1981 World Snooker Championship

Professional snooker tournament held April 1981

The 1981 World Snooker Championship (officially the 1981 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a ranking professional snooker tournament which took place from 7 April to 20 April 1981 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament was the 1981 edition of the World Snooker Championship, and was the fifth consecutive world championship to take place at the Crucible Theatre since 1977. It was sanctioned by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The total prize fund for the tournament was £75,000, of which £20,000 went to the winner. Qualifying rounds for the tournament took place from 23 March to 4 April 1981 at two locations — Redwood Lodge Country Club, near Bristol, and at Romiley Forum, near Stockport. The main stage of the tournament featured 24 players: the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings and another eight players from the qualifying rounds. Jimmy White, Tony Knowles and Dave Martin were debutants at the main stage. The defending champion and top seed in the tournament was Cliff Thorburn, who had defeated Alex Higgins 18–16 in the 1980 final. Thorburn lost by 10 to 16 to Steve Davis in the semi finals. In the other semi final, Doug Mountjoy defeated second seed Ray Reardon 16–10. Davis went on to achieve the first of his six world titles, taking a 6–0 lead in the final and winning four consecutive frames at the end of the match to win 18–12. There were 13 century breaks made during the tournament, including a new championship record break of 145 by Mountjoy. The cigarette manufacturer Embassy sponsored the tournament, which received daily coverage on BBC television.

Qualifying matches took place from 23 March to 4 April, and were held at two locations — Redwood Lodge Country Club, near Bristol, and at Romiley Forum, near Stockport. Chris Ross — who experienced a nervous breakdown in his first year playing professionally after winning the 1976 English Amateur Championship — found that his was unsteady, and he was unable to control his properly, resulting in his conceding the match to opponent Tony Knowles when 0–7 behind.

The first round matches took place from 7 to 10 April and were played as best of 19 frames. Jimmy White, who turned professional after winning the 1980 World Amateur Championship, made his World Snooker Championship debut at the tournament, as did Tony Knowles and Dave Martin. In the last session, White closed the gap to one frame, but from 9–8 ahead, Davis won the next and prevailed 10–8. Knowles constructed a 101 in his match against Graham Miles, but lost the match after being tied at 6–6 and 8–8. David Taylor, the 1968 World Amateur Champion, won the first three frames against Cliff Wilson, the 1978 World Amateur Champion, but then lost the next four. Taylor finished the first session 5–4 ahead and went on to defeat Wilson 10–6. Tony Meo was 4–2 ahead, then later 4–5 behind and 7–5 ahead of John Virgo, Edmonds led 5–4 after the first session of their match but then found himself 5–7 behind as Spencer won three consecutive frames. Edmonds equalised the score at 7–7, before Spencer drew ahead again to lead 9–7. Edmonds, aided by fluking a , won the next two frames to force the match to go to a deciding frame. Jack Karnehm, a snooker commentator and author, later suggested that Spencer was able to win the last frame, in which he made a break of 38, because he had the ability to handle pressure better than Edmonds did.

The second round matches took place from 10 to 14 April and were played as best of 25 frames. Steve Davis led 6–2 against Alex Higgins after their first session, but in the second session Davis lost five of the eight frames and made only one break over 30. By the end of the session, Davis led by two frames, 9–7. saying afterwards that his 45 was "the most important break [he had] made for months." who was also the reigning world billiards champion, also lost his first session 1–7, and was eliminated 3–13 by David Taylor. Terry Griffiths and Tony Meo finished their first session all square at 4–4, but Griffiths added nine of the next eleven frames to his tally, and won 13–6. Stevens had been unable to use the practice table at the venue before the match because it was being used to record a programme for a television broadcast. According to Karnehm, Stevens was "frustrated and bitterly hot tempered when he came out for the second session his pots missed by fractions, his safety shots would unluckily stay in the open, his judgement was becoming erratic."

The tournament's quarter final matches took place from 10 to 12 April and were played as best of 25 frames. Steve Davis and Terry Griffiths shared the first eight frames, finishing their first session 4–4. Snooker historian Clive Everton later wrote that "strongly as the opposition resisted, Davis never really looked like being broken". Taylor took a lead of 4–3, He eliminated Taylor 13–6. Doug Mountjoy made a new record world snooker championship break of 145 in the 12th frame against Ray Reardon, pocketing blacks after all reds except the eighth, when he potted the Mountjoy won the match 16–10. extending his lead to 6–4 after the break, but went 6–8 behind as Thorburn won four frames in succession, scoring 347 points across these frames to Davis's 35.

The final was played across four sessions on 19 and 20 April as a best of 35 frames match. In the second session, Davis won the first frame, then Mountjoy the next two, and Davis took the following one, leaving Davis 8–5 ahead at the mid session interval. Mountjoy compiled a break of 129, his fourth century of the event, in frame 14, and a couple of frames later, Davis fluked the blue to win the 17th. Mountjoy won the last frame of the second session to finish 8–10 behind. After his win, Davis's manager Barry Hearn ran excitedly into the arena, lifting Davis in celebration. In a post match interview, Mountjoy said of Davis, "He's the player to beat from now on. The top players are all on a par, but he is a black better." In 1982, the number of players in the main tournament increased to 32; the level of public interest in the 1981 tournament was high enough for the BBC to decide to increase its television coverage to 17 days, the full duration of the championship, in 1982.

The tournament ladder and results are shown below. The numbers in brackets to the right of players' names indicate the top 16 seeds, whilst match winners are noted by bold type.