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]

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]

References