The 1990 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1990 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional

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 13 and 29 April 1990 at the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's ...

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. It was the ninth and final

world 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 ...

tournament of the 1989–90 snooker season following the European Open. Featuring a total prize fund of £620,000, the winner received £120,000; and 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 defending champion was

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

, who won the previous year's final 18–3 over

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 withi ...

. Davis reached the semi-finals of the event, where he was defeated 14-16 by

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 ...

. White contested the final against

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

who defeated Parrott in the other semi-final 16–11. Hendry led 9–7 after the first day's play and won the first four frames of the second day to lead 13–7, before White reduced the gap to four frames. At 16–12, Hendry compiled breaks of 81 and 71 to win the match 18–12, claiming his first world title. In so doing, he became the youngest-ever world champion at the age of 21 years and 106 days. There was a total of 18

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

s made during the tournament, the highest of which being a 140 made by Parrott.

Overview

The

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

is an annual professional

tournament organised by the

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

(WPBSA). Founded in the late 19th century by

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldiers stationed in India, the

cue sport Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era, which started in 1969 when the World Championship reverted to a knockout format, it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is ...

won the first World Championship in 1927, hosted by the Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being held at

Camkin's Hall William Alexander Camkin (1894 – 26 April 1956) was a billiard hall owner who came to prominence in the early years of the World Snooker Championship, when many of the tournament's matches were held at his clubs. He was involved in various asp ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. Since 1977, the event has been held at the

, England. The 1990 championship featured 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a

single-elimination A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

format, each match played over several . These competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the

snooker world rankings The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. The ranking lists are maintained by the sport's governing body, ...

and the winners of a pre-tournament qualification stage. The top 16 players in the world rankings automatically qualified for the event, the remaining 16 players coming through the qualification rounds.

Prize fund

The winner of the event received £120,000 from a total prize fund of £620,000.The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: £120,000 *Runner-up: £72,000 *Semi-final: £36,000 *Quarter-final: £18,000 *Last 16: £9,000 *Last 32: £5,000 *Stage one highest break: £3,000. *Stage two highest break: £12,000 *Stage two maximum break: £100,000 *Total: £620,000

Tournament summary

First round

*1957 World finalist

Jackie Rea John Joseph "Jackie" Rea (6 April 1921 – 20 October 2013) was a Northern Irish snooker player. He was the leading Irish snooker player until the emergence of Alex Higgins. Rea reached the semi-final of the 1952 World Championship losing to ...

Lost in the 2nd Qualifying round and announced his retirement from professional snooker. *There where 4 debutants at the crucible this year, but all lost in the opening round.

Tony Chappel Tony Chappel (born 28 May 1960) is a former Welsh professional snooker player from Pontarddulais in Swansea, whose career spanned seventeen years from 1984 to 2001. Career Throughout his career Chappel produced some notable wins. Some of the ...

(In his only crucible appearance) and

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 ...

who both lost 10–4 to Tony Knowles and

Terry Griffiths Terence Martin Griffiths (born 16 October 1947) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. In his second professional tournament, he became world champion when he won the 1979 World Snooker Champion ...

respectively. They were joined by two Canadians Alain Robidoux (lost 10–7 to Hendry) and

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� ...

who won 5 matches just to qualify and led veteran

Doug Mountjoy Doug Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the ...

8-7 before losing the last 3 frames. *Fan favorite, attacking player

Cliff Wilson Clifford Wilson (10 May 193421 May 1994) was a Welsh professional snooker player who reached the highest ranking of 16, in 1988-89. He was the 1978 World Amateur Champion and won the 1991 World Seniors Championship. He was a successful junior ...

made his 8th and final crucible appearance at the age of 55. He never got past the world championship 1st round in his career and that run was not to change as he was edged out 10-6 by "the grinder"

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

. *

and Alain Robidoux were level at 7–7 in their first round match when the referee announced that Robidoux had committed a by making a . Hendry compiled a break of 58 to win that frame, and added the following two frames to progress 10–7. *

trailed Mark Bennett 7–9, but took the next two to force a that he won on the after a break of 69 after being 59 points behind. *Two time world champion ( 1972, 1982)

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Worl ...

returned to the Crucible after missing out the previous year. He lost 5–10 to Steve James in the first round. After the match, Higgins punched an official in the stomach at the post-match press conference; this, alongside a threat to have

Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a ...

shot at the 1990 World Cup a month earlier, led to Higgins being banned for the entire 1990/1991 season. * In the first round match between James and Higgins, James was awarded a free ball in a frame before any reds had been potted. In taking a baulk colour as an extra and compiling a total clearance of 135 the break became the only at the

Crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

Semi-finals

* For the only time since seeding began, the four semi-finalists were also the top four seeds. * For the first time since 1982, Davis failed to reach the final, losing 14–16 to

in the semi-final. It was the first time White had defeated Davis at the Crucible after Davis had eliminated White in four previous encounters. From 6–8 at the close of the second session, White won seven of the eight frames in the third session to lead 13–9. After winning the 27th frame on the after needing a , Davis moved to within one frame of White at 13–14, and led by 40 points in the 28th frame before White won that to go two frames clear with three to play, conceding one further frame before clinching victory. * In beating

at the semi-final stage, Hendry replaced

as snooker's world number 1. Parrott has led 4–0, and was 5–3 ahead at the end of their first session. Hendry won the next six frames to lead 9–5, followed by Parrott winning six consecutive frames leaving Hendry 9–11 behind. Hendry won the last two frames of the third session to equalise at 11–11, and added the first five frames of the fourth session to complete a 16–11 victory/

Final

Hendry led 9–7 after the first day. On the second day, he won the first four frames, making a break of 104 in the second, with White failing to pot a ball in three of them. From 7–13, White took the 21st frame with a break of 82, and added the following frame to reduce his deficit to 9–13. In the 23rd frame, White led by 63 points before Hendry produced a clearance of 72 to win on the black ball. The session finished with Hendry 14–10 ahead after White won the session's last frame with breaks of 51 and 45. The first three frames of the fourth session were completed in 27 minutes, and included a 108 clearance by Hendry. White took the following frame, before breaks of 71 and 81 secured a first world championship title for Hendry. He became the youngest-ever world champion at the age of 21 years and 106 days, overtaking Alex Higgins, who had won the 1972 World Snooker Championship a few days before his 23rd birthday. Hendry commented after his win that "I was determined to win and confident that I could do it. I was glad I was able to keep my concentration and cope with the pressure. All through the match I was nervous. My stomach was churning tonight." White said that he was disappointed with the standard of his own safety play during the match, and added "I'm a little bit sick but I can honestly say I enjoyed the game. In a way I'm pleased for Stephen. He's a great kid and he puts in enough work to be world champion. He played tremendous snooker. You could count his misses on one hand." Hendry went on to win six more world titles, including further victories over White in the 1992, 1993 and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

finals.

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

Players in bold denote match winners.

Century breaks

There were 18

s in the championship. The highest break was 140 made by John Parrott. * 140

* 135 Steve James * 131, 100

* 128

* 118, 117, 112

* 117, 108, 108, 106, 104, 103

* 109

Willie Thorne William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13–8 ...

* 105

* 104

Darren Morgan Darren Morgan (born 3 May 1966) is a Welsh former professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur. Morgan won the World Amateur Championship in 1987 and played on the professional main tour from 1988 until 2006. He earned just ov ...

* 102

Tony Drago Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 G ...

Qualifying stages

There were 22 century breaks in the qualifying stages; the highest, 135, was made by Nigel Gilbert in his fifth round defeat of David Roe. * 135, 131

* 133

Neal Foulds Neal Foulds (born 13 July 1963) is an English former professional snooker player and six-time tournament winner, including the 1986 International Open, the 1988 Dubai Masters and the 1992 Scottish Masters, as well as the invitational Pot Blac ...

* 131, 105 Mick Price * 126, 109, 101

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 ...

* 123

Danny Fowler Danny Fowler (born 30 July 1956 in Worksop) is an English former professional snooker player. Early life Danny Fowler was born on 30 July 1956 in Worksop. Fowler played snooker recreationally from the age of 15 to 20, but then stopped playing ...

* 120

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 (gra ...

* 117

* 113 Brian Morgan * 111

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. ...

* 110, 110, 106, 101 Alain Robidoux * 110 Robert Marshall * 107 Tony Kearney * 105

Nigel Bond Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English former professional snooker player. Bond competed on the main tour from 1989 to 2022, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 s ...

* 104 Steve Duggan * 100 Tommy Murphy

References

{{Snooker season 1989/1990 World Snooker Championships

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, ...

Sports competitions in Sheffield