1990 World Snooker Championship

The World Snooker Championship is an annual professional snooker tournament organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). The cue sport of snooker was invented in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India, and later became popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era, which started in 1969 when the World Championship reverted to a knockout format, it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand. The 1990 championship featured 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each round being played over a pre-determined number of , and each match divided into two or more s containing a set number of frames. These competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the snooker world rankings and the winners of a pre-tournament qualification stage. The defending champion in 1989 was Steve Davis, who had defeated John Parrott 18–3 in the final of the 1988 World Snooker Championship to win his sixth world title. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy, and was also referred to as the Embassy World Snooker Championship. • Winner: £120,000 • Runner-up: £72,000 • Semi-final: £36,000 • Quarter-final: £18,000 • Last 16: £9,000 • Last 32: £5,000 • Fifth qualifying round losers: £4,000 • Fourth qualifying round losers: £2062.50 • Third qualifying round losers: £400 • Second qualifying round losers: £250 • Televised rounds highest break: £12,000 • Qualifying rounds highest break: £3,000 • Televised rounds maximum break: £100,000 ==Tournament summary==

Qualifying The first four rounds of the qualifying competition were played at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool from 22 to 27 January 1990, and the fifth round was played at Preston Guild Hall from 26 to 27 March. All qualifying round matches were the best-of-19 frames. Bill Werbeniuk, who had been expelled from the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for refusing to pay a fine relating to the use of Beta blockers, was permitted to compete in a tournament for the first time since September 1988. He lost 1–10 to Nigel Bond. In the second round, Marcel Gauvreau defeated 1957 runner-up Jackie Rea after needing two in the . Eight-time champion Fred Davis, aged 76, was eliminated 6–10 by Ian Brumby. In the third round, Murdo MacLeod recovered from 2–7 behind to defeat Nick Dyson 10–9. In another match that went to the deciding frame, Mick Price won the last three frames to defeat Steve Duggan. Chappel, in what turned out to be his only appearance at the main tournament, and Gilbert who both lost 4–10, to Tony Knowles and Terry Griffiths respectively. Gollan, who had won five matches just to qualify, led Doug Mountjoy 8–7 before losing the last three frames. Higgins lost 5–10 to Steve James in the first round. In the eleventh frame, James was awarded a free ball in a frame before any reds had been potted. In taking a baulk colour as an extra and compiling a total clearance of 135; the break became the first in a professional tournament. After losing the match, Higgins remained in his seat in the arena for some time, ordering several vodka and orange drinks, slouched in his chair and twitching. Afterwards, he punched tournament official Colin Randle in the abdomen before the start of a press conference at which he announced his retirement, and criticised the WPBSA and the press. This followed another incident at the 1990 World Cup, where he repeatedly argued with fellow player and compatriot Dennis Taylor, insulting his late mother and threatening to have him shot if he returned to Northern Ireland. For his conduct, Higgins was banned for the rest of the season and all of the next. Although he made a 102 break in the 5th frame, Tony Drago trailed Willie Thorne 3–6 after their first session. Drago, who playing rashly according to journalist Janice Hale, lost the match 4–10. Jimmy White led Fowler 6–3 after their first session and went on to win 10–4. From 4–5 down against 1986 champion Joe Johnson he went on to win 10–8. Parrott trailed Bennett 7–9, but took the next two to force a deciding frame that he won on the after a break of 69 after being 59 points behind. Second round (pictured in 1991) reached the quarter-finals for the seventh consecutive year. The second session finished with Davis 11–5 up, and he went on to win 13–7. Griffiths led Knowles 10–3 and 11–5, and won 13–6. During the 16th frame, referee John Williams judged that Meo had made a foul push shot; after this, Hendry made a break of 106. Thorburn won the deciding frame against Mountjoy at nearly 1:00a.m., in a match that took 12 hours and 37 minutes. Parrot won the 24th frame by fluking the pink ball. Semi-finals The semi-finals took place between 25 and 27 April as best-of-31-frames matches played over four sessions. For the first time since 1982, Davis failed to reach the final, losing 14–16 to White in the semi-final. It was the first time White had defeated Davis at the Crucible after Davis had eliminated White in four previous encounters. After White had won the first frame, Hendry equalised with a break of 72, but a miss and foul by Hendry in the third frame gave White the chance to regain the lead. On the second day, Hendry won the first four frames, making a break of 104 in the second, with White failing to pot a ball in three of them. He became the youngest-ever world champion at the age of 21 years and 106 days, overtaking Alex Higgins, who had won the 1972 World Snooker Championship a few days before his 23rd birthday. The final attracted 7.55million viewers on BBC2. Hendry went on to win six more world titles, including further victories over White in the 1992, 1993 and 1994 finals. == Main draw ==

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks; there were 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers. ==Qualifying==

Players in bold denote match winners. ==Century breaks==

There were 18 century breaks in the championship. The highest break was 140 made by John Parrott. • 140 John Parrott • 135 Steve James • 131, 100 Terry Griffiths • 128 Cliff Thorburn • 118, 117, 112 Steve Davis • 117, 108, 108, 106, 104, 103 Stephen Hendry • 109 Willie Thorne • 105 Jimmy White • 104 Darren Morgan • 102 Tony Drago Qualifying stages There were 22 century breaks in the qualifying stages; the highest, 135, was made by Nigel Gilbert in his fifth round defeat of David Roe. • 135, 131 Nigel Gilbert • 133 Neal Foulds • 131, 105 Mick Price • 126, 109, 101 Mark Johnston-Allen • 123 Danny Fowler • 120 Ray Reardon • 117 Tony Chappel • 113 Brian Morgan • 111 Ken Owers • 110, 110, 106, 101 Alain Robidoux • 110 Robert Marshall • 107 Tony Kearney • 105 Nigel Bond • 104 Steve Duggan • 100 Tommy Murphy ==Notes==