Tournament History

The World Snooker Championship

Having secured a sponsorship deal with cigarette brand Embassy the previous year, 1977 proved to be a pivotal year in which the popularity of The World Snooker Championships, and Snooker as a whole, began its steady rise.

It was the first year the event was hosted at the now famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, a venue now synonymous with the Championship, and it was also the first year in which the BBC began to provide substantial television coverage for the event.

Today, The World Championship is the richest, oldest and most important tournament in snooker with a long-frame format lasting a marathon 17 days, making it one of the longest events in all of sport.

Past Winners

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Year	Winner	Runner Up	Score
1977	John Spencer	Cliff Thornburn	25-12
1978	Ray Reardon	Perrie Mans	25-18
1979	Terry Griffiths	Dennis Taylor	24-16
1980	Cliff Thorburn	Alex Higgins	18-16
1981	Steve Davis	Doug Mountjoy	18-12
1982	Alex Higgins	Ray Reardon	18-15
1983	Steve Davis	Cliff Thorburn	18-6
1984	Steve Davis	Jimmy White	18-16
1985	Dennis Taylor	Steve Davis	18-17
1986	Joe Johnson	Steve Davis	18-12
1987	Steve Davis	Joe Johnson	18-14
1988	Steve Davis	Terry Griffiths	18-11
1989	Steve Davis	John Parrott	18-3
1990	Stephen Hendry	Jimmy White	18-12
1991	John Parrott	Jimmy White	18-11
1992	Stephen Hendry	Jimmy White	18-14
1993	Stephen Hendry	Jimmy White	18-5
1994	Stephen Hendry	Jimmy White	18-17
1995	Stephen Hendry	Nigel Bond	18-9
1996	Stephen Hendry	Peter Ebdon	18-12
1997	Ken Doherty	Stephen Hendry	18-12
1998	John Higgins	Ken Doherty	18-12
1999	Stephen Hendry	Mark Williams	18-11
2000	Mark Williams	Matthew Stevens	18-16
2001	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	18-14
2002	Peter Ebdon	Stephen Hendry	18-17
2003	Mark Williams	Ken Doherty	18-16
2004	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Graeme Dott	18-8
2005	Shaun Murphy	Matthew Stevens	18-16
2006	Graeme Dott	Peter Ebdon	18-14
2007	John Higgins	Mark Selby	18-13
2008	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Ali Carter	18-8

Records

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Rank	Name	Nationality	Winner	Runner Up	Semifinalist	147s
1	Stephen Hendry	Scotland	7	2	12	1 ('95)
2	Steve Davis	England	6	2	11	0
3	Ray Reardon	Wales	6	1	10	0
4	John Spencer	England	3	1	6	0
5	Ronnie O'Sullivan	England	3	0	8	3 ('97, '03, '08)
6	Alex Higgins	Northern Ireland	2	2	7	0
7	John Higgins	Scotland	2	1	5	0
8	Mark Williams	Wales	2	1	4	1 ('05)
9	Cliff Thorburn	Canada	1	2	6	1 ('83)
10	Peter Ebdon	England	1	2	4	0
11	Ken Doherty	Ireland	1	2	3	0
12	Denis Taylor	Northern Ireland	1	1	5	0
13	Terry Griffiths	Wales	1	1	3	0
13	John Parrott	England	1	1	3	0
15	Joe Johnson	England	1	1	2	0
15	Graeme Dott	Scotland	1	1	2	0
17	Shaun Murphy	England	1	0	2	0
18	Jimmy White	England	0	6	10	1 ('92)
19	Eddie Charlton	Australia	0	2	8	0
20	Matthew Stevens	Wales	0	2	4	0

Trivia

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• What is now known as the World Snooker Championships was first held in 1927 and was won by the legendary Joe Davis.
• No tournaments were arranged during the Second World War between 1941 and 1945.
• During a period of decline for the sport there were also no tournaments held between 1958 and 1963, returning in 1964 with a series of challenge matches up until 1968.
• Since the tournament was first conceived in 1927, the greatest number of wins is 15 by Joe Davis. However, this was in an era when there were few professional players and far few matches required. In the modern era of the game (generally thought to be from 1977 onwards), it is Stephen Hendry with 7 wins to date who has the best record.
• When Stephen Hendry won the Championship for the very first time in 1990, he became the youngest player to ever win the tournament at 21.
• The first 147 in the championship was achieved by Cliff Thorburn in 1983. Ronnie O'Sullivan is the only player to date to achieve this feat more than once, scoring a maximum in 1997, 2003 and 2008.
• Jimmy White has reached 6 finals, he has never won. The cloest he came was a 18-17 defeat in 1994 against Stephen Hendry.