World Snooker Championship

The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it is now one of the three tournaments (together with the UK Championship and the invitational Masters) that make up snooker's Triple Crown Series. The reigning world champion is Zhao Xintong.

Joe Davis dominated the tournament over its first two decades, winning the first 15 world championships before he retired undefeated after his final victory in 1946. The distinctive World Championship trophy, topped by a Greek shepherdess figurine retrospectively known as the Silver Lady, was acquired by Davis back in 1926. No tournaments were held between 1941 and 1945 due to World War II, or between 1952 and 1963 due to a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC) where the PBPA held an unofficial alternative Championship; the official championship was revived on a challenge basis in 1964 and reverted to the knockout format in 1969, now known as the beginning of snooker's modern era. It has taken place annually with every edition since 1977 staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Under a format that has remained largely unchanged since 1982, 32 players reach the Crucible each year; the top 16 players in the world rankings qualify automatically, while another 16 players win places through a qualification tournament; only four qualifiers have ever won the tournament (Alex Higgins in 1972, Terry Griffiths in 1979, Shaun Murphy in 2005 and Zhao Xintong in 2025). Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan have each won seven times to jointly hold the record of most world titles in the modern era. Ray Reardon and Steve Davis have won six titles; John Higgins and Mark Selby four; John Spencer and Mark Williams three; and Alex Higgins two. As of 2025, 29 players have won the Championship.

Fifteen maximum breaks have been made in the history of the tournament, by eleven different players—Cliff Thorburn compiled the first in 1983, and Mark Allen made the most recent in 2025. A record 109 century breaks were made at the Crucible in 2022.

The first championship was held in 1927, where it was known as the Professional Snooker Championship. It was the first professional snooker tournament although the English Amateur Championship has been contested since 1916. Ten professionals entered including most of the leading English billiards players. Matches were over 15 frames with the semi-finals over twenty-three 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. 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 took a winning 16–7 lead on the third day, eventually winning 20–11. The highest break of the tournament was sixty, made by Albert Cope in his semi-final match against Davis, in a dead frame after Davis had won the match.

The 1928 Championship was played on a challenge basis, with the other six entries playing-off for the right to challenge Davis in the final. Fred Lawrence progressed to the final, but lost 13–16. The challenge system was dropped in the 1929 event. Davis met Dennis in the final, played in Dennis's home town of Nottingham. Davis made a new record break of 61, on the way to a 19–14 victory. The same pair met in the 1930 final, played for the first time at Thurston's Hall in London, with Davis winning 25–12, with a day to spare and made a new record break of 79. With little prospect of success and little prospect of financial gain, there were only two entries for the 1931 championship. Davis and Tom Dennis met for the fourth time, the event being played in Nottingham. Dennis led 19–16 at one stage, but Davis won nine of the next eleven frames to take the Championship 25–21.

There were three entries for the 1932 tournament. Clark McConachy met Davis in the final, played at Thurston's Hall. Davis took the title after a 30–19 win, and set a new record with a break of 99, missing out on his century after he snookered himself. There were five entries in 1933, with debutant Willie Smith meeting Davis in the final, but lost 18–25. There were just two entries in 1934, Davis being opposed by Tom Newman, six times World Billiards Champion. The match was held partly in Nottingham before finishing in Kettering, with Davis winning 25–22.

The 1935 Championship introduced some significant changes. It was the first to incorporate "world" in its name, being called the World's Professional Snooker Championship. There was also a change in the organisation of the event with the matches being played consecutively at the same venue, Thurston's Hall in London. In the period from 1935 to 1940, nearly all World Championship matches were played there and with good attendances the professionals could make some money from their share of the entrance charges. Because of the importance of gate receipts, all frames were played out, even if a player had already won the match.^{[citation needed]}