2016 World Snooker Championship - Discussion Thread

[CaledonianCraig]

The Crucible opens its doors to snookers greatest players on the planet for 17 days but who will end it holding the world crown?

The tournament (as is tradition) starts with the champion opening proceedings and Bingham is having early problems trailing Ali Carter 3-1. On the other table Marco Fu is in command against former champion Peter Ebdon leading 5-1.

Discuss.....

[CaledonianCraig]

Bingham staring down the barrels. Ali Carter goes into a 5-1 lead. Is the Crucible curse going to strike again where no first time champion has returned to defend his crown?

[CaledonianCraig]

Bingham survives a scare and gets a frame back to trail 5-2. If he can get out of this session trailing 5-4 he will be delighted.

[CaledonianCraig]

Fu leads Ebdon 5-2 on the other table.

[CaledonianCraig]

Bingham looking a little more settled now and a 50+ break gets him the 8th frame and he hauls it back to a 5-3 deficit.

[CaledonianCraig]

And Bingham reels off another frame and ends the first session trailing 5-4 after he had trailed 5-1. Fu looks set to go 6-2 up against Ebdon.

[CaledonianCraig]

Murphy V McGill and Maguire V McManus underway now.

Murphy takes the opener with a break of 61 and McGill takes the second frame with a break of 119. Maguire leads McManus 1-0.

[CaledonianCraig]

Maguire the enigma leads McManus 3-1 whilst Murphy and McGill are level at 2-2.

[CaledonianCraig]

McGill edges into a 3-2 lead after a tense fifth frame. McManus, renowned for his grit, has hauled it back to 3-3.

[CaledonianCraig]

Murphy levels at 3-3 and McManus now looking poised to go 4-3 up against Maguire.

[EdWoodjr]

Is that Uncle Albert standing behind JP & The Nugget ?

[CaledonianCraig]

Murphy with a century goes back into the lead - 4-3.

[CaledonianCraig]

Is that Uncle Albert standing behind JP & The Nugget ?

Not unless Buster Merryfield has been re-incarnated.

[CaledonianCraig]

The Crucible curse strikes again as reigning champion Stuart Bingham is dumped out in the First Round by Ali Carter. Marco Fu hammers Peter Ebdon to progress into the Second Round.

[CaledonianCraig]

McGill beats Murphy 10-7. Anthony McGill certainly enjoys The Crucible.

[CaledonianCraig]

McManus now leads Maguire 7-3 and Gilbert and O'Sullivan level at 1-1.

[CaledonianCraig]

Ronnie leads 2-1 now and Maguire has pulled back a frame to trail McManus 7-4.

[CaledonianCraig]

Ronnie leads 3-1. On the other table McManus and Maguire involved in a scrappy frame.

[CaledonianCraig]

Maguire fighting back and now trails 7-6 and O'Sullivan leads Gilbert 3-2.

[CaledonianCraig]

McManus stops the rot and leads 8-6. Gilbert with a century but he still trails Ronnie 4-3.

[CaledonianCraig]

Ronnie extends his lead to 5-3 and Alan McManus on the brink of victory. He leads Maguire 9-6.

[CaledonianCraig]

Ronnie closes his first session leading 6-3 whilst Maguire clings on by his fingertips and now trails 9-7.

[CaledonianCraig]

Alan McManus seals a great 10-7 win over Steven Maguire and so another visit to The Crucible again ends in disappointment for Maguire.

[Mad for Chelsea]

This thread has gone a bit

Trump fighting back against Liang, taking four frames in a row to level at 7-7. Liang played some great stuff early on, but Trump has improved his safety and Liang has started missing a few pots as a result.

[CaledonianCraig]

A lot of dross served up in the Fu V McGill match. Fu leads 5-3 after the first session of their Second Round match.

[CaledonianCraig]

McGill reels off the first three frames of the morning and leads Fu 6-5. Fu really all at sea. On the other table Michael Holt has won the first three frames of his Second Round match against two times World Champion Mark Williams.

[CaledonianCraig]

Fu pinches the 12th frame and heads to the mid-session interval level at 6-6. Williams gets his first frame on the board to trail Michael Holt 3-1.

[CaledonianCraig]

Much better from Marco Fu as a century break puts him 7-6 ahead of Anthony McGill. On the other table Holt leads Williams 4-1 though Williams in with a good chance to pull a frame back.

[CaledonianCraig]

McGill needed two snookers in frame 14, got them and steals the frame to level at 4-4. Mark Williams has hauled himself back into his Second Round match and ends the first session 4-4 against Michael Holt.

[CaledonianCraig]

Fu returns the favour by pinching the next frame to lead 8-7.

[CaledonianCraig]

Weird match this one between Fu and McGill. Both looked very good in the First Round but have struggled badly in this match. Fu goes into their final session leading 9-7.

[CaledonianCraig]

In this afternoon's matches Ali Carter and Alan McManus share the first four frames of a scrappy session and Carter leads 7-5. On the other table Sam Baird looks set to level it up at 2-2 against Mark Selby in the first session of their match.

[CaledonianCraig]

Sam Baird hanging on in there against Mark Selby and he looks set to end their first session level at 4-4. McManus battling away and trails Ali Carter 8-7 as they play the final frame of the session.

[CaledonianCraig]

Carter ends the session leading McManus 9-7 going into their final session.

[CaledonianCraig]

Anthony McGill takes the first frame of the final session against Marco Fu to trail 9-8. On the other table Mark Williams now leads Michael Holt 5-4.

[CaledonianCraig]

Fu restores his two frame lead at 10-8 and needs three more to seal a QF spot. Mark Williams now leads Holt 6-4.

[CaledonianCraig]

Marco Fu on the brink of the QF's as he leads McGill 12-8. On the other table Williams is level at 6-6 with Michael Holt.

[CaledonianCraig]

Marco Fu was a couple of pots away from sealing a win and missed and McGill nipped in to clear up and pinch the frame and hang in the tournament by his fingertips. Fu leads 12-9.

[CaledonianCraig]

Fu seals a 13-9 win and is the first man into the Quarter-Finals.

[CaledonianCraig]

Alan McManus wins the first frame of the morning on the black ball and trails Ali Carter 9-8. Sam Baird is causing Mark Selby problems and leads 5-4.

[CaledonianCraig]

McManus takes nine reds and eight blacks before having to settle for a blue but wraps up the frame with a break of 119 to level the match at 9-9. On the other table Mark Selby is on the brink of edging ahead 6-5.

[CaledonianCraig]

Ali Carter, known as 'The Captain of the Ship', is all at sea this morning. Positional play awful, safety play sub-standard and break-building non-existent (by professional standards by the way and far beyond what I could achieve) and McManus wins the third frame of the morning and leads 10-9.

[CaledonianCraig]

Sam Baird goes into a mid-session interval level at 6-6 against Mark Selby.

[CaledonianCraig]

Cracking break under pressure from Ali Carter of 61 but misses the last red along the side cushion and McManus steels himself to pinch the frame and lead 11-9 at the mid-session interval. That will hurt Ali who is going through the emotional grinder.

[CaledonianCraig]

The mid-session interval has allowed Carter to clear some mental demons from his head and takes the 21st frame and trails 11-10. Selby leads Baird 7-6.

[CaledonianCraig]

Mark Selby now taking control and leads Sam Baird 9-6. On the other table a critical 22nd frame is well underway. Carter has a healthy 35 point lead and both players have had chances in this frame. If Carter wins it to go level he is right back in the match and possibly goes favourite but if McManus wins it then I'd be very surprised if he should lose from there.

[CaledonianCraig]

McManus wins the crucial tense 22nd frame and leads 12-10 and is one frame away from the Quarter-Finals.

[CaledonianCraig]

Baird wins the last frame of the session to trail Selby 9-7.

[CaledonianCraig]

Carter playing more care-free snooker with his back to the wall and wins the 23rd frame with a 100 break to leave him trailing Alan McManus 12-11.

[CaledonianCraig]

Alan McManus holds his nerve to seal a 13-11 win over Ali Carter and move into the Quarter-Finals. Got to feel for Ali though - he went through mental torture with kicks, bad bounces, poor luck and general poor play by his standards.

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