1990 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	13–29 April 1990
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£620,000
Winner's share	£120,000
Highest break	John Parrott (140)
Final
Champion	Stephen Hendry
Runner-up	Jimmy White
Score	18–12
← 1989 1991 →

The 1990 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1990 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 13 and 29 April 1990 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

The final was contested by Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White. 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,^[1] to win his first world title.^[2] In so doing, Hendry became the youngest ever world champion at the age of 21 years and 106 days.^[3] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• In beating John Parrott at the semi-final stage, Hendry replaced Steve Davis as snooker's world number 1.^[4]
• For the first time since 1982, Davis failed to reach the final,^[2] losing 14–16 to Jimmy White in the semi-final.^[5]
• 1982 champion Alex Higgins returned to the Crucible after missing out the previous year.^[6] He lost 5–10 to Steve James in the first round.^[5] After the match, Higgins punched an official in the stomach at the post-match press conference;^[7][8] this, alongside a threat to have Dennis Taylor shot at the 1990 World Cup a month earlier, led to Higgins being banned for the entire 1990/1991 season.^[7]
• In the same match James made a 135 break against Higgins, making it the only 16-red total clearance in the Crucible.^[9][10][11]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[5]

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

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).^{[5][12][13][14]}

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 31 frames

13 April

Steve Davis (1)

10

18 & 19 April

Eddie Charlton

1

Steve Davis (1)

13

13 & 14 April

Steve James (16)

7

Steve James (16)

10

23 & 24 April

Alex Higgins

5

Steve Davis (1)

13

14 & 15 April

Neal Foulds

8

Willie Thorne (9)

10

19 & 20 April

Tony Drago

4

Willie Thorne (9)

11

15 & 15 April

Neal Foulds

13

Dennis Taylor (8)

8

25, 26 & 27 April

Neal Foulds

10

Steve Davis (1)

14

15 & 16 April

Jimmy White (4)

16

Terry Griffiths (5)

10

20, 21 & 22 April

Nigel Gilbert

4

Terry Griffiths (5)

13

16 & 17 April

Tony Knowles (12)

6

Tony Knowles (12)

10

23 & 24 April

Tony Chappel

4

Terry Griffiths (5)

5

16 & 17 April

Jimmy White (4)

13

John Virgo (13)

10

21 & 22 April

Gary Wilkinson

6

John Virgo (13)

6

17 & 18 April

Jimmy White (4)

13

Jimmy White (4)

10

Danny Fowler

4

17 & 18 April

Stephen Hendry (3)

10

21 & 22 April

Alain Robidoux

7

Stephen Hendry (3)

13

17 April

Tony Meo (14)

7

Tony Meo (14)

10

23 & 24 April

Wayne Jones

8

Stephen Hendry (3)

13

16 April

Darren Morgan

6

Joe Johnson (11)

8

20, 21 & 22 April

Darren Morgan

10

Darren Morgan

13

15 & 16 April

Mike Hallett (6)

8

Mike Hallett (6)

10

25, 26 & 27 April

Steve Newbury

9

Stephen Hendry (3)

16

14 & 15 April

John Parrott (2)

11

Cliff Thorburn (7)

10

19 & 20 April

Cliff Wilson

6

Cliff Thorburn (7)

13

14 & 15 April

Doug Mountjoy (10)

12

Doug Mountjoy (10)

10

23 & 24 April

Brady Gollan

8

Cliff Thorburn (7)

6

13 & 14 April

John Parrott (2)

13

Dean Reynolds (15)

10

18, 19 & 20 April

Peter Francisco

7

Dean Reynolds (15)

11

13 April

John Parrott (2)

13

John Parrott (2)

10

Mark Bennett

9

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 28 and 29 April 1990. Referee: Len Ganley[15]
Jimmy White (4)  England	12–18	Stephen Hendry (3)  Scotland
78–37, 13–73, 85–48, 49–71, 14–79, 27–60, 86–0, 27–87, 75–64, 68–57, 46–77, 4–99, 63–52, 0–88, 76–1, 1–108, 0–100, 5–104, 4–73, 0–81, 87–50, 75–17, 63–72, 109–0, 6–97, 127–0, 0–124, 69–43, 27–90, 1–101	Century breaks: 2 (Hendry) Highest break by White: 87 Highest break by Hendry: 108	78–37, 13–73, 85–48, 49–71, 14–79, 27–60, 86–0, 27–87, 75–64, 68–57, 46–77, 4–99, 63–52, 0–88, 76–1, 1–108, 0–100, 5–104, 4–73, 0–81, 87–50, 75–17, 63–72, 109–0, 6–97, 127–0, 0–124, 69–43, 27–90, 1–101
Stephen Hendry won the 1990 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 18 century breaks in the championship. The highest break was 140 made by John Parrott.^[16][17][18]

140 John Parrott 135 Steve James 131, 100 Terry Griffiths 128 Cliff Thorburn 118, 117, 112 Steve Davis

117, 108, 108, 106, 104, 103 Stephen Hendry 109 Willie Thorne 105 Jimmy White 104 Darren Morgan 102 Tony Drago

References

1. "April 29 down the years: The greatest Crucible final". ESPN. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
2. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
3. Turner, Chris. "Various Snooker Records". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
4. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
5. "World Championship 1990". Global Snooker. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
6. "World Championship 1989". Global Snooker. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
7. Yates, Phil (4 May 2007). "Top five controversial incidents". London: The Times. Archived from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
8. "Higgins apology letter to be sold at auction". BBC News. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
9. "World Records – 16 Red Ball Clearances". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
10. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 161.
11. Turner, Chris. "On this Week: First world title for Reardon". Eurosport UK. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
12. "1990 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
13. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
14. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 30–31.
15. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
16. Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
17. "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
18. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 147.