So here I am, in Sheffield, for what is effectively the start of the World Championsphip, the three rounds of qualifiers held in Ponds Forge. For the first time since 2010, I will not be at the Crucible, but those 8 days of qualifying rounds are maybe even more filled with tension than the main event. For so many players here it’s their career that’s at stake.

So what do you need to know to fully understand and live through what’s going on?

The draw and format are of course available on Worldsnooker but the easiest way to “understand” the draw is probably to read Snookerbacker’s preview and you’re not compelled to bet for it …

As you will see, Patrick Wallace has withdrawn. The reason for this is, unfortunately, that he has just lost his father. My thoughts are with Patrick and his family. I had a chat with Patrick at the World Seniors and he is very lovely and kind person and he was looking forward to this event too.

To know who plays when, the easiest source is, in my opinion, the snooker.org site

To understand what is at stake, other than qualifying for the Crucible, here is Matt Huart Tour Survival Guide. You can trust Matt to keep this up-to-date, day by day even if matches finish at ungodly hours!

So,  what will I keep an eye on?

• We have two ladies in the draw this time: Reanne Evans and On Yee Ng. Reanne is up against Robin Hull and has her work cut out obviously but … who knows? Two years ago she ran Ken Doherty very, very close. On Yee was absolutely outplayed by Peter Lines last year, but she’s improved, she’s a hard worker and her strength is tactical play. She’s up against Nigel Bond, not the biggest scorer nowadays but a fine tactician. I could be interesting.
• Two greats of the game are in serious danger to be relegated: Ken Doherty, who was the World Champion exactly 20 years ago and Jimmy White. Ken’s situation looks very much beyond rescue and family circumstances don’t help: Ken lost his mother less than two weeks ago. Ken has a winnable first round, facing Jason Weston but is likely to face Ben Wooollaston next and I can’t see him win this one in current form. Jimmy on the other hand has a good chance to stay on tout via the one year list IF he wins his first match and he’s facing Jack Lisowski. It won’t be easy but, you never know…
• I’d love to see Hossein Vafaei play at the Crucible, and, of course, I want Mark Williams to be there too – he should be there by right in my opinion. Mark is up against Zhao Xintong who is very, very dangerous when his potting boots are on. To me, it will be about how well Mark will be able to cope with the tiredness and the aftermath of the China Open last week. If he is fresh enough, he will be the one dictating the style of play and he will neutralize young Zhao. Hossein has an easy opener but then could face Matthew Selt, and possibly next Tom Ford or Chris Wakelin. Not easy but, again if he’s not too tired after making the SF in China only a few days ago, he’s very capable of beating any of those.
• I will also follow what happens to Anthony Hamilton. I expect him to qualify. He’s always loved the World Championship, and long formats seem to suit him. Nobody will want to draw him in the last 32 I reckon.

Worldsnooker has today published the Draw and Format of the World Championship 2017, main event.

Tuesday 4 Apr 2017 02:12PM

Mark Selby won a thrilling and high quality final by 10-8 to win the China Open 2017, denying Mark Williams a 19th ranking title, and, probably more importantly just now, an automatic spot at the Crucible.

Here is the report on Worldsnooker:

Sunday 2 Apr 2017 04:31PM

Mark Selby won his fourth ranking title of the season by beating Mark Williams 10-8 in the final of the Bank of Beijing China Open.

World number one Selby captured the 11th ranking title of his career and a top prize of £85,000 by coming from 8-7 down to win the last three frames.

Defeat was a double blow for 42-year-old Williams as he missed out on his first ranking title in six years and also the chance to regain a place among the world’s top 16. Victory would have given him an automatic spot at the Crucible later this month, but now he must head to the Betfred World Championship qualifiers which start on Wednesday (tickets available – click here for details) and will need to win three matches to make the final stages. Ryan Day must have been the most relieved man following the final as he hung on to the 16th seeding position thanks to his fellow Welshman’s defeat.

Selby, meanwhile, will head to the Crucible at the top of his game having had his most successful season to date. He had never previously won more than two ranking events in a single campaign, but following his victories at the Paul Hunter Classic, International Championship and UK Championship, the 33-year-old from Leicester has landed another piece of silverware.

In fact Selby had a relatively quiet spell in recent months – failing to reach a semi-final in the seven tournaments which followed his UK triumph in December. But in winning seven matches in Beijing he has established himself as hot favourite as he goes to Sheffield attempting to win his third World title since 2014.

A high quality start to the final saw Selby build a 3-1 lead with breaks of 54, 100 and 109, while Williams made a 124 in frame three. The next four were shared, then Williams made a 106 in the last frame of the opening session to trail just 5-4 heading into the conclusion.

Williams, whose last ranking title came when he beat Selby in the final of the 2011 German Masters, took three of the first four frames of the evening session with top breaks of 68, 65 and 81 to move 7-6 ahead. Selby restored parity with a 95 before Williams won a tense 50-minute 15th frame on the pink.

Selby rose to the occasion with runs of 70 and 124 to edge 9-8 ahead, and he dominated the 18th frame with a top break of 39 to seal the title.

I have to say, I feel for Mark Williams, and this is by no means something against Mark Selby who played a fantastic match, was granite under pressure, and deserved the win. The thing is that “Willo” will now be very tired and may already have to play another best of 19 again, most certainly still jet-lagged, on Wednesday in Ponds Forge. If he failed to qualify for the Crucible, it would be a terrible blow for him. And what makes me really unhappy, angry even, is that if that joke of a tournament that is the Shootout wasn’t ranking, he WOULD be at the Crucible and it’s Anthony McGill who would be at spot 17 … tell me about not rewarding mediocrity. You win 7 frames under a ridiculous shot-clock format, played under rules that aren’t even snooker, in front of a half-drunken crowd so loud that refereeing properly proved impossible, and, well,  you get about as many ranking points for it than for the tremendous efforts Mark Williams produced this week … Seriously?

These views are mine, Monique Limbos, and mine only.

Anyway …  Congratulations Mark Selby !

Today saw wins for Mark Williams and Mark Selby, who will battle it out tomorrow in a best of 19. For Mark Williams it would be an incredible achievement: a 19th ranking title, his first since the German Master 2011, and a win that would allow him to regain a top 16 spot and spare him the ordeal of the World Championship qualifiers. This sounds like a lot of pressure, but if anyone can handle it it’s “Willo”.

Whatever happens tomorrow, the seeding for the Crucible is pretty much set by now and here is how it pans out:

Mark Selby (1) / Qualifier

Ryan Day OR Anthony McGill (16) / Qualifier

Neil Robertson (9) / Qualifier

Marco Fu (8) / Qualifier

————————————

Shaun Murphy (5) / Qualifier

Ronnie O’Sullivan (12) / Qualifier

Liang Wenbo (13) / Qualifier

Ding Junhui (4) / Qualifier

————————————

Stuart Bingham (3) / Qualifier

Kyren Wilson (14) / Qualifier

Mark Allen (11) / Qualifier

John Higgins (6) / Qualifier

————————————

Barry Hawkins (7) / Qualifier

Ali Carter (10) / Qualifier

Anthony McGill OR Mark Williams (15) / Qualifier

Judd Trump (2) / Qualifier

As for the matches themselves here are the reports by Worldsnooker:

Mark Williams 6-1 Hossein Vafaei:

Saturday 1 Apr 2017 10:25AM

Mark Williams produced an imperious performance to defeat Hossein Vafaei 6-1 and reach the final of the Bank of Beijing China Open.

Williams, who needs to win this event to qualify directly for the World Championship, is now one match away from pipping fellow Welshman Ryan Day to a seeded Crucible spot.

The victory sees the 42-year-old from Ebbw Vale reach his 30^th ranking final, where he will be looking to secure a fourth China Open crown. However, you need to go back to the 2011 German Masters for the last time Williams lifted a title.

Defeat for Vafaei, who secured the biggest win of his career yesterday against Judd Trump, brings an end to the most successful tournament of his career so far. However, he will go into next week’s World Championship qualifying with the knowledge that his run this week has secured his place on the tour next season.

The 18-time ranking winner Williams stamped his authority on the match early on. With the score at 2-0 he trailed in the third, but produced a clearance of 62 to extend his lead in a bitter blow for the Iranian. Williams compounded that in the next, with a contribution of 103 to lead 4-0 at the interval.

The deficit was soon five, but Vafaei showed a glimpse of his impressive form from earlier in the week, with a well constructed break of 98 to move to 5-1 down. However, the two-time World Champion wasn’t going to let his opponent back in and got over the line with a  run of 69 in the seventh frame to wrap up a comprehensive 6-1 victory.

“I’ve been practicing quite a bit lately. I know about the incentive that if I win the tournament, I qualify for the Crucible, but I haven’t won in a while,” said Williams. “At the start of the week it was five or six games to qualify for the Crucible and looked out of my reach. Now it’s only one match, it’s within my grasp now really.

“I’m not anxious or nervous, I’m just excited. I’ve won this tournament a few times before and this is one of my favourite places to come and play.”

Mark Selby 6-4 Kyren Wilson:

Saturday 1 Apr 2017 06:07PM

Mark Selby has defeated a spirited Kyren Wilson 6-4 in a hard fought semi-final at the Bank of Beijing China Open.

It’s been another remarkable season for world number one Selby, who will appear in his fifth final of the season tomorrow, hunting a fourth title of the campaign.

Selby faces Mark Williams in the showpiece clash with a huge amount on the line for both players. The Jester from Leicester is defending the prize money he earned for winning this event in 2015, which will be removed from the rolling two-year ranking list after tomorrow. Meanwhile Williams knows that victory will see him snatch a seeded spot at the World Championship and avoid qualifying at Ponds Forge.

Wilson will head into his two weeks of preparation for the World Championship on a high, having claimed victories over last year’s Crucible runner-up Ding Junhui and the 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham this week.

Both sessions of the match were played out in contrasting fashion. Before the interval, the game was dominated by high quality safety play. World Champion Selby got the better of the two and after the first few frames were traded, he crucially pinched the fourth frame on the pink to lead 3-1 at the halfway point.

When the players returned the tempo of the game upped significantly. Wilson propelled himself back into the match with breaks of 64 and a sublime 130 to restore parity at 3-3.

Not to be outdone, the World Champion responded with a contribution of 80 to regain the lead. Wilson continued to go for his shots and made a break of 68 as he once again levelled at 4-4.

From that point, the 10-time ranking winner showed his experience. Selby was never behind in the match and moved one from victory after edging the ninth frame. He then ruthlessly forced himself over the line with a run of 93 to wrap up the 6-4 win.

“After the interval Kyren played well, made some good breaks and that made me get focused and  want to play well,” said Selby. “I’m looking forward to it tomorrow. I won this tournament two years ago and in a way I’m looking to defend it, as I didn’t play last year. Mark Williams is a great player and one of the legends of the game. It is going to be a tough match for me, but it is for him as well, he needs to win to get in the top 16.”

Wilson was making his first semi-final appearance since the Northern Ireland Open in November. His focus now turns to Sheffield.

Wilson said: “I just thought at 3-1 down I was going to go for it. I started having a go at a few long pots and they were going in. It was a really good game after the interval and I enjoyed it.

“The World Championship is the main event and it is only around the corner. I will look to take my form from this week to the Crucible.”

I really would love to see Mark Williams lift the trophy tomorrow, and this is absolutely not a dig at Mark Selby; I just like Mark Williams, the person and the player and would love for him to gain an automatic Crucible spot after his tremendous efforts this week.

Hossein Vafaei was outplayed today, but we will certainly see more of him. He’s a beautiful player and what he’s achieved in short time he’s been on the main tour is remarkable. Yes, I’m a fan! I just hope that he will be refreshed enough when the qualifiers start in Ponds Forge on Wednesday. I’d love to see him at the Crucible.

Mark Selby will go to the Crucible as a logical favourite, but Kyren Wilson will be a danger man if he keeps the form he’s shown today.