Embassy World Snooker Championship
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| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue |
Crucible Theatre (since 1977) |
| Location | Sheffield |
| Country | England |
| Established | 1927 |
| Organisation(s) | World Snooker Association |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | UK £1,750,000 |
| Recent edition | 2017 |
| Current champion(s) |
 Mark Selby
|
The World Snooker Championship is the leading snooker tournament both in terms of prestige and prize money. The first championship was held in 1927 and was won by Joe Davis. Davis won the first 15 championships before retiring from the event, undefeated, after his 1946 success. In the 1950s snooker went into a period of decline and the championship was not held after 1952, although an unofficial championship was held until 1957. In 1964 the championship was revived on a challenge basis and in 1969 the championship became a knock-out event again. Since 1977 it has been played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament is currently played over 17 days and ends on the first Monday in May. In the modern era (since 1969), the best record is that of Stephen Hendry, who won the title seven times. Steve Davis and Ray Reardon both won six times while Ronnie O'Sullivan has won five titles. The current champion is Mark Selby, who has won the tournament three times.
The first championship was held in 1927 and was called the Professional Snooker Championship. It was the first important professional snooker tournament although the English Amateur Championship has been contested since 1916. Ten professionals entered including most of the leading billiards players. The draw was made at the start of the season and the players made their own arrangements about the dates and venue for the matches, although it was decided in advance that the semi-finals and final would be in Birmingham. Matches were over 15 frames with the semi-finals over 23 frames and final over 31 frames. The first match played was between Melbourne Inman and Tom Newman at Thurston's Hall, Leicester Square in London. The snooker was played as an added extra to the main event, a billiards match played over two weeks. The match started on Monday 29 November 1926 and one frame of snooker was played at the end of each session. Inman won 8–5, the match finishing on the Monday afternoon, a week after it started. One other match was played in connection with a billiards contest but the remaining matches were snooker-only matches. With minimal prize money, players mainly made money from their share of the gate receipts. Because of this it was common for "dead" frames to be played after the result of the match had been decided. The final between Joe Davis and Tom Dennis was played over four days in early May at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham. Davis won the first seven frames and led throughout, taking a winning 16–7 lead on the third day, eventually winning 20–11. The highest break of the tournament was 60, made by Albert Cope in his semi-final match against Davis, in a dead frame after Davis had won the match. Davis made a 57 break in the final.
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