2023 International Championship

The event was the ninth iteration of the International Championship, first held in 2012. The event took place from 5 to 12 November 2023 in Tianjin, China. Qualifying for the event was held from 18 to 23 September 2023 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. Matches were best of 11 until the semi-finals, which were best of 17 frames, and the final was a best-of-19-frames match. The event was broadcast domestically in China by CCTV-5, Migu, Youku, and Huya Live; in Thailand on True Sports; in Hong Kong on Now TV; and in Europe (including the UK) by Eurosport and Discovery+. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories. Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below: • Winner: £175,000 • Runner-up: £75,000 • Semi-final: £33,000 • Quarter-final: £22,000 • Last 16: £14,000 • Last 32: £9,000 • Last 64: £5,000 • Highest break: £5,000 • Total: £825,000 ==Summary==

Qualifying round Ryan Day made his fourth professional maximum break in his qualifying match against Mink Nutcharut, which Day won . The 12th seed, Robert Milkins was beaten by Marco Fu, and the 24th seed, Joe Perry was beaten by Dylan Emery. Mark Williams made his 600th career century break in his win over Rebecca Kenna. Top seed Trump extended his winning streak to 21 matches with a defeat of 12-year-old Chinese wildcard Wang Xinzhong, who previously prevailed over another wildcard Gong Chenzhi by on the same day. Second seed Luca Brecel had a win over Daniel Womersley. Third seed Ronnie O'Sullivan scored a win over Ken Doherty. Last 64 The last-64 matches were played on 5 and 6 November. Last 32 (pictured) was beaten by Stephen Maguire in the last-32. The last-32 matches were played on 7 November. Last 16 The last-16 matches were played on 8 November. Both O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui won their last-16 matches by , beating Anthony McGill and Pang Junxu respectively. Later rounds Quarter-finals The quarter-finals were played on 9 November. In the evening session O'Sullivan defeated Ali Carter , and Zhang beat Ding . Semi-finals (pictured) defeated Jordan Brown in the first semi-final to reach his third career ranking final, but lost to Zhang Anda. The semi-finals were played as the best of 17 frames over two sessions on 10 and 11 November. In the evening session, Brown made a century of 134 in the ninth frame and went on to establish a lead. Ford then made three centuries in a row to lead by , and won the match with a break of 57 in the last frame. Ford said: "I don't feel as though I'm going to fall apart this week. It doesn't matter who I play, I feel like I can get in the balls and play as well as anybody." Brown said: "I was disappointed with the way I played to be honest. I don't want to take anything away from Tom. I thought he finished off the match very well. I think I just ran out of gas in the end." O'Sullivan played Zhang on 11 November, with the afternoon session ending all square at . In the evening session, Zhang won the match , taking all of the last five frames with a century (114) in the 13th frame. Zhang said: "I personally like to play the long matches, because my performance in these matches is quite good. It makes it easier for me to feel involved, and it will slowly get me into the rhythm of the game." O'Sullivan said: "He played well and deserved to win. He was the better player on the day, so fair play to him. I expected him to be like that as I've played him a few times, he was solid. He is a fantastic player, I don't know where he has been for the last ten years." Final (pictured) won his first ranking title by defeating Tom Ford in the final. The final was played as the best of 19 frames over two sessions between Ford and Zhang on 12 November. It is the first ranking event final since the 2022 Scottish Open to feature two players who have not won a ranking title before. The session ended with Zhang leading Ford , with Zhang making a 101 break in the ninth frame. In the evening session, Ford made a 91 break to even the score at . Zhang won four consecutive frames to lead by , making a 108 break in the 13th frame, and won the final . Zhang said: "I'm feeling extremely excited. During the pandemic, I had considered retiring and giving up. But later on, I couldn't bear it and chose to return to the arena. I have been doing quite well in the past two or three years." Ford said: "I am gutted I got beat. Zhang was the better player so hats off to him. He deserved to win. It has been an amazing week. A nice arena and a big crowd. It is always good to come to China." ==Main draw==

The draw for the tournament is shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, whilst players in bold denote match winners. Top half Bottom half Final ==Qualifying==

Qualification for the tournament took place from 18 to 23 September 2023 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. The results of the held over matches played in Tianjin on 5 November were as follows: 18 September • 6–2 • 3–6 • 6–3 • 5–6 • 6–3 • 6–1 • 6–3 • 6–3 • 6–0 • 6–1 • 6–3 • 6–5 19 September • 4–6 • 6–0 • 6–1 • 6–4 • 3–6 • 6–2 • 6–0 • 2–6 • 6–4 • 6–3 20 September • 6–4 • 6–1 • 6–0 • 6–3 • 6–2 • 6–3 • 4–6 • 6–1 • 6–0 • 6–4 21 September • 6–2 • 6–3 • 6–5 • 6–2 • 6–2 • 6–3 • 6–2 • 6–4 • 6–0 22 September • 4–6 • 6–5 • 5–6 • 6–3 • 6–1 • 6–2 • 6–1 • 6–1 • 6–4 • 6–0 23 September • 6–1 • 6–4 • 6–3 • 6–4 • 6–2 • 2–6 ==Century breaks==

Main stage centuries A total of 112 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament. • 147, 138, 128, 128, 124, 114, 108, 108, 104, 101 Zhang Anda • 142, 106, 104 Kyren Wilson • 141, 116, 114 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh • 141, 116, 109 Judd Trump • 139, 134, 130, 130, 115, 102 Ding Junhui • 139, 123, 121, 114 Barry Hawkins • 138 Robbie Williams • 137, 118 Jack Lisowski • 137, 111 Mark Allen • 136, 122 Dylan Emery • 135, 133, 125, 109, 106, 101, 100 Tom Ford • 134, 117, 116, 115, 104, 102 Jordan Brown • 134, 112 Stuart Bingham • 134 Noppon Saengkham • 133, 131, 130, 116, 112, 110 Ronnie O'Sullivan • 133, 129, 123, 109 Anthony McGill • 132, 132 Dominic Dale • 132, 130, 107 Mark Davis • 132, 126 Daniel Wells • 130, 103, 101 Jak Jones • 130 Matthew Stevens • 130 Lyu Haotian • 130 Pang Junxu • 128, 118, 116, 115, 104 Stephen Maguire • 128 Scott Donaldson • 127, 127, 103 Ryan Day • 124, 118, 111, 107, 106, 102 Ali Carter • 120, 107, 105, 102 John Higgins • 120, 104 Anthony Hamilton • 118, 108, 104 Zhou Yuelong • 118 Chris Wakelin • 117 Mark Williams • 116 John Astley • 113 Xiao Guodong • 111 Long Zehuang • 110 Mark Selby • 106 Jackson Page • 106 Gary Wilson • 105 Ben Woollaston • 104 Jamie Jones • 103 Si Jiahui • 102 Oliver Lines • 101 David Gilbert Qualifying stage centuries A total of 43 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament. • 147, 128 Ryan Day • 141, 130 Chris Wakelin • 138, 134 Elliot Slessor • 137, 115 John Higgins • 135 Robbie Williams • 131 Joe O'Connor • 126 Jordan Brown • 125 Scott Donaldson • 124, 113 Mark Allen • 124 Jak Jones • 123, 117 Noppon Saengkham • 122 Julien Leclercq • 119, 101 Liam Pullen • 118, 112 Mark Williams • 118 Jimmy Robertson • 114 Ma Hailong • 113 Rod Lawler • 112 Ross Muir • 111 Cao Yupeng • 110 Liu Hongyu • 109 Muhammad Asif • 109 Marco Fu • 108 Lyu Haotian • 106, 105 Hossein Vafaei • 104 Neil Robertson • 103, 103 Gary Wilson • 103 Barry Hawkins • 102 Long Zehuang • 102 David Lilley • 102 Mark Selby • 100 Sanderson Lam • 100 Jamie Jones • 100 Pang Junxu ==Notes==