equal or surpass Ronnie O’Sullivan’s or even Stephen Hendry’s tally of World titles. Will he do it? Time will tell.

All detailed results for the main event are on snooker.org.

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 talks about some basic principles to bear in mind when playing for position, and trying to make your next shot as easy as possible. You can improve your margin of error, when playing for position, by making the cue ball travel into the line of the shot rather than across the line of the shot.

Barry demonstrates two typical examples of positional play and how to achieve good cue ball position ready for the next shot. Depending on how you strike the ball using side, stun, screw or just plain ball the effect will be different.

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FERGUSON HAILS HEARN CONTRIBUTION >> www.wpbsa.com <<

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PBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson has paid tribute to the enormous contribution made to our sport by Barry Hearn OBE following the announcement that he is to step down as chairman of World Snooker Tour (WST) after more than a decade at the helm.

With an association with our sport dating back to the 1970s, Hearn returned to snooker in late 2009 at the behest of our playing members, at a time when the number of events had reduced to worrying levels, with total prize money across the tour at £3.5m.

Since then, the 72-year-old, together with his team at Matchroom Sport, has been instrumental role in taking our sport to new heights, with total prize money increased to £17m by 2020, with over 25 events staged annually. Hearn’s significant expertise in respect of event delivery and commercialisation has been fundamental to this.

His son Eddie will now become Chairman of the Matchroom Sport Group, with current WST Chief Executive Officer Steve Dawson taking over as Chairman of WST following this year’s World Snooker Championship.

Following his return to the sport, one of Hearn’s first decisions was to ask Jason Ferguson to return to the sport as chairman of snooker’s world governing body the WPBSA, a role which he continues to hold to this day. Together, both the WPBSA and

WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson with Barry Hearn.

WST have overseen not only the expansion of the professional tour, but the significant globalisation of our sport as a whole, which has never been as popular both in terms of participation and viewership around the world.

Ferguson said: “I am hugely thankful for the time that I have had working alongside Barry. He is an inspirational character who works tirelessly for sport, sportsmen and women the world over. He is the type of character that just makes you want to get up early everyday and get the job done.

“At our first players meeting just over 10 years ago, Barry said to our players, “I wont let you down”. Well Barry, you certainly didn’t. Like every great champion in any sport, through dedication, hard work and

discipline, you stepped up to the plate and produced incredible results.”

“On behalf of every snooker player, I can only say a heartfelt thank you for your outstanding contribution to our sport.

“Although the past 12 months have not been without challenges, our sport has never been in better shape and this is testament to the hard work of Barry and the team over the past decade.

“In Steve Dawson, we have someone who knows our sport inside out, with over 35 years of experience at Matchroom Sport, including 10 years as Chief Executive of WST. He has been an integral part of our business already and I am sure our path of global expansion will continue during his time as chairman.”

WATCH DENNIS TAYLOR EMOTIONAL RETIREMENT

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egend Dennis Taylor has hung up his snooker cue.

The 72-year-old was beaten 3-0 by Barry Pinches in the first round of the World Seniors Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield.

Taylor, who turned pro in 1972, received a standing ovation from fellow players and officials by the table.

And he even kissed the top of the world professional trophy.

He said: “That is my last competitive match ever. What a way to finish here at the Crucible Theatre. I have enjoyed every minute of the Seniors tour and the standard is getting so high.”

You can watch the emotional interview with Rob Walker by clicking the image.

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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.

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PRO SERIES DRAW AND REVIEW >> GET 20% OFF BY USING THE CODE JIMMY20 ON WWW.PROPOOL.LIVE << >> By Sean Trivass - www.ipapool.com <<

T

he draw has been made for the upcoming pay per view event that features the top stars from the IPA and snooker legend Jimmy White, going head to head in this unique competition.

The draw has thrown up some fascinating match ups, and our ‘experts’ give us their views on each one.

“Never an easy task working out who will or won’t win a pool match regardless of the number of frames involved, but after lockdown when we have no idea of current form, life gets that little bit harder.

Add in the fact that I know all the players (with the exception of Jimmy White) and will take plenty of ribbing for my opinions, and I am caught between a rock and a hard place, but work is work and we rumble on regardless. Four matches to start with – but who do I think will win, and why?

Mark Boyle v Liam Dunster An all Scottish battle to start proceedings and every chance we could be in for a real cliffhangar. I would be very surprised if there was much between them in the betting though Liam is the current rankings number one and that may possibly give him the confidence edge.

Still improving at the age of 27, his trophy haul reads well with a long list of IPA event successes both open and professional, and although the IPA World Championship has eluded him so far, most feel it is only a matter of time before he adds his name to that particular trophy.

Mark is “only” ranked 6 at present, but as an ex snooker player who only turned pro as recently as 2018, he is still learning the intricacies of the game and is not one you want to be writing off too early.

Conclusion: A possible battle of attitudes here and it will be intriguing to see whether each player cancels the other out. Liam can be seen as the more cautious of the two but is more than capable of pulling off outrageous shots when needed, and this should be a mouthwatering opener to the whole tournament – may the best man win.

Selection: Liam Dunster Tom Cousins v Gavin Robinson No such thing as an easy draw in the line-up I am sorry to say, though if you only look at the rankings then number 16 Gavin Robinson has the edge over number 41 Tom Cousins – but statistics don’t tell the whole story. Tom only came over to blackball rules from elsewhere recently and had to work his way up before qualifying to turn professional

GET 20% OFF BY USING THE CODE JIMMY20 ON WWW.PROPOOL.LIVE last year, after which, well, we have had to sit and suffer covid. Runner-up to Marc Farnsworth in the 2019 IPA World Championships as an amateur, if he can get his hammer of a break going then he will prove very hard to beat, whoever he faces round by round.

Gavin is a very talented opponent and sure to break his IPA duck some time soon, but if I was a betting man (and I am), I can only see this going one way.

Conclusion: There is no way on earth that Gavin will roll over and he is a battler to the last, but the break may well make all the difference here, and that points me in only one direction.

Selection: Tom Cousins Jimmy White v Clint I’Anson I feel like I am the only one who thinks this could be a lot tighter than other experts predict. Of course Clint has all the pool experience in the World to call upon, this is his sport and one he shines at, but life is never quite that simple.

Tactically I give Clint the clear edge here with his years of experience of the game that includes winning numerous IPA tour titles, and it will be more than a little interesting to see how Jimmy adapts to a smaller table and very different tactics.

The advantage Jimmy may have is recent table time, albeit on a snooker table, and as there is no substitute for match practice, that could theoretically bring them closer together.

I am confident Jimmy will have put in a good few hours on a pool table as well before turning up here and will make a real match of things, making this potentially tighter than the odds imply.

Conclusion: Jimmy isn’t here just to make up the numbers and with a decent prize on offer, I expect him to put up a very bold showing. If Clint tries to pot his opponent off the table it could be close, but if he uses his tactical knowledge to his best advantage that could be precisely what is needed to come home in front.

Selection: Clint I’Anson Marc Farnsworth v Ben Davies Two previous IPA World Champions in a match makes for possibly the most exciting of the draw and the toughest one to even attempt to call. When Ben is in full flow I confess he is one of my favourite players to watch, while Marc is meticulous, calculated, and on his day, close to unbeatable.

I would be more confident of the result of tossing a coin it is that close on paper, with a huge list of top event successes for both players, and years of experience between them to call upon.

This one could be down to who has put in the most hours on the practice table, and unknown quantity, though who knows how many spare hours Ben has left after the successful launch of www. onboardsportswear.com, while Marc is a successful businessman in his own right too with the Skylounge pool centre one part of his busy lifestyle.

Conclusion: I really don’t want to have to call this one as it looks likely to be down to the run of the balls and the pool Gods as much as anything, with nothing to choose between the pair. Marc has been playing in recent tournaments which may, just may give him the finest of edges here” Selection: Marc Farnsworth

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DAVID LILLEY CROWNED SENIOR CHAMPION 2021 >>Report by WST/WPBSA | Pictures by Andy Chubb <<

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avid Lilley claimed the biggest title of his career as he dethroned defending champion Jimmy White 5-3 in the final at the Crucible Theatre to win the 2021 ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Championship.

Playing in the final stages of this event for the first time, Lilley’s title journey began in January when he entered the initial Q-School qualifying competition in Reading. Nine match wins and four months later, he was lifting the trophy at the sport’s most iconic venue.

The 45-year-old from Washington – who was making his competitive debut at the Crucible – had eliminated Philip Williams, Ken Doherty and Patrick Wallace to reach the title match. During his late-night quarter-final clash with Doherty the day before he produced a 22

steely effort of 69 in a deciding frame to win 4-3.

Lilley settled his nerves in the final with a 74 break to claim the opener, before pinching a close second frame with a break of 35 to win on the pink.

He then chalked up the third to put himself in firm control at 3-0.

Aiming for his third successive world seniors title – and fourth overall – White had done little wrong. He eventually managed to get a foothold in the tie, constructing a classy run of 85 to go into the mid-session interval on a positive note.

The Whirlwind continued to gain momentum on resumption, racking up contributions of 42, 63 and 56 in the following two frames for parity at 3-3 and to threaten another epic recovery,

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after coming back from 4-0 down to beat Doherty 5-4 in last year’s final.

A nervy seventh frame ensued, with White squandering a glorious chance on the colours to take the front. Lilley leaped on his unexpected opportunity to retake the lead at 4-3, before keeping his cool with a tournament winning break of 69 in frame eight.

Speaking to Rob Walker after his triumph, Lilley said: “I’m a bit speechless, I didn’t think I’d get this emotional.

Jimmy is my hero – he’s everyone’s hero. I really don’t know what to say; I’m just so happy.”

As well as the title and trophy, Lilley banks £15,000 and is in position to claim a place at the prestigious Champion of Champions later this year in Bolton.

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DID YOU VISIT THE NEW RONNIE SHOP IN SHEFFIELD? >> www.ronnieosullivanshop.com <<

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ans at the World Snooker Championship this year had the chance to see some of the personal snooker items of Ronnie O’Sullivan. The shop based at Meadowhall launched his new clothing line, his memorabilia but also housed some of his most prized trophies.

The BBC took Ronnie on a tour of his shop and the clip can be viewed by clicking the image below.

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GOT A STORY? HOLDING AN EVENT?

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Picture by Andy Chubb

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Snooker Legends

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