Please note that this is NOT an official website. At this point in time Ronnie O’ Sullivan does not have an official website, nor does he wish to have one.
This event has a random draw, and a new draw is made before each round. Therefore only the first round draw can be published ahead of the event and WST has now made it available:
Unibet British Open 2026 Draw: Murphy To Face Evans
Shaun Murphy will take on Reanne Evans when he starts the defence of his Unibet British Open title in Cheltenham, with the first round draw for the event now available.
Murphy beat Anthony McGill in the final last year and will aim to win the Clive Everton Trophy again at the world ranking event which runs from August 31 to September 6 at the Centaur Arena at Cheltenham Racecourse.
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The tournament has a random draw which means that star names can go head-to-head from the opening round. Most round one matches will take place in a qualifying event on July 23 and 24 in Leicester, but fixtures involving the top 16 seeds have been held over to Cheltenham. They are:
Defending champion Shaun Murphy v Reanne Evans
Four-time Crucible king John Higgins v Hossein Vafaei
World number one Judd Trump v Dylan Emery
World Champion Wu Yize v Liu Hongyu
All-time greatest Ronnie O’Sullivan v Mateusz Baranowski
Mark Williams v David Gilbert
Zhao Xintong v Oliver Brown
Neil Robertson v Pang Junxu
Kyren Wilson v Florian Nuessle
Mark Allen v Wang Xinbo
Ding Junhui v Anton Kazakov
Barry Hawkins v Deng Haohui
Xiao Guodong v Jiang Jun
Mark Selby v David Lilley
Chris Wakelin v Luca Brecel
Si Jiahui v Ashley Carty
The match schedule for Cheltenham will be announced after the qualifiers. The event will have extensive live coverage in the UK on 5, with the full list of broadcasters to be announced soon.
The draw may be random but there is no clash between two top sixteen members, which, of course, would have not been good commercially… luck was on the side of WST there š1
The 2026 China Open main event is due to start on Saturday August, 8, 2026, just under four weeks from now. The official “launch” ceremony took place last week, on the 10th of July, in Taiyuan, China.
2026 China Open Officially Launched in Taiyuan, Trophy Design and Title Sponsor Revealed
The launch press conference for the 2026 World Snooker TourĀ·SATUO Window Cleaning RobotĀ·China Open was held on 10 July at the Shanxi International Sports Exchange Centre in Taiyuan, China, officially marking the return of one of Chinaās most prestigious snooker events after a six-year absence.
The event confirmed Shanxi JiaShiDa Robot Technology Co., Ltd. (SATUO Window Cleaning Robot) as the Official Exclusive Title Sponsor of the tournament. Shanxi PangQuan Chateau Co.,Ltd was also announced as the Official Premier Partner. The sponsorship announcement marks a significant milestone in the commercial development of the returning China Open, as the event continues to build strong partnerships with leading Chinese brands.
The tournament trophy and medals were unveiled during the press conference, featuring distinctive design elements inspired by Shanxiās rich cultural heritage and regional identity. The organisers also revealed a comprehensive event merchandise programme, including themed souvenirs, collectibles and lifestyle products, aiming to create a new sports culture experience beyond the snooker table.
The 2026 China Open will take place from 8-16 August at Binhe Sports Centre in Taiyuan. As one of the highest-level ranking events on the World Snooker Tour calendar, the tournament carries the same prize money ranking value as the UK Championship, placing it firmly among the leading tournaments in world snooker.
TheĀ player line-upĀ promises a world-class spectacle, with all of the worldās top 16 players confirmed to compete, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, defending champion Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy. The event will also feature a record 12 Chinese players in the last 32, including Ding Junhui, and the last two Crucible winners Zhao Xintong and Wu Yize.
The main stage will run for nine days, with matches from the last 32 through the semi-finals played over the best of 11 frames, while the final will be contested over the best of 19 frames across two sessions.
With strong support from Shanxi Province, Taiyuan City and the Chinese Billiard Sports Association, the China Open aims to deliver a world-class sporting event while promoting the integration of snooker, culture, tourism and urban development. The return of the tournament represents another important step in the continued growth of snooker in China and across the global sporting landscape.
Ronnie’s first match is scheduled on Sunday 9th of August, in the evening local time, in the afternoon for us in Europe. He is due to play Jackson Page in a held-over first round match.
I’m a bit surprised to to see Jason Ferguson on the official photo above. Maybe he was the one holding the camera? š More likely he is on holidays … like most during the summer break.
Ronnie O’Sullivan: ‘If my son wants to play Snooker 900, I’ll tell him to go for it’
O’Sullivan is a key part of Snooker 900, which is broadcast live on Pluto TV.
Ryan Smart
Ronnie O’Sullivan says he has never encouraged his son, Ronnie Jr, to take up professional snooker – but won’t stand in his way when it comes to Snooker 900.
Seven-time world championĀ O’SullivanĀ is heavily involved in the project of Snooker 900, a faster-paced format founded by promoter and agent Jason Francis which sees frames played over 15 minutes and with shot clocks in operation.
He co-launched a dedicated, 24/7 snooker channel onĀ Pluto TVĀ last year, which broadcasts up to 18 hours of live snooker every week including all Snooker 900 events.
The concept has attracted some of snooker’s big-name stars, with the likes ofĀ Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Luca Brecel andĀ Jimmy WhiteĀ competing in events.
Robertson called the rules for Snooker 900 ‘the most fun I’ve had playing snooker’ after he took part for the first time last year.
When the channel was launched in October, O’Sullivan spoke about how he felt the format was bringing back ‘grassroots snooker’ and, as well as the senior events, there are also tournaments for junior, amateur and disability snooker players.
In April,Ā ‘The Rocket’ won the inaugural Global Snooker 900 Championship, taking home the Ā£25,000 top prize and beating 2023 world champion Luca Brecel on the way.
Now, O’Sullivan has opened up on the next steps for Snooker 900 – and has reiterated his hopes of setting up a specialised tour over the coming years.
“My legacy would be, providing a tour, and a summer camp for juniors where they’re just playing 900,” O’Sullivan said in a new interview with Pluto TV, which is releasing on Monday.
“They’ve got choices now – football, tennis and golf. We need to give them the snooker option. I feel like the 15 minute frames just keeps it modern day – it’s enough, it’s perfect. Everyone gets what they need out of it.
“It’s something I would encourage juniors to play. We’ll have some academies where they can go and learn 900, and go and be an expert.
“We want to encourage everyone. It’s a level playing field, anyone can do it. Your talent can be [smaller] and you can still make it, I think.“
O’Sullivan, one of the quickest players on the professional snooker circuit, says he enjoys the 15-minute concept – because there is a set start point and end point to every match.
“The biggest thing is, it gives structure. If I play at 12, I’m done by 2:30. I can have a nice lunch and time to have a sleep,” he explains.
“I have time to come back, have a shower, get warmed up for the evening session. I’ve already planned what I’m doing tonight. I know I’m going to be back in Woodford probably around half 10.
“If I was playing in a normal tournament, I don’t know what’s going to happen. My wife knows [in a Snooker 900 tournament] I’m going to be home at half 10, and she’s like, ‘Cool’, and can get on with her day. Everyone’s happy.
“You see it at Wimbledon sometimes. The rain starts and the players are there for about six or seven hours. It must be awful for them. We do that on the main tour.“
‘You’ve got one or two hours of pain, but enjoyment‘
O’Sullivan has repeatedly stated in the past that he wouldn’t want his children to play snooker – comments that did bring with them some negative reactions from other players.
In 2022, he toldĀ EurosportĀ that he ‘just wouldn’t want my child to live that life‘, adding: “I want them to be out in the fresh air. I want them to have a good life … I kind of just think, would I want my child to grow up in that environment? Would I want my child to go through what I went through?“
But he now says that, when it comes to Snooker 900 tournaments, he would be more than willing to encourage them to play if they wanted to.
“It’s a great format. Snooker is a hard game. If you’ve played traditional snooker, it’s a tough game,” O’Sullivan stated.
“I’d never say to my son, ‘Play snooker’. I try to take him away from it. But if he says, ‘I want to play 900’, I’ll go, ‘Yeah, fine’. You’ve got one hour or two hours of pain, but enjoyment. It’s fun. It’s good. Go for it.”
There has been increasing talk over the past 12 months of what life beyond the main snooker tour holds for O’Sullivan, given he operated on a part-time schedule during the 2025/26 season.
He stated in April that he was ‘working with the sponsors and promoters on my schedule‘, but hasn’t yet announced what that schedule will entail in terms of specific events.
But ‘The Rocket’ says he is reassured by what Snooker 900 can offer as he transitions to a new stage of his career.
“I love the way that Jason has kept it as a kind of club atmosphere. Growing up as kids in the snooker clubs… I’ve always said they were probably the happiest days of my life, playing in that environment. The atmosphere, really intimate – it’s exciting.
“Someone like me, or John Higgins, we’ve always got an eye on life after the main tour. It kind of gives you that hope to keep playing against top-level players, and being able to adapt and compete and give back to the fans.”
Snooker 900 is available to watch live and exclusively on Pluto TV. The interview with Ronnie O’Sullivan will be available to watch live tonight at 11pm BST, or on demand from Tuesday 7th July.
New interview episodes drop daily throughout the week, featuring exclusive interviews with snooker greats including Cliff Thorburn. Catch them all entirely for free and on demand on Pluto TV.
It’s nice to see Ronnie being enthusiastic about something snooker, and I can’t praise Jason enough for all the creativity he has shown and the work he has put in for years now, trying to develop and promote the sport.
There is one big negative point though … going by a recent tweet, Jason seems to be convinced that Pluto TV is available worldwide. It’s not. It’s only available in the UK … unless you use a virtual private network (vpn) to cheat the system…
The Championship League Snooker Ranking Edition is the first ranking event of the season, and it has been that way for some years now. A lot of fans dislike the event, I’m not one of them. Yes, it does go on forever, and, yes, it’s not the easiest tournament to follow … but, in my opinion at least it has its merits.
For a start, it’s open to all pros, and everyone starts at the same stage. No qualifiers behind closed doors here. All matches are streamed on Youtube, absolutely all of them. This makes this event a good opportunity for fans of the sport1 to watch every player in action, notably the rookies on tour.
No matter how well, or how bad, they perform, players are guaranteed three matches as a minimum. That makes it a good opportunity for rookies to gain experience against pros of different strength, playing various “styles” of snooker.
Ian Burns won Group 2. He won all his matches. He lost just one frame all day. Mark Williams was due to play in this group but withdrew.
Dylan Emery won Group 3. Only three matches were played. This group was supposed to feature Kyren Wilson. Kyren though withdrew after learning that his house had been burgled. Here is what he shared on social media.
Iulian Boiko won Group 4. Both him and Lan Yuhao played 3 matches, finished on 7 points, won 2 matches, drew 1, won 11 frames, lost 3. Eventually, who had made the highest break was the decisive factor. That’s harsh … especially considering that this event is ranking. It may not be big money but it could still be decisive come the end of the season.
Chris Wakelin won Group 5. Both him and Luke Pinches, Barry’s son, finished on 6 points, but Chris prevailed, having won more frames than Luke. It was a bizarre group. Strangely enough, Chris lost his first match against French amateur Brian Ochoiski by 3-1 and Luke Pinches was only in the draw because Sam Craigie withdrew.
Dean Young won Group 8. Dean was the only amateur in that group, a group that featured Theppy, the 8th seed in the event. Reanne Evans featured in that group. She finished last, with two losses and a draw … against Theppy, strangely enough. Now, possibly, Theppy was only just back from Thailand and still jet-lagged …
Elliot Slessor won Group 9. Elliot was undefeated, he won two matches and drew one. Also featuring in this group was Robert Milkins, twice a ranking event winner. Rob finished last though, winning just two frames all day …
Zhang Anda won Group 10, with three wins out of three.
Ali Carter won Group 12, with two wins and a draw. Jamie Jones also featured in that group, and he also won two and drew one. Ali Carter though lost only 3 frames all day whilst Jamie lost 4 frames.
Gary Wilson won Group 14. He was the only undefeated player in that group.
Pang Junxu won Group 15 despite winning just one match. It was a very “close” group, with four of the six matches ending in a draw.
Lei Peifan won Group 16. Lei and Ishpreet Singh Chadha were the only players to win matches in that group. Both won two matches, but crucially Lei defeated Ishpreet Singh Chadha in the last match on the day in that group.
Liu Hongyu topped Group 17. He was the only undefeated player in that group. New professional, Paul Norris, who will turn 60 in about a month, had a difficult debut to say the least … he didn’t win a match and, actually, won just one frame all day.
Hossein Vafaei won Group 18, with two wins and a draw. Rookie pro, Oliver Sykes also had a difficult professional debut. He won just one frame all day, that, bizarrely, came against Hossein, the eventual Group winner.
Stephen Maguire won Group 19. Every player involved in that group lost one match, just one … each… On Yee Ng was involved in that group and she finished last. It’s a harsh outcome as she only lost one match, against Maguire the eventual group winner, she got a draw in the other two matches and she showed some good things TBF. She lacks cue powerĀ§ and she could be more aggressive maybe. Her determination can’t be questioned though.
Scott Donaldson won Group 20. Bai Yulu was playing in this group and finished last. After the worst possible start, a 3-0 defeat to Yuan Sijun, the highest ranked player in the group, in the very first match on the day, Bai managed to get two draws, one of those against the eventual group winner. Harsh.
David Gilbert won Group 21. He got 2 wins and a draw. Bizarrely the draw came against Mahmoud El Hareedy, from Egypt who got his tour card by becomingĀ “All Africa Snooker Champion” last year. Ā Last season, Mahmoud won only one match, in the first round of the 2026 German Masters qualifiers, against Amir Sarkosh…
Jak Jones won Group 22. Now this is an odd one! The only player who was undefeated in that group on the day was Alfie Burden … who finished last š³. The other three players involved in the group all had one win, one draw and one defeat. It all came to frame difference for them.
Jimmy Robertson won Group 23, with one win and two draws. The key factor was that he was the only undefeated player in that group.
If anything, Group 24 was even “closer”. All four players won one match, just one. Xu Si prevailed because he remained undefeated. Julien Leclercq and Michael Holt had one win, one draw and one defeat. Julien earned the second place on frame difference. Craig Steadman was last with two defeats.
Group 25 was really extraordinary. Every match, other than the first one finished on a draw. Jackson Page, who had beaten Ashley Hugill by 3-1 in the first match to finish on the day, won the group.
Chang Bingyu won Group 27 . He only lost one frame all day, to Jamie Clarke. Four of the six matches ended on a 3-0 score, the other two on a 3-1 score. No draw in this group…
He Guoqiang won Group 28 in similar fashion. He lost just one frame, to Liu Yang who came second in the group. Liu Yang is a new professional, 22 years old. This group originally featured Anthony Mc Gill. Anthony withdrew though and was replaced by Dylan Smith, a 18 years old amateur from England. Dylan won just one frame, the very first played on the day. He won it in style though … with a break of 78.
Group 29 proved to be even more extraordinary. In that group, three players, Noppon Saengkham, Liam Davies and Ben Woollaston, finished with two wins and one defeat, all three had played 11 frames, won 7, lost 4. The break to got Noppon the win, a 123, came in the last match on the day and that was actually the only match he lost … š³
Stan Moody won Group 30, with two wins and a draw. He made breaks of 52, 59, 68, 70, 73, 109 and 135 in the process… not too shabby!
The following announcement was shared by WST yesterday:
Shenzhen Open Added To Calendar As Xiāan Event Relocates
The Shenzhen Open world ranking event will be staged for the first time this season, replacing the Xiāan Grand Prix.
The dates will remain the same with the final stages to be played from September 28th to October 4th, 2026.
Shenzhen is located in the Guangdong Province in southern China, known for its cutting edge technology and economic growth. With a population of 17 million, it is the third largest city in China after Beijing and Shanghai. It is also the home of 2025 World Champion Zhao Xintong.
The qualifying rounds in the UK will run from July 19th to 22nd. The format has a tiered structure with three qualifying rounds, and the top 16 seeds have their round three (last 64) matches held over to the venue in Shenzhen.
Total prize money will be Ā£850,000, with the winner to receive Ā£177,000. Mark Williams will be defending champion having won the title in Xiāan last year
Simon Brownell, Chief Executive Officer of WST, said: āWe are thrilled to be bringing a huge event to the incredible city of Shenzhen for the first time. The fans there will get the opportunity to watch their heroes play live and it will be a fantastic experience for the top players to visit another new city in China, as our sport continues to grow across the region.ā
The Xiāan Grand Prix was staged in Xiāan in the Shaanxi Province in 2024 and 2025.
Nothing to add really… let’s hope that it’s a success, and that the event will be well attended. With such a huge population and being home to the first Chinese World Snooker Champion it should be. If it isn’t then something is badly wrong somewhere…
The quarter-finals for all four BetVictor Home Nations events in the 2026/27 season will change from best of nine frames to best of 11.
There is also a change in format with the Friday afternoon quarter-finals to be played concurrently on two tables from 1pm, rather than the previous roll-on roll-off format from 12pm. The evening quarter-finals on the same day will be on two tables from 7pm as usual.
This change has been made after discussions with host broadcasters TNT Sports and BBC Wales, taking into account the preference among fans and players for longer matches at the deep end of tournaments.
The four events are:
BetVictor English Open The Brentwood CentreĀ September 7-13.Ā
BetVictor Northern Ireland Open Waterfront Hall, Belfast October 18-25.
BetVictor Scottish Open The Meadowbank Centre, EdinburghĀ December 14-20.
BetVictor Welsh Open Venue Cymru, Llandudno Ā February 8-14, 2027.Ā
Overall I believe that this is a good move, but then, if fans expressed their preference for longer matches, why not make the earlier stages longer as well? Maybe, the issue with the earlier stages is the number of tables used simultaneously? Moving to best of 9 would almost certainly mean adding an interval, and with that having to cope with fans leaving and rejoining the arena while several matches are still in progress on close-by tables.
The draw and match schedule for the final stages of the China Open is now available, as the world ranking event returns to the calendar for the first time in seven years.
Neil Robertson is defending champion having beaten Jack Lisowski in the final in 2019. He will take on Chang Bingyu in his opening match on Monday August 10th. Wold Champion Wu Yize is in action on the first day, Saturday August 8th, and faces Yao Pengcheng. Two of the qualifiers, Anthony McGill and Hossein Vafaei, have been drawn at random to face local wild cards before the last 32 round.
Taiyuan, which is the capital city of the Shanxi Province in North China, will host the tournament from August 8-16.
Under a joint project between WST, the Chinese Billiard Sports Association, the Shanxi Provincial Sports Bureau, the Taiyuan Municipal Government and Huajian Sports Holding Group Co Ltd, co-organized by the Shanxi Provincial National Fitness Guidance Center, the Taiyuan Sports Bureau and Huajian Culture Media Technology (Shanxi) Co Ltd, the event will have huge prize money of Ā£1.2 million. The nine-day event will have 32 players in the final stages and matches will be best of 11 frames from the start, on two tables.
The China Open is among snookerās most historic and prestigious international events as it was first staged in 1999 in Shanghai, won by Ronnie O’Sullivan. In 2005 it was held in Beijing and won by an 18-year-old Ding Junhui, beating Stephen Hendry in the final. This was a key moment in the growth of snooker in China and the arrival of Ding as a national hero.
