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_1986 World Snooker Championship_
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Introduction
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The 1986 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1986
Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship)
was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 19
April and 5 May 1986 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1985-86 snooker
season and the 1986 edition of the World Snooker Championship,
first held in 1927. The total prize fund was £350,000 with £70,000
awarded to the winner. The event was sponsored by cigarette
manufacturer Embassy.
The defending champion was Dennis Taylor, who had won his first
world title by defeating Steve Davis 18-17 in the 1985 World
Snooker Championship final. In defence of his title, Taylor lost in
the first round 6-10 to qualifier Mike Hallett. World number 16 Joe
Johnson defeated Davis 18-12 in the final to win his sole ranking
event. Prior to the competition, the bookmakers' odds for a Johnson
victory were 150/1. There were 20 century breaks compiled in total
during the tournament, the highest of which was a 134 made by Davis
in the opening frame of his quarter-final win.
Overview
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The World Snooker Championship is an annual professional snooker
tournament organised by the World Professional Billiards and
Snooker Association (WPBSA). Developed in the late 19th century by
British Army soldiers stationed in India, the cue sport 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 won the first World Championship in 1927, hosted by the
Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being
held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England. Since 1977, the event
has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The
1986 championship featured 32 professional players competing in
one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination 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 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
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The tournament featured a total prize fund of £350,000, with
£70,000 awarded to the winner. A bonus of £80,000 was reserved for
the first player (if any) to make a maximum break. The prize money
allocation is shown below.
Main tournament
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*Winner: £70,000
*Runner-up: £42,000
*Semi-finalists: £21,000
*Quarter-finalists: £10,500
*Last 16: £5,250
*Last 32: £2,953.12
*Highest break: £7,000
*Maximum break: £80,000
Qualifying
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*Fourth Qualifying round: £2,296.87
*Third Qualifying round: £1,203.12
*Highest break: £1,750
Four rounds of qualification for the main draw were played at the
Guild Hall in Preston, England, from 26 March to 6 April 1986. All
matches were played as the best of 19 frames. Players in bold
denote match winners.
Qualifying rounds
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Qualifying matches took place at Preston Guild Hall from 26 March
to 6 April 1986. All matches were played as the best of 19 frames.
Joe O'Boye recorded the first century break of the qualifying
rounds, compiling a 118 in his 8-10 defeat to Bill Oliver. Paul
Thornley made a 126 break in his 10-3 win over Derek Mienie. John
Hargreaves was 2-9 down in his match against Bernie Mikkelsen, but
won five frames in a row to recover to 7-9 before being knocked out
in the next frame. Dave Gilbert also won five consecutive frames,
recovering from 5-7 behind to win 10-7 against Roger Bales. Veteran
professional Bernard Bennett suffered the only whitewash of the
first qualifying round, failing to win any frames against Sakchai
Sim Ngam. James Giannaros, Jim Rempe and Wayne Sanderson all
withdrew from the competition.
In the second qualifying round, the Scottish Professional
Championship winner Stephen Hendry made a break of 141 in his
victory over Paddy Browne; this was the highest break in qualifying
for which Hendry earned a prize of £1,750. He had led 8-3 and 9-8
before winning the match 10-9. Level at 8-8 against Bob Chaperon,
Frank Jonik conceded the next frame when 22 points behind, despite
the to totalling 22 points, enough for him to draw the gamestill
being on the table. He then conceded the 18th frame while 53 points
behind with six reds still remaining, meaning that up to 75 points
were available without , and lost the match 8-10. Jimmy van
Rensberg beat Ian Williamson on the final black in the of their
contest, clearing to brown to win the frame 42-41. On the way to
his second-round qualifying match, Steve Newbury was involved in a
traffic collision which injured his wife and wrecked his car;
despite the accident, Newbury beat Omprakesh Agrawal 10-5. There
was one whitewash in the second round, Ray Edmonds beating Billy
Kelly 10-0.
Hendry made breaks of 117 and 91 in his 10-8 third-round defeat of
Wayne Jones, during which Jones had recovered from 3-7 behind to
level at 8-8. Les Dodd lost only one frame against former World
Snooker Championship promoter Mike Watterson, and Peter Francisco
defeated Fred Davis, a former billiards and snooker world champion,
by the same margin. Robby Foldvari, who had won the 1986 WPBSA
World Billiards Championship the previous month, defeated the 1974
World Snooker Championship runner-up Graham Miles 10-7. John
Spencer qualified to meet another former champion, Alex Higgins, at
the main stage of the competition by beating Newbury 10-7 in the
final qualifying round. Hendry became the youngest-ever qualifier
for the Crucible stages at the time by defeating Dene O'Kane 10-9,
after having led 6-3. O'Kane was one of three top-32 seeds to be
knocked out in the fourth round, the other two being Mark Wildman
and Murdo MacLeod; Wildman lost 9-10, after establishing a 9-6 lead
against Edmonds, while MacLeod was defeated 6-10 by Danny Fowler.
There were 12 century breaks compiled in qualifying. The highest
break was a 141 made by Stephen Hendry.
* 141, 117 Stephen Hendry
* 126 Paul Thornley
* 120 Tony Drago
* 118 Joe O'Boye
* 118 Steve Longworth
* 114 Ian Williamson
* 112, 102 Barry West
* 111 Vic Harris
* 108 Martin Smith
* 105 Robby Foldvari
First round
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The first round took place between 19 and 24 April, each match
played over two sessions as the best of 19 frames. Defending
champion Dennis Taylor, looking "jaded" according to Clive Everton,
lost the first seven frames of his match against Mike Hallett, who
ended the first session 8-1 ahead. Taylor won five more frames, but
lost the match 6-10. Like John Spencer in 1978, Terry Griffiths in
1980, Cliff Thorburn in 1981, and Steve Davis in 1982, Taylor was
unable to retain his first world title; this inability of a
first-time champion to defend their title has become known as the
"Crucible curse". Second seed Steve Davis beat Ray Edmonds 10-4.
Third seed Thorburn beat Bill Werbeniuk 10-5, whilst fourth seed
Tony Knowles won a close match against Neal Foulds 10-9.
The 16th seed Joe Johnson defeated Dave Martin 10-3 in the first
round, his first win in three appearances at the World
Championship. Jimmy White compiled a 121 break in the final frame
of his 10-7 victory over John Virgo. Three-time world champion
Spencer made his final appearance at the tournament, losing 7-10 to
Alex Higgins in the first round. Future seven-time world champion
Stephen Hendry made his Crucible debut, losing 8-10 to Willie
Thorne in the first round. Aged 17 years and 3 months, Hendry was
the youngest player ever to compete at the World Snooker
Championship. Another debutant in 1986 was Danny Fowler, who lost
2-10 to Terry Griffiths. Six-time world champion Ray Reardon was
knocked out 8-10 by John Campbell.
In the other first-round matches, Doug Mountjoy beat Perrie Mans
10-3, qualifier John Parrott beat Tony Meo 10-4, Kirk Stevens beat
Dean Reynolds 10-6, Silvino Francisco beat Rex Williams 10-4,
Eugene Hughes beat David Taylor 10-7, and Eddie Charlton beat Cliff
Wilson 10-6.
Second round
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The second round, which took place between 24 and 28 April, was
played as best-of-25-frames matches spread over three sessions.
Steve Davis and Doug Mountjoy, who had contested the 1981 final,
ended their first session tied at 4-4, and their second with Davis
leading 11-5. Mountjoy did not pot a ball in the final session as
Davis completed a 13-5 victory. Alex Higgins missed a black ball
from its spot that would have put him 6-2 ahead of Terry Griffiths
at the end of their first session, but the frame went to Griffiths,
leaving Higgins just 5-3 ahead. Griffiths had the better of their
second session, and made a break of 110 to level at 6-6. Whilst the
next two frames were shared, Griffiths a to win frame 15 and then
went 9-7 ahead at the end of their second session. The match went
to a deciding frame, with Griffiths eventually winning 13-12. The
match between Kirk Stevens and Eddie Charlton also finished with a
deciding frame, Stevens winning the last three frames from 10 to 12
behind, to prevail 13-12.
Joe Johnson led Mike Hallett 5-3 after their first session, on his
way to completing a 13-6 win, making a break of 110 in frame 13.
John Parrott and Jimmy White were level at 4-4 and 6-6, before
White won a run of four frames to lead 10-6 after the second
session. White then won three of the next five frames to win the
match 13-8. Willie Thorne beat the Australian Professional
Championship winner John Campbell 13-9. In the other second-round
matches, Tony Knowles beat Silvino Francisco 13-10, and Cliff
Thorburn beat Eugene Hughes 13-6.
Quarter-finals
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The quarter-finals were played as best-of-25-frames matches over
three sessions on 29 and 30 April. Joe Johnson led Terry Griffiths
9-7 at the end of the first day of their match. On resumption of
play, Griffiths won five frames in a row to come within one frame
of winning the match at 12-9. Despite his three-frame deficit,
Johnson took the next four frames, making two century breaks on the
way to a 13-12 victory. Steve Davis played Jimmy White in what was
effectively a rematch of the 1984 World Snooker Championship final.
Davis made a break of 134 in the opening frame and played
consistently well in securing a 13-5 victory, White having missed a
number of relatively simple pots.
Cliff Thorburn played Willie Thorne and won 13-6. The match report
in 'The Times' stated that Thorne "was never allowed to play his
usual fluent game." Thorburn took a 9-3 lead, and finished the
second session 11-5 ahead. During the match, his wife Barbara gave
birth to their second child in the couple's native Canada. Tony
Knowles played Kirk Stevens in the fourth quarter-final. The pair
were level at 4-4 after the first session, and then again at 8-8
after the second. At the beginning of the final session, Knowles
won five out of six frames to win the match 13-9.
Semi-finals
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The semi-finals took place between 1 and 3 May as best-of-31-frames
matches played over four sessions. The first semi-final was between
Tony Knowles and Joe Johnson. Knowles led 1-0 and 2-1 but ended
their first session 3-4 behind, having missed middle pocket pots to
allow his opponent into both the sixth and seventh frames.
According to Sydney Friskin's match report in 'The Times', Johnson
appeared to be relaxed and was potting well as he built a 10-5 lead
over Knowles by the end of the second session, and finished the
third session 14-8 ahead. He took the first two frames of the last
session to win the match 16-8, reaching his first World
Championship final. Johnson won the match despite having taken
painkillers for a cyst on his back before the start of play.
Steve Davis played Cliff Thorburn in the second semi-final. Leading
3-2, Thorburn was on course for a maximum break in the sixth frame
but failed on the ninth black, allowing Davis to go on and win the
frame and level the match at 3-3. Davis won the next three frames
to lead 6-3, but his lead had dwindled to 8-7 by the end of the
first day's play. Thorburn pulled ahead 9-8 and 10-9 in the third
session before Davis made his fifth century break of the
tournament, a 112, to tie the match at 10-10. A missed black from
Davis gave Thorburn the opportunity to take the next frame, but
Davis won the last of the session to draw level again at 11-11. On
resumption of play, Davis won five frames against Thorburn's one,
compiling a break of 122 in the last frame of the match, to secure
a 16-12 victory and reach his fifth world final.
Final
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The final between Steve Davis and Joe Johnson took place on 4 and 5
May. It was a best-of-35-frames match played over four sessions.
The two players had never previously played a professional match
against each other. Davis was considered much more likely to win
the final, reflected in the bookmakers' odds of 2/9 for Davis and
5/1 for Johnson. Davis took a 3-1 lead before the first mid-session
interval, making breaks of 108 and 107. Johnson then took the next
three frames to finish the first session 4-3 ahead. Davis made a
strong start to the second session, winning four frames in
succession to put himself 7-4 ahead. After the next mid-session
interval, Johnson won four consecutive frames, before Davis
clinched the last frame to leave the match level at 8-8 overnight.
On the second day, Johnson wore an unusual pair of red, pink and
white leather shoes. On resuming the match, he won another run of
four frames to take him into a 12-8 lead, assisted by a fluke on a
red ball in the 18th frame. The third session ended with Johnson
13-11 ahead. In the final session, the crowd responded in favour of
Johnson, who had played with an attacking style throughout the
tournament. He won three of the next four frames to lead 16-12
before the mid-session interval. Johnson then won frame 29 and
secured a break of 64 in frame 30 to win the match 18-12. The win
helped lift him from 16th place in the 19851986 professional
rankings to eighth for 19861987.
Davis, as the World Championship runner-up for a second consecutive
year, commented to interviewer David Vine, "We can't go on meeting
like this, David," and Johnson later retorted, "I hope that we can
still be friends." The popularity of Johnson's win resulted in an
appearance on the television show 'Wogan', as well as an invitation
to accompany Cliff Richard to watch Wimbledon in a private box.
This was Johnson's only ranking event win in his career, although
he would go on to win two non-ranking tournaments: the 1987
Scottish Masters and the 1989 Norwich Union Grand Prix. The two
players again met in the final at the following year's championship
to contest the world title for a second time, Davis winning the
match 18-14. Johnson's attacking style of snooker, notable for his
long potting, has been seen as a harbinger of the style that became
dominant in the 1990s. The odds on Johnson were 150 to 1 against
him winning the 1986 World Championship, as he had not won any
tournaments in his seven-year career and had never previously won a
match at the Crucible. The final attracted an average of
11.3million viewers on BBC1, peaking at 15.6million. A condensed
version of the final was showcased on BBC Two on 22 April 2020 in
place of the 2020 World Snooker Championship, which had been
postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Round 1
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Round 1
Winning player Score Defeated player
| ****
10-7 |
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-5
| ****
10-8
|****
10-7
| ****
10-4
| ****
10-0
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-4
| ****
10-4
| ** **
w.o.-
| ****
10-3
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-7
| ****
w.o.-
| ****
10-7
| ****
w.o.-
Round 2
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Round 2
Winning player Score Defeated player
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-3
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-5
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-3
| ****
10-4
| ****
10-9
| ****
10-9
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-5
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-4
Round 2
Winning player Score Defeated player
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-3
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-3
| ****
10-9
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-9
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-3
| ** **
10-6
| ****
10-2
| ****
| ****
10-6 |- 10-6
| ****
10-0
Rounds 3 and 4
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Round 3
Winning player Score Defeated player
| ****
10-5
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-2
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-5
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-1
| ** **
10-5
| ****
10-3
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-2
| ****
10-4
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-1
| ****
10-5
Round 4
Winning player Score Defeated player
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-5
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-3
| ****
10-9
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-9
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-8
| ****
10-6
| ****
10-7
| ****
10-9
Main draw
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The numbers in brackets denote player seedings, whilst match
winners are denoted in bold. The results for the tournament are
shown below:
| **Final:** (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 4
& 5 May 1986. Referee: John Street
| colspan="4" align="right" | ****
| colspan="4" align="center" | **18**12
colspan="4" align="left" |
|Session 1: 43
!Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
|**60**
|**70**
|**68**
|**74** (52)
Johnson |24 |0 |14 |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A
|**85**
|**108** (108)
|**111** (107)
Davis |49 |0 |36 |14 |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A
|Session 2: 45 (88)
!Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
|**72** (72)
|**95**
|**63**
|**76** (75)
Johnson |13 |4 |1 |27 |0 |N/A |N/A
|**66**
|**108** (84)
|**76** (53)
|**64**
|**137** (81)
Davis |20 |22 |37 |8 N/A N/A
|Session 3: 53 (1311)
!Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
|**85**
|**57**
|**66**
|**86** (61)
|**70**
Johnson |35 |31 |7 |N/A |N/A |N/A
|**84** (52)
|**73**
|**100** (100)
Davis |26 |44 |11 |36 |40 |N/A |N/A |N/A
|Session 4: 51 (**18**12)
!Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
|**69**
|**49**
|**64** (54)
|**83**
|**86** (64)
Johnson |52 (51) |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A
|**63**
Davis |9 |32 |38 |40 |27 |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A
|colspan="4" align="right"|75 |colspan="4" align="middle"|Highest
break |colspan="4" align="left"|108
|colspan="4" align="right"|0 |colspan="4" align="middle"|Century
breaks |colspan="4" align="left"|3
|colspan="4" align="right"|7 |colspan="4" align="middle"|50+
breaks |colspan="4" align="left"|7
|colspan="12" align="center"|Joe Johnson wins the 1986 World
Snooker Championship Breaks over 50 are shown in parentheses. =
Winner of frame
Century breaks
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There were 20 century breaks in the main stage of the tournament,
the highest amount at the World Snooker Championship until the 1991
event. The highest break was a 134 made by Steve Davis.
* 134, 112, 108, 108, 107, 102, 101, 100 Steve Davis
* 121 Jimmy White
* 115 Dean Reynolds
* 112 John Virgo
* 111, 110 Terry Griffiths
* 110, 110, 102 Joe Johnson
* 105 Tony Knowles
* 104 Cliff Thorburn
* 101 Silvino Francisco
* 100 Willie Thorne
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