Snooker final
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 Judd Trump, whose 2019 win was his first. Trump was set to begin the defence of his title on 18 April 2020 but the 2020 World Championship was postponed until July 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
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 fifteen frames with the semi-finals over twenty-three frames and final over thirty-one 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 sixty, made by Albert Cope in his semi-final match against Davis, in a dead frame after Davis had won the match. Davis made a fifty-seven break in the final.
The 1928 Championship was played on a challenge basis, with the other six entries playing-off for the right to challenge Joe Davis in the final. Davis met Fred Lawrence in the final, winning 16–13. The challenge system was dropped in 1929. Davis met Tom Dennis in the final, played in Dennis's home town of Nottingham. Davis made a new record break of sixty-one 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. The final was extended to forty-nine frames played over six days. Davis won comfortably, 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, most of the professionals saw little point in entering the championship and, despite an upsurge in interest in snooker, 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 in 1932 including New Zealander Clark McConachy. McConachy met Joe Davis in the final, played at Thurston's Hall. Davis took the title 30–19 and set a new record with a break of ninety-nine, missing out on his century after he snookered himself. There were five entries in 1933 including forty-seven-year-old Willie Smith who entered for the first time and met Joe Davis in the final. Smith had won the World Billiards Championship twice. The match was played at Davis's own snooker hall in Chesterfield. The match was close until Davis pulled away in the later stages, as he often did, winning 25–18. 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. Davis won 25–22, although Newman led 14–13 at one stage.
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