2020 World Championship Thread

[CaledonianCraig]

First topic message reminder :

How about a thread to discuss the 2020 World Snooker Championships at The Crucible.

The delayed tournament starts today with a limited audience allowed in to watch the matches. The draw is as follows:-

Judd Trump (1) v Tom Ford
Yan Bingtao (16) v Elliot Slessor
Stephen Maguire (9) v Martin Gould
Kyren Wilson (8) - BYE
John Higgins (5) v Matthew Stevens
David Gilbert (12) v Kurt Maflin
Jack Lisowski (13) v Anthony McGill
Mark Allen (4) v Jamie Clarke
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Mark Williams (3) v Alan McManus
Stuart Bingham (14) v Ashley Carty
Ding Junhui (11) v Mark King
Ronnie O’Sullivan (6) v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Selby (7) v Jordan Brown
Shaun Murphy (10) v Noppon Saengkham
Barry Hawkins (15) v Alexander Ursenbacher
Neil Robertson (2) v Liang Wenbo

Anthony Hamilton who suffers from asthma and qualified for the tournament has withdrawn due to COVID-19 and the fact there will be fans attending. This means Kyren Wilson gets a bye through to the Second Round.

This year there are five players making their Crucible debuts those being Elliot Slessor (England), Jordan Brown (Northern Ireland), Ashley Carty (England), Alexander Ursenbacher (Switzerland - the first Swiss player to play at the Crucible) and Jamie Clarke (Wales).

[CaledonianCraig]

Ooooh big chance for a steal spurned by McGill. Wilson takes the frame to trail 5-2.

[Duty281]

Could have been a match-changer that seventh frame, incredible miss from McGill, but he's rebounded perfectly.

5-3 would have been a poor return for how he's dominated Wilson, but 6-2 is a good lead, though certainly not insurmountable.

And still no century!

[88Chris05]

Well, McGill is making a mockery of my prediction so far. A very solid and consistent session there for a 6-2 lead, albeit aided by a very flat performance from Wilson so far. A few decent chances spurned, but that wasn't as scrappy or stop-start as I was expecting it to be.

I'm not sure if McGill can produce anything better than that. Very handy early lead but if Wilson raises his game he'll get back into this. He had his chances in that session, just didn't capitalise on them. McGill is a solid all-rounder but he's not granite or impenetrable like someone such as Selby, so Wilson will have his chances in the sessions to come. Given himself a lot to do, but I'm expecting him to narrow the gap tomorrow.

[CaledonianCraig]

Could have been a match-changer that seventh frame, incredible miss from McGill, but he's rebounded perfectly.

5-3 would have been a poor return for how he's dominated Wilson, but 6-2 is a good lead, though certainly not insurmountable.

And still no century!

Yes you felt when Wilson won the previous frame that it could be the lighting of the blue touch paper for him but McGill was unperturbed. He had a one visit frame winning break of 92 and takes a 6-2 lead into the second session tomorrow morning. Early days yet. But McGill has shown the heart to come from behind when he trailed Jamie Clarke 8-2.....can Wilson?

[CaledonianCraig]

This evening sees the second semi-final get under way with Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan playing their first eight frames.

[CaledonianCraig]

Ken, what is a tree ball plant?

O'Sullivan took the first frame in a frame Selby got first chance.

[CaledonianCraig]

Selby in with first chance in second frame - can't take it.

[Guest]

Great frame that one. Scary how focused Ronnie looks this year.

2-0

[CaledonianCraig]

A scrappy second frame snaffled up by Ronnie. He leads 2-0.

[Guest]

Selby all over the shop tonight

[CaledonianCraig]

Horrendous kicks for Selby. O'Sullivan can make it tree...err...three nil. Damn you Ken.

[Guest]

Another kick

[CaledonianCraig]

Selby needed that. He takes the turd frame and O'Sullivan leads 2-1.

[CaledonianCraig]

Another scrappy frame but Ronnie takes it and he leads tree one at the mid-session interval.

[Guest]

3-1 a fair reflection of play

[Duty281]

Mr. Engraver of sporting trophies, you can start putting Ronnie's name on the trophy.

[CaledonianCraig]

Selby takes the sixth frame and reduce his deficit. O'Sullivan leads 4-2.

[Guest]

Selby will be over the moon to end this with a 5-3 deficit

[Soul Requiem]

Selby will be very happy with 5-3, if he's within a couple going into the final session i'd make him a slight favourite.

[CaledonianCraig]

This morning sees Anthony McGill resume 6-2 up in the second session of his semi-final against Kyren Wilson.

[Guest]

7-4 to the Tartan Nugget

[CaledonianCraig]

Wilson much the better player this morning so far. He heads to the mid-session interval having halved the overnight deficit. McGill leads 7-5.

[CaledonianCraig]

And so after a first session where McGill was the far better player and a second session where Wilson was far the better player I'd say 8-8 is a fair enough scoreline going into their third session this evening.

This afternoon from 2.30 pm is second session of O'Sullivan against Selby where Ronnie leads 5-3.

[Guest]

Typical Selby frame. Ronnie losing patience already

[CaledonianCraig]

A long opening frame is finally won by Mark Selby and O'Sullivan leads 5-4.

[CaledonianCraig]

And Selby capitalises on a speculative long red missed by Ronnie and hits a frame-winning break of 97 and we are level at 5-5.

[CaledonianCraig]

O'Sullivan all over the place in that frame. He had chances and blew them and Selby takes the frame (his fourth on the bounce) and he leads 6-5.

[88Chris05]

Ominous signs for O'Sullivan here, even though it's still early days in the match. He's starting to get that uninterested, lethargic look about him, even when he's at the table.

Selby's style will never be to everyone's taste, but Lordy, he's one hard, hard match player with astonishing focus and attitude. Didn't make a break over forty in the first 9 frames and still kept it to only 4-5 behind. Looks as if he's just starting to gain a bit of fluidity around the black spot in these past couple of frames, so if he allies that to his safety and patient tactical game he really is going to take some beating.

[CaledonianCraig]

O'Sullivan chucking in couldn't give a crap type shots and Selby snaffles up his fifth frame on the bounce and he goes into the interval leading 7-5. The break has come at the right time for him. Gives him time to work on his cueing and mindset.

[Soul Requiem]

Even at 7-5 that is all she wrote, against anyone else he could come back from this but Selby winds him up to a degree that his game falls apart. I don't mind players taking their time but purposefully slowing down against certain players isn't on.

[CaledonianCraig]

Even at 7-5 that is all she wrote, against anyone else he could come back from this but Selby winds him up to a degree that his game falls apart. I don't mind players taking their time but purposefully slowing down against certain players isn't on.

Oh please. Do me a favour. Its Ronnie's temperament you should be questioning. There are no shot clocks in snooker and besides Selby always plays that way. Some frames have gone scrappy anyway due to Ronnie hitting reds up the other end of the table. And sorry but it was Ronnie who took to the winding up prior to the match talking down about Selby. If Ronnie's game falls apart because of any reason it hardly makes him GOAT material. Anyway still all to play for and more twists to come I am sure.

[Duty281]

I thought Ronnie was talking up Selby before the game, saying Selby was a certainty to win?

Anyway, I still reckon O'Sullivan comes through here. He's just going through a usual trough, he's had plenty of those through this tournament.

[Soul Requiem]

I'll question what I wish to thank you and Selby has always deliberately slowed down when playing O'Sullivan.

[CaledonianCraig]

Big chance missed there by Selby as JP stated. O'Sullivan stops the rot with a break of 87 and Selby leads 7-6.

[CaledonianCraig]

Selby with a 50+ break gets another frame on the board. He leads 8-6 and knows he cannot be behind going into their next session tomorrow morning.

[88Chris05]

Imperative for O'Sullivan that he wins one of these two final frames of the session.

[CaledonianCraig]

O'Sullivan takes the 15th frame in fine style and it cuts Selby's lead to 8-7. One frame to play in this session. Match right back in the balance.

[CaledonianCraig]

O'Sullivan forces a chance for himself but misses an awkward mid-range pink. Selby at the table with a golden chance to take the frame. He'll kick himself if he does not win it now.

[CaledonianCraig]

Selby with a solid break of 76 sees him win the final frame of the session to lead 9-7 going into tomorrow morning's third session.

[CaledonianCraig]

This evening Kyren Wilson and Anthony McGill play the third session of their semi. They will resume at 8-8. I have a sneaky suspicion that Wilson will begin to assert himself on the match ending up winning it 5-3 or 6-2.

[Duty281]

Think it'll either be a session where McGill hangs in, chips away with his 40-odd breaks and makes it 12-12 overnight, maybe even a small lead, or one where Wilson completely blows away his opponent 7-1 or 8-0.

[Guest]

Scrappy session so far, which is suiting McGill. He ticks off another frame and leads 10-9.

Pretty painful viewing tonight. I’d say if both matches remain like this, the scrappers of Selby and McGill will likely prevail.

[Guest]

Wilson 13-11 McGill

[Duty281]

13-11 at the end of session three, McGill just hanging in with his first century break of the competition. Very timely.

When Wilson rattled off four straight frames to go 13-10 up, it looked as though he would run away with it and establish a strong overnight lead, but that last frame has just about kept McGill in it. He'll need a quick start tomorrow afternoon, at least three of the opening four frames.

Both semi-finals well poised for a hectic Friday of snooker.

[CaledonianCraig]

I just feel Wilson's heavier scoring consistently will get him over the line say 17-13.

This morning is session three between O'Sullivan and Selby. It is in the balance and will be going into the last session I think.

[No name Bertie]

I have been looking at the national breakdown of the top 100 ranked players.  I had thought some time ago, or at least it had been said by promoters of snookers, that Chinese player would take over the sport.  But it seems that apart from Ding Junhui no other Chinese player has made such an impact at the very top level.  The game seems to be still dominated by British & NI players.  Neil Roberston cuts a lonely figure for the Australian representation while Canadian representation seems to have disappeared altogether.

Maybe overall as a sport / pastime snooker's popularity is in decline. There doesn't seem to be any impactful players appearing at a very young age (teens), and many of the high top ranked players have been playing at a top level for a long time.

[eirebilly]

The break will have done ROS the world of good to gather his thoughts. I cannot see him playing as badly as he did in yesterdays second session. As good as Selby is, he is not on the same level as ROS and if ROS ups a gear, he can rattle off frames in very quick succession. I still have him as favorite myself.

[CaledonianCraig]

And great to hear there will be fans allowed in for the final.

[CaledonianCraig]

The break will have done ROS the world of good to gather his thoughts. I cannot see him playing as badly as he did in yesterdays second session. As good as Selby is, he is not on the same level as ROS and if ROS ups a gear, he can rattle off frames in very quick succession. I still have him as favorite myself.

I disagree.

Three times they have met at The CVrucible. Three times Selby has won.

[Guest]

10-7 to Selby

Just don’t see RoS turning this around

[Sponsored content]