The 1991 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1991 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 1991 at the Crucible Theatre in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England. Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, but he lost in the quarter-finals to Steve James and thus fell to the

Crucible curse The "Crucible curse" (also known as "The curse of the Crucible" or sometimes the "Crucible jinx") is a quip in professional snooker referring to the fact that every first-time world champion has failed to retain the title the following year. The ...

, becoming another champion who was unable to defend his first world title.

John Parrott John Stephen Parrott, (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player and television personality. He was a familiar face on the professional snooker circuit during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and remained within ...

won his only World Championship title by defeating

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

18–11 in the final. It was the third time that White had lost in the final after

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

. The highest break of the tournament was 140, made by Jimmy White.

Tournament summary

* Future champion Ken Doherty made his Crucible debut, losing to Steve Davis 8–10; former champion Joe Johnson qualified for the last time, losing to Dennis Taylor 6–10. Both of these were first-round matches. *Future three-time semi-finalist Alan McManus also made his debut this year. He came through five rounds of qualifying and reached the second round at the Crucible, where he narrowly lost 12–13 to Terry Griffiths. *

Ray Reardon Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

the six time world champion announced his retirement from the game after losing his second round qualifying match 10–5 to Jason Prince. Reardon was a professional since 1967. * Cliff Thorburn failed to qualify for the first time, after playing in every championship since

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. *In the 4th frame of his first round match against Doug Mountjoy, Gary Wilkinson potted 15 reds and 15 blacks to make a break of 120. With all 6 colours on their spots, Wilkinson had a golden chance of clinching a 147 maximum break and a £100,000 prize, but Wilkinson then missed the yellow, which wobbled in the jaws of the pocket. *The 14th frame of the second round match between Steve Davis and

Tony Meo Anthony Christian Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles Cham ...

took 70 minutes, including a 33-minute spell on just the final yellow and green. Meo won the frame by the bizarre score of 87–72, which included many foul points. Undeterred, Davis then won the next five frames to win 13–6. *One of the matches of the tournament was the second round match between

and Neal Foulds. White took early leads of 3–0 and 4–2, but then fell 4–6 behind. In the 13th frame, when 5–7 behind, White made the highest break of the tournament, a 140. Foulds kept a one or two frame lead until he pulled three frames clear at 11–8. White then responded by winning five of the last six frames, including the final two frames, to win 13–12. White's quarter final against the in form Gary Wilkinson was expected to be a close affair, but White won 13–3. * Defending champion Stephen Hendry lost to Steve James 11–13 in the quarter-finals, despite Hendry having led 11–9. Hendry would not suffer another defeat at the Crucible until the

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final against Ken Doherty. * Steve Davis made his ninth semi-final in a row, a record that still stands, but lost 10–16 against

. In the other semi final between Jimmy White and Steve James, the first day of which was played on their 29th and 30th birthdays respectively, White won 16–9. *John Parrott took a 7–0 lead against Jimmy White in the final with near flawless snooker in the first session, and although White reduced his arrears to 8–12 at one stage, Parrott eventually won 18–11, again with a seven frame advantage.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: * Winner: £135,000 * Runner-up: £80,000 * Semi-final: £42,000 * Quarter-final: £20,000 * Last 16: £11,000 * Last 32: £6,500 * Highest break: £12,000 * Maximum break: £100,000 * Total: £750,000

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).

Qualifying rounds

1st qualifying round

* Rod Lawler 5–0 Derek Mienie * Bill Werbeniuk w/o–w/d Clive Everton * Vladimir Potaznyk w/o–w/d

Jim Meadowcroft Jim Meadowcroft (15 December 1946 – 25 September 2015) was an English professional snooker player who latterly was a coach and a commentator on the game. His most successful years were during the 1970s; he was ranked number 12 in the world in ...

* Jonathan Birch 10–4 Pascal Burke * Chris Cookson 10–5 Derek Heaton *

Paul Thornley Paul Thornley is a Canadian former professional snooker player. Career An article about Thornley in ''Snooker Scene'' magazine in 1989 commented that: "In the last sixties, Thornley was the best player in Canada but, out of respect and personal ...

10–7

Paddy Morgan Paddy Morgan (born 7 January 1943) is an Australian former professional snooker and English billiards player. He was born in Belfast, and moved to Coventry in 1960. Following an amateur career in which he won junior and national titles in bot ...

Franky Chan Franky Chan (born 17 March 1965) is a former professional snooker player from Hong Kong. Career Born in 1965, Chan turned professional in 1990. Having had experience of competitive snooker in the Hong Kong Masters and the 1988 Kent Cup, he def ...

10–1 Ian Black * Jason Ferguson 10–1

David Greaves David Greaves (1 September 1946 – 5 October 2019) was an English former professional snooker player. Life David Greaves was born 1 September 1946 in St-Annes-on-Sea (Lancashire). In his early life he went to Stanley Junior School in Clev ...

* Alan McManus 10–1 Billy Kelly * Gary Natale 10–3 Bert Demarco * Jason Whittaker 10–2 Bernard Bennett * Jason Prince 10–4 Fred Davis * Ken Doherty w/o–w/d Patsy Fagan

2nd qualifying round

* Rod Lawler 10–5 Anthony Harris *

Jack Fitzmaurice Jack Fitzmaurice (25 April 1928 – January 2005) was an English professional snooker player. Career Born in Solihull, Fitzmaurice was runner-up in the English Amateur Championship in 1958, defeated 8–11 by Marcus Owen in the final. He turn ...

10–9

Marcel Gauvreau Marcel Gauvreau (born 9 January 1955) is a Canadian former professional snooker player. Career Gauvreau was born in 1955, and turned professional in 1983. He reached the last 32 at the World Championship at his first attempt in 1984, losing 5� ...

* Mick Price 10–1 Bill Werbeniuk * Vladimir Potaznyk 10–4 Graham Cripsey * Jonathan Birch 10–4

Kirk Stevens Kirk Stevens (born August 17, 1958) is a Canadian former professional snooker player. Career Stevens started playing young, achieving his first aged just 12. He turned professional aged 20, and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship ...

Mario Morra Mario Morra (born 1935) is an Italian film editor, director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, Morra began working as an assistant editor in the early 1960s, and made his debut as film editor in 1964.Roberto Poppi. ''Dizionario del cinema italiano. ...

10–5 Vic Harris *

Tony Wilson Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4. As a co-founder of ...

10–2 Dennis Hughes *

Jon Wright Jon Wright is a Northern Irish writer and film director. Career He is known for directing the Irish monster movie ''Grabbers'' and the British low budget horror comedy '' Tormented'' starring Alex Pettyfer. He directed and co-wrote the scienc ...

10–0 Mike Watterson *

Ian Brumby Ian Brumby (born 17 September 1964) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Born on 17 September 1964, Brumby turned professional in 1989. His first season brought a run to the last 32 at the 1990 Classic, where he defeated ...

10–4

Terry Whitthread Terry Whitthread (born 7 July 1964) is an English people, English former professional snooker player. He won the 1980 British Junior (under 16) snooker championship. After winning the 1985 English Amateur Championship by defeating Jim McNellan 1 ...

* Chris Cookson 10–1 Roger Bales * John Rea 10–9

Robby Foldvari Robby Foldvari (born 2 June 1960) is an Australian player of snooker, English billiards and pool. He is a multi-year World Billiards Champion (1986, 1997, 1998), and a national-level champion in both snooker (2006, 2008) and nine-ball pool (20 ...

* Jason Smith 10–9 Jim Bear *

Paul Medati Paul Medati (14 November 1943 – 29 November 2008) was an English professional snooker and pool player. Career Medati was born in Ordsall, Salford, Lancashire to Maltese parents, and attended St. Joseph's Primary School. After playing sno ...

10–7

Ian Williamson Ian Williamson (born 1 December 1958) is an English former professional snooker and English billiards player. Biography Ian Williamson was born on 1 December 1958. His father was Jim Williamson, founding proprietor of the Northern Snooker Cen ...

Ray Edmonds Ray Edmonds (born 25 April 1936 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire) is a former English professional player of English billiards and snooker. He twice won the World Amateur Snooker title, and won the World Professional Billiards Championship in 1985. Pla ...

10–3

* Eddie Sinclair 10–4 Malcolm Bradley *

Nick Terry Nick Terry (born 15 September 1967) is an English people, English former professional snooker player from Finchley. Career Terry turned professional in 1988, losing his first match, at the 1988 International Open, 2–5 to Colin Roscoe. In h ...

10–8

* Steve Campbell 10–4 Tony Kearney * Dave Gilbert 10–3 Dessie Sheehan * Bob Harris 10–5

Mike Darrington Mike Darrington (born 13 September 1931) is an English former professional snooker player. Career As an amateur, Darrington was the Home Counties snooker champion seven times, and defeated Steve Davis in the 1978 English Amateur Championship. ...

Joe Grech Joseph "Joe" Grech, (born 9 February 1934) is a Maltese singer, who was born in Cospicua, Malta. He is best known for introducing the Maltese language to the Eurovision Song Contest 1971, the first appearance from Malta on this pan-European te ...

10–1 John Dunning * Jason Ferguson 10–4

Pat Houlihan Patrick Houlihan (7 November 1929 – 8 November 2006https://wst.tv/the-greatest-snooker-player-you-never-saw/) was an English snooker player. He was born in Deptford, London. Houlihan turned professional in 1971 at the age of 42 after many y ...

* Alan McManus 10–6 Tommy Murphy * Steve Meakin 10–6 Graham Miles * Barry Pinches 10–3 Jim Donnelly * Andrew Cairns 10–2 Gary Natale * Paul Gibson w/o–w/d

Paul Watchorn Paul Watchorn (born 19 July 1958) is an Irish folk musician and former professional snooker player. He previously played with Derek Warfield. He currently plays with the band The Dublin Legends who were members of The Dubliners, a band in which ...

* Jason Whittaker 10–8 Stephen Murphy *

Bill Oliver Bill Oliver may refer to: *Bill Oliver (American football) (born 1939), American football player and coach * Bill Oliver (politician), Canadian politician *Bill Oliver (snooker player) Bill Oliver (born 3 December 1948) is an English former pro ...

10–7 Duncan Campbell * George Scott 10–7

Mick Fisher Mick Fisher (born 12 July 1944) is an English former professional snooker player. He appeared once at the main stage of the World Snooker Championship during his career, and attained a highest professional ranking of 37th, in the Snooker world ...

* Jason Prince 10–5

* Ken Doherty 10–9 Martin Smith *

Ken Owers Ken Owers (born 30 March 1953) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Born in 1953, Owers turned professional in 1986. He saw immediate success, reaching the last 16 at his first tournament, the 1986 International Open. Th ...

10–2 Matt Gibson

3rd qualifying round

* Rod Lawler 10–4 Brian Rowswell * Warren King 10–3

* Mick Price 10–4

Jack McLaughlin Jack McLaughlin (born 29 January 1959) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker and billiards player from Lurgan. McLaughlin is most notable for winning the 1988 Irish Professional Championship. Career McLaughlin turned professional in ...

* Les Dodd 10–3 Vladimir Potaznyk * Ian Graham 10–7 Jonathan Birch *

10–8 David Taylor * Robert Marshall 10–9

Mark Johnston-Allen Mark Johnston-Allen (born 28 December 1968 in Bristol) is a former professional snooker player. Career He reached the final of the 1991 European Open while ranked #59 in the world, a run which included a 5–0 win over Stephen Hendry; Johns ...

10–0

* Brian Morgan 10–3

* Chris Cookson 10–4

Murdo MacLeod Murdo Davidson MacLeod (born 24 September 1958 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. MacLeod, who played as a midfielder, made 20 appearances for Scotland and played in the 1990 World Cup Finals. He had a ...

* Mark Bennett 10–5 John Rea * Jason Smith 10–8 Jim Chambers * Darren Morgan 10–5

10–4 John Spencer *

Nick Dyson Nick Dyson (born 19 December 1969 in Hessle, Hull) is an English former professional snooker player. He competed on the main tour over sixteen seasons between 1989 and 2006. Career Born in 1969, Dyson turned professional in 1989. In his firs ...

10–8 Eddie Sinclair * Mark Rowing 10–6

Nigel Gilbert Geoffrey Nigel Gilbert (born 21 March 1950) is a British sociologist and a pioneer in the use of agent-based models in the social sciences. He is the founder and director of the ''Centre for Research in Social Simulation'' ( University of Sur ...

10–8 Steve Campbell * John Campbell 10–8 Dave Gilbert * Bob Harris 10–9

Steve Longworth Steve Longworth (27 July 1948 – 10 October 2021) was an English professional snooker player. Career Born in 1948, Longworth turned professional in 1984. He lost his first match at the International Open of that year 4–5 to Steve Newbury, b ...

Jim Wych Jim Wych (born 11 January 1955 in Calgary) is a Canadian sports announcer and former professional snooker and pocket billiards player. He turned professional in 1979 and reached the quarter-final of the 1980 World Snooker Championship in his debut ...

10–1 Joe Grech * Jason Ferguson 10–9 Tony Chappel * Alan McManus 10–6 David Roe * Steve Meakin w/o–w/d

Joe O'Boye Joe O’Boye (born 6 March 1960) is an Irish former professional snooker player. He represented the Republic of Ireland at the 1988 World Cup (snooker), Snooker World Cup. He was the winner of the 1980 English Amateur Championship. Career O’ ...

* Barry Pinches 10–6

Brady Gollan Brady Gollan (born 28 March 1965) is a Canadian former professional snooker player. Career Born in 1965, Gollan turned professional in 1989 through the Professional Play-offs, the tour qualifying event at the time, where he beat Patsy Fagan 9� ...

* Tony Jones 10–6 Andrew Cairns *

Steve Duggan Steve Duggan (born 10 April 1958) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Steve Duggan was born on 10 April 1958, in Thurnscoe, England. In 1982 he won the Pontins Autumn Open tournament. He was accepted as a professional s ...

10–7 Paul Gibson * Eugene Hughes 10–6 Jason Whittaker * Nigel Bond 10–2

* Craig Edwards 10–3 George Scott * Jason Prince 10–9 Colin Roscoe * Ken Doherty 10–4

Rex Williams Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the Worl ...

* Paddy Browne 10–6

4th qualifying round

* Warren King 10–7 Rod Lawler * Les Dodd 10–7 Mick Price * Ian Graham 10–7 Mario Morra * Robert Marshall 10–9

* Chris Cookson 10–4 Brian Morgan * Mark Bennett 10–6 Jason Smith *

10–7 Darren Morgan *

10–3 Mark Rowing *

10–9 John Campbell *

10–7 Bob Harris * Alan McManus 10–6 Jason Ferguson * Barry Pinches 10–8 Steve Meakin * Tony Jones 10–5

* Nigel Bond 10–5 Eugene Hughes * Craig Edwards 10–6 Jason Prince * Ken Doherty 10–6 Paddy Browne

5th qualifying round

* Warren King 10–2 Barry West *

Steve Newbury Steve Newbury (born 21 April 1956) is a former Welsh professional snooker player from Neath. As an amateur, Newbury won the 1979 National Pairs Championship (with Cliff Wilson), and the 1980 Welsh Amateur Championship. At the 1980 World Amat ...

10–1 Les Dodd * Ian Graham 10–7 Dene O'Kane * Robert Marshall 10–9 Peter Francisco * Gary Wilkinson 10–2 Chris Cookson * Mark Bennett 10–8 Wayne Jones * Eddie Charlton 10–2

10–5 Cliff Thorburn *

10–8 Bob Chaperon * Tony Knowles 10–2

* Alan McManus 10–8 Tony Drago * Barry Pinches 10–5 Danny Fowler * Tony Jones 10–6 Silvino Francisco * Joe Johnson 10–8 Nigel Bond * Craig Edwards 10–8

James Wattana James Wattana (; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm'', then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm'' in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker pl ...

* Ken Doherty 10–5 Cliff Wilson

Century breaks

There were 31 century breaks in the championship. The highest break of the tournament was 140 made by

. * 140, 138, 136, 117, 115

* 138, 137, 131, 122, 117, 112, 112, 101

* 137 Alan McManus * 135, 126, 106, 102 Steve James * 135, 122, 116, 105, 102, 100 Stephen Hendry * 123, 114

* 120, 112 Gary Wilkinson * 106 Dean Reynolds * 103 Martin Clark * 102 Tony Jones

References

{{Snooker season 1990/1991

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

World Snooker Championship Sports competitions in Sheffield World Snooker Championship World Snooker Championship