It was a bitter-sweet day for me watching the Champion of Champions. Sweet because, for most of the day, Ronnie played extremely well and looked focused. Bitter not so much because he lost but because the way it all finished.

Here is the report by WST:

Thursday 5 Nov 2020 11:14PM

Mark Allen knocked Ronnie O’Sullivan out of the 888sport Champion of Champions, winning 6-3 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, live on ITV4.

The Antrim man was on top form in the Group 3 final, but the match will be remembered for a prolonged verbal clash between the two players during the last frame. O’Sullivan, trailing 5-3, felt that his opponent had been moving in his eyeline and made his case for over a minute. Allen denied any wrongdoing and eventually O’Sullivan was persuaded by referee Marcel Eckardt to play his next shot. He missed a red to a top corner and Allen made a clearance of 66 to advance to the semi-finals, where he’ll meet Judd Trump on Saturday evening.

“I finished the match well in the afternoon so had some positives to hang onto coming into tonight,” said Allen. “I knew I would need to play better and I did. I only really missed one shot in the balls, a black at 1-1. Other than that, it was a decent performance and my long game came on as the match went on.

“I’m not getting ahead of myself, it’s just one win. I came here to win the tournament and I knew I had two tough matches ahead of me to get through today and it doesn’t get any harder than Judd Trump in the semi-finals but that is what you want – to play the top players in the biggest tournaments on the biggest stage.

“I think Ronnie just got into his own head. He was taking forever on shots for the previous frame and a half, I left him touching ball a few times and he was taking forever over them. He was taking two minutes to decide to put me back on one of them and was never taking anything on. I think he was just looking for an excuse if anything went wrong.

“To accuse me of moving on his shots and standing in his eyeline, it’s just crazy. Even Marcel, the referee, said ‘Mark, I know you haven’t don’t anything but let’s just play the game’, that’s all I really needed to hear, it put me at ease. I wasn’t going to back down from Ronnie. He is a great snooker player, the best ever in my opinion, but sometimes he lets himself down with what he does and what he says. I wasn’t going to let that go because I knew I was in the right.”

Asked about the altercation, O’Sullivan said: “When someone is continuously in your eyeline and when you are on a shot and he’s moving, maybe I read a bit too much into it, but it just seemed a little bit like stuff you do down the snooker club when you’re an amateur and you are trying to get into your opponent’s head or trying to put him off. I thought, I’m going to pull you up on it, I’m not going to let it go. There’s no point letting it go and he carries on doing it, so I just thought get it out of the way and it’s done. But he deserved his victory.

“That’s why I was just taking my time on certain shots, I thought I’m not going to play this shot until you actually sit down in your chair. I could have said something then but I thought, hopefully you get the message, and he kind of did because he sat down. Then when I was playing the shot he started ripping his logo off so I thought I have to have a word with him. There are no hard feelings, he played better tonight, he played fantastic and deserved his victory but sometimes you just have to say something and get it out of the way.”

The break building was clinical in the group final. Allen opened with a 78 before O’Sullivan went one better and levelled with a 79. The Rocket then moved ahead with a 91 but the players headed to the mid-session locked at 2-2 after Allen made a 102 in the fourth.

O’Sullivan regained the lead in the fifth before the Antrim man levelled again – he potted 13 reds and 13 blacks before missing a tricky 14th red to a centre pocket, his break ending at 104. He was visibly disappointed that his 147 attempt broke down, but Allen was in the ascendancy nonetheless and took the next three frames to book his place in the last four.

Earlier, O’Sullivan had defeated Michael Holt 4-1. The Hitman, in the event as Shoot Out champion, took the opening frame with a 107, but O’Sullivan was giving little away and took the next four frames to win inside 50 minutes.

Allen came through a close battle against Scott Donaldson in his group semi-final, making a 125 in the last frame to win 4-3.

The first semi-final of the 888sport Champion of Champions takes place on Friday as defending champion Neil Robertson takes on Mark Selby over 11 frames from 6:45pm, live on ITV4.

GROUP 3

Group Semi-Finals
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-1 Michael Holt
0-107 (107), 96-5 (65), 86-14 (86), 71-0 (71), 136-0 (87)

Mark Allen 4-3 Scott Donaldson
0-80 (65), 99-33 (64), 68-75 (Allen 55), 78-14 (54), 15-59, 48-10, 125-0 (125)

Group Final
Ronnie O’Sullivan 3–6 Mark Allen
5-78 (78), 79-0 (79), 95-37 (91), 1-102 (102), 77-11 (51), 0-104, 10-73, 0-74 (74), 72-26 (66)

Here are the stats for the Ronnie versus Michael Holt match:

Impressive!

After the match the Neal Foulds ans Alan McManus reflected how Ronnie still played “youthful” snooker. He still goes for his shots like he did when he was 16.

Mark Allen played OK in the afternoon, but Scott could have won this match had he been able to keep his composure.

During the group final, in the evening, Mark Allen played extremely well. Ronnie didn’t play badly at all and gave it everything except towards the end of the last frame. Both players had a pot success rate over 90%.

Mark Allen was the better player and deserved the win. It was just a shame that a great match ended the way it did. 

Now onto that incident… 

Here is Ronnie protesting about Mark’s behaviour…

Now let’s have a look at a few screenshots taken during that phase of the frame (CCTV footage).

And this footage, where you see Allen moving whilst standing in Ronnie’s eyeline

In all but one of those images – taken during the long safety exchange in the last frame. just before Ronnie’s protest – you can see Mark Allen standing, and rather close to the table. In some pictues you only see his legs and feet, and the cue. The way they appear in the picture shows that he was not heading to his seat. He was standing there. You can also see that he definitely stood in Ronnie’s eyeline on some shots. So that wasn’t “crazy”, it was the truth and it went on for long minutes. Ronnie was 5-3 down, it was a critical frame for him.

In the one image where Mark is sat, you can see him fidgeting with his logo. That logo kept coming off, and eventually Marcel told him to just take it off and play without it. But even after that, it must have left sticky traces of glue on Mark’s waistcoat because he kept trying to remove something where the logo had stood. Did he do it when Ronnie was on the shot? Yes, that could be seen for a second in the ITV footage.

Was is gamesmanship from Mark? I don’t think so. That’s not like the Mark Allen I know for years.

Was Ronnie right in his protest? Yes and no. Yes, because indeed Mark wasn’t sitting in his chair, as he is supposed to do, and stood in his eyeline repeatedly during a critical phase of the match. No, because he shouldn’t have waited until his frustration was boiling over, and he shouldn’t have tried to deal with the situation himself. Instead, he should have asked Marcel to intervene, ask Mark to return to his seat and stay sat there when it was Ronnie’s turn at the table. If he was feeling the need to gather his toughts, calm down and regain his concentration, Ronnie could even have asked permission to leave the arena for a couple of minutes. There was a similar situation involving Jamie Clarke earlier in the season and that’s how it was “resolved”.

As it happened, Ronnie’s concentration and emotions were all over the place. He missed a very simple red and it cost him the frame and the match. He should have cleared from where he was, he would have earlier in the match, and it should have been 5-4. That doesn’t mean that he would have won the match. He would still have been behind, but at least, he would have had a chance …

And, as a final point regarding this whole incident, Marcel should have asked Mark to go and sit, even without Ronnie asking. That’s what players are supposed to do when their oppenent is at the table. It wasn’t just a one-off, it went on for long minutes. If, instead, he told Mark that he had done “nothing wrong”, that’s the crazy part.

The 2020 UK Championship draw and format have been posted bu WST:

Betway UK Championship Draw

Ding Junhui will start the defence of his Betway UK Championship title against amateur Jamie Curtis-Barrett later this month.

Click here for the draw

Click here for the format

The first Triple Crown event of the season will run from November 23 to December 6 in Milton Keynes, with 128 players battling for the coveted trophy and a top prize of £200,000. China’s Ding beat Stephen Maguire in the final last year, winning the event for the third time.

The event features 128 players in a flat draw. All matches are best of 11 frames, up until the final on Sunday December 6th which is best of 19.

World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will be up against Leo Fernandez in round one while world number one Judd Trump will take on Paul Davison.

Neil Robertson will face France’s top player Brian Ochoiski while three-time winner John Higgins will meet Fergal O’Brien.  Veterans Alan McManus and Jimmy White will go head to head while Mark Selby has been drawn against Michael White.

The event  will be staged behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes for the first time, in line with Government Covid-19 regulations.

From the second round onwards, November 28th to December 6th, the event will receive extensive live television coverage from BBC, Eurosport, Matchroom.Live and a range of other global broadcasters. Details of how to watch the opening round will be announced shortly.

First staged in 1977, the UK Championship has been won by all of snooker’s great names.

Prize money

Winner: £200,000
Runner-up: £80,000
Semi-finals: £40,000
Quarter-finals: £24,500
Last 16: £17,000
Last 32: £12,000
Last 64: £6,500
High break: £15,000
Total: £1,009,000

No Stephen Hendry in there, and I’m not surprised. He said  in commentary earlier this week that he wasn’t going to play in the UK. I think that the prospect of playing in Milton Keynes didn’t endear him that much, but also I believe that Steve Feeney made a mistake trying to “big up” Stephen’s return. That put unecessary pressure on the seven times World Champion.

WST has published the draws and format of the two next events:

2020 German Masters Qualifiers:

BetVictor German Masters Qualifiers Draw And Format

The qualifying rounds of the 2021 BetVictor German Masters will run from November 10 to 14 in Milton Keynes.

Click here for the draw

Click here for the format

Defending champion Judd Trump will meet Anthony Hamilton in the first round, while last year’s runner-up Neil Robertson will take on Ben Woollaston.

Germany’s top players Simon Lichtenberg and Lukas Kleckers have been drawn against Amine Amiri and Zhou Yuelong respectively.

Mark Selby, who leads the BetVictor European Series rankings after two of the six events, will face Fergal O’Brien.

Details of how to watch the qualifiers will be released soon.

Players coming through two rounds will go through to the final stages, scheduled to take place in Berlin from January 27 to 31.

2020 Northern Ireland Open:

Northern Ireland Open Draw And Format

Judd Trump will begin the defence of his Northern Ireland Open title against Gerard Greene at the world ranking event later this month.

Click here for the draw

Click here for the format

Trump beat O’Sullivan 9-7 in the final in both 2018 and 2019

World number one Trump will be aiming to win the event for the third year in a row, having beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final in both 2018 and 2019. This year’s tournament runs from November 16 to 22 in Milton Keynes and it’s the second Home Nations event of the season; Trump having captured the first at last month’s Matchroom.Live English Open.

He’ll be up against Greene at 1pm on the opening day. World Champion O’Sullivan will face Jamie O’Neill on the same day at 7pm.

Northern Ireland’s top player Mark Allen will be up against Anthony Hamilton, while Northern Irish amateur Declan Lavery has been handed a tie with Neil Robertson.

John Higgins will meet Daniel Wells while Mark Selby’s first match is against Andrew Higginson.

The event, played behind closed doors, will receive extensive live coverage from Eurosport and a range of other broadcasters worldwide. Details of how to watch will follow soon.

Ronnie hasn’t entered the German Masters and there is no surprise there. He wouldn’t fancy two round of qualifiers, in the Milton Keynes bubble, just next week and probably also isn’t too keen to travel abroad under the current circumstances. That said, the way things are going, there is no certainty that the event will be staged at the Tempodrom in Berlin.

As for the Northern Ireland Open, on paper, Ronnie doesn’t have a bad draw but he might well play Elliott Slessor, his bogey opponent, in the second round…

That said we have some interesting matches between young players to look forward to:

Alex Ursenbacher v Lei Peifan
Chen Zifan v Xu Si
Zhao Xintong v Si Jiahui
Lukas Kleckers v Chang Bingyu
Zhao Jianbo v Brian Ochoiski
Aaron Hill v Jackson Page
Yuan Sijun v Luo Honghao

We have also some possibly difficult first matches between experienced players:

Barry Hawkins v Alan McManus
Ben Woollaston v Ricky Walden
Shaun Murphy v Ryan Day
Matthew Stevens v Jimmy Robertson

Mark Selby wasn’t at his best but his will to win was strong as ever yesterday.

Here is WST reporting on yesterday’s action:

Selby Fightback Floors Wilson

Mark Selby won six of the last seven frames to beat Kyren Wilson 6-5 and set up an 888sport Champion of Champions semi-final clash with Neil Robertson.

The three-time World Champion had trailed 4-0 to Kettering potter Wilson at the mid-session interval of their Group 4 final at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes. But he dug in and began the fightback after the break, winning the next three frames.

Wilson moved to within one of the semis at 5-3, but Selby kept on fighting to force the decider, which he won with a break of 74 to reach his first 888sport Champion of Champions semi final since 2013.

“To go 4-0 down I didn’t play great, missed a few long balls, but every credit to Kyren because he played well and deserved to be 4-0 up,” said Selby.

“He potted some unbelievable long balls. Every time I left him a long one I expected him to pot it, but after the interval he kept going for them and wasn’t potting them and that changed the match.

“I had a chance at the black to go 4-4 and losing that frame was a bit of a blow but I knew I needed to go again, dig my heels in, and that’s what I did. I put this up there with the Masters, it’s a fantastic tournament. It’s only the second time I have been to the semi-finals, so I’ll look forward to it.”

The final frame before the interval was the longest of the tournament so far at 44 minutes, but it was Wilson who won it for a 4-0 mid-session lead.

Selby was gifted a lifeline when Wilson missed a pink from the black spot in the fifth and the Leicester man was able to get on the board with a clearance of 58, before further reducing the deficit by taking the sixth.

Wilson looked set to restamp his authority on the match in the next frame but his break was abruptly halted on 51 when he missed a simple red, and Selby took the frame with a 74 to move within a frame of the World Championship finalist.

A fluked red looked to have turned the eighth in favour of Wilson, but he missed a tricky black cut for the frame. The cue ball stuck at the top of the table and Selby couldn’t make a difficult pot. Wilson had a second chance and this time he took it to move within one of victory.

Selby, though, wasn’t done yet, and after an initial break of 54, won through a lengthy safety battle to clear with a 35 for 4-5 before levelling in the next and equalling his highest break of the day, a 74, to progress.

Earlier, Selby had defeated Luca Brecel 4-2 in a gritty match, the Leicester man advancing with a high break of just 53. Wilson was more fluid in his match against Stephen Maguire, making breaks including a 72, 76, 77 and 130 en-route to a 4-1 win.

The final group of the 888sport Champion of Champions takes place on Thursday as Ronnie O’Sullivan faces Michael Holt and Mark Allen takes on Scott Donaldson in the semi-finals from 12:45pm, live on ITV4.

GROUP 4
Group Semi-Finals
Mark Selby 4-2 Luca Brecel
29-84 (71), 100-34, 84-19 (53), 81-30, 0-79 (79), 63-6 (40)

Kyren Wilson 4-1 Stephen Maguire
82-16, 131-1 (59, 72), 0-76 (76), 77-0 (77), 130-0 (130)

Group Final
Mark Selby 6–5 Kyren Wilson
44-66, 5-73 (53), 0-80 (64), 39-83, 123-9 (58), 80-36, 78-51 (74, 51), 58-69 (Selby 58), 101-37 (54), 57-20

Luca Brecel didn’t play badly yesterday, but he had no answer to Mark Selby’s shrewd approach of the match. The contrat in style was striking. Stephen Hendry in commentary branded Luca’s game as the “most uncomplicated game on the tour: see shot, play shot”. That’s indeed a good description and it’s rather efficient against most players because Luca, on form, has trememdous ability. But Mark Selby is not the “most players” type and Luca failed to identify opportunities as well as traps set by his opponent. It cost him.

Stephen Maguire was dire again. Since he won the Tour Championship in the summer his game has gone missing for some reason. Everything in his demeanour at the table and in his chair yesterday was screaming of frustration, anger and anxiety. Not a pretty sight.

Today Ronnie enters the fray and, if I’m honest, I’m not too hopeful. There are a few reasons for this: first because he hasn’t shown much form so far this season and hasn’t played much either so I don’t expect him to be sharp, next because Michael Holt will be up for this and he has beaten Ronnie in the past and, finally, because Ronnie is clearly uncomfortatble with the stict “bubble” environment in Milton Keynes.

This was announced today by WST:

Wednesday 4 Nov 2020 09:58AM

This year’s Betway UK Championship will be staged in Milton Keynes for the first time, in line with Government Covid-19 regulations.

One of snooker’s most prestigious events and part of the Triple Crown Series, the tournament has been staged at York Barbican since 2011. However this year all rounds will take place at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, running from November 23rd to December 6th.

The event will take place behind closed doors. Fans who had bought tickets will have their tickets automatically transferred to next year’s event, and are advised to contact their point of purchase if they have any questions.

WST has staged a succession of tournaments at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes since June 2020. The facilities at the venue, including an on-site hotel, allow strict Covid-19 guidelines to be followed, keeping the health and safety of the players, contractors and officials as the highest priority.

WST Chairman Barry Hearn said: “We are disappointed not to be going to York Barbican for the Betway UK Championship this year because it is a fantastic venue in a wonderful city. The people of York can rest assured that we fully intend to be back in York next year and in fact we have already agreed dates for 2021 and 2022 with the venue.

“Following extensive consultation with the UK Government and the relevant public health bodies, the decision has been made to stage all matches in Milton Keynes this time. It is an ideal venue, we are working with an exceptional team there and we have proved over the past few months that we can stage major tournaments there, involving 128 players, safely and successfully.

“In the circumstances we face today, our crucial objective is to keep our events going, provide competitive action and prize money for our players, and top class sport for the many millions of television viewers around the world who are in need of inspiration.

“We look forward to working with all our partners on delivering a tournament of the highest quality.”

From the second round onwards, November 28th to December 6th, the event will receive extensive live television coverage from BBC, Eurosport, Matchroom.Live and a range of other global broadcasters.

First staged in 1977, the UK Championship has been won by all of snooker’s great names. China’s Ding Junhui lifted the trophy for the third time last year, beating Stephen Maguire in the final.

The event features 128 players in a flat draw. All matches are best of 11 frames, up until the final on Sunday December 6th which is best of 19. The draw will be announced shortly.

It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped… health and saftey of players, officials and fans must come first.

This is WST report on what happened yesterday:

Five-Ton Juddernaut Keeps Rolling

Judd Trump make a record-equalling five centuries in beating David Gilbert 6-3 in the Group Two final to book his place in the semi-finals of the 888sport Champion of Champions, live on ITV4.

The world number one produced some of his finest scoring form at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes as he equalled the record for the most centuries in a best of 11 match, previously achieved by Fergal O’Brien at the UK Championship four years ago.

Gilbert stayed in touch at 2-2 and 4-3 down, but Trump sealed his place in the semis with breaks of 107 and 138 to complete his victory.

“It wasn’t my best snooker but my scoring was there,” said Trump. “When you make century breaks it makes you feel like you have played better than you have. I felt good towards the end, I felt every time I got in towards the end I was going to score heavy. Not so much at the start but I was able to stay with him because he was probably the better player early on.

“I lost a big frame to go 2-1 down and that spurred me on; I didn’t want to make any more mistakes because Dave is a great player and you don’t want to be giving those easy chances. In the end I am very happy with how I finished the match out and it is nice to make five centuries.

“It would be nice to get this won and people can stop mentioning this like they did the Worlds and The Masters a couple of years ago. It would be nice to win every event. It is an amazing tournament and an amazing set-up here. It looks fantastic and even though there is no crowd it is still nice to look around and see the effort and perhaps that is why people are playing so well, because the surroundings spur you on to play well.”

Trump had taken the opening frame of the group final with a 103 but fell behind when Gilbert took the second with a 49 and the third on the black with a 52.

Trump levelled with a 117 before the interval and regained the lead with a 112 immediately after the break. Trump’s advantage was doubled in the sixth but Gilbert pulled it back to 4-3 with a 71 break.

Another century, this time a 107, put last year’s runner-up within one of the semi-finals and a 138 completed the win and equalled O’Brien’s record. Trump will now play in what will be his 75^th professional semi-final on Saturday evening, where he will meet the winner of the group involving Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Allen, Scott Donaldson and Michael Holt.

In the afternoon session, Trump had sailed past Stuart Bingham, registering a 4-0 win with a 119 in the third frame. Gilbert beat former Champion of Champions winner Shaun Murphy in his group semi-final. The Magician was trialling a new thin cut into the pack on the break and missed three times during the match, while Gilbert looked in good form with breaks of over 50 in each of the four frames he won, including a 107 in the opener.

The 888sport Champion of Champions continues on Wednesday with Group 4, featuring Mark Selby, Luca Brecel, Kyren Wilson and Stephen Maguire.

GROUP 2
Group Semi-Finals
Judd Trump 4-0 Stuart Bingham
70-30, 72-50, 119-1 (119), 67-21 (63)

Shaun Murphy 2-4 David Gilbert
0-107 (107), 1-83 (83), 49-77 (67), 83-8 (78), 86-23 (77), 1-92 (88)

FINAL
Judd Trump 6–3 David Gilbert
115-16 (103), 1-61 (49), 67-68 (Gilbert 52), 142-0 (117), 112-0 (112), 67-17, 0-71 (71), 107-0 (107), 138-0 (138)

The afternoon session was a bit of a strange one.

Judd Trump is absolutely right when stating that he didn’t play his best snooker, Actually in his first match he was pretty poor. I’m not sure what is happening to Stuart Bingham but he was just awful. He hasn’t been performing for quite some time now. Stuart used to play in every pro-am on the calendar before the Hearn era. He’s always been playing a lot of snooker even when tournaments were few and far between. Maybe he needs to play a lot to stay sharp and the Covid-19 crisis has prevented him to do that. Whatever it is, his game is nowhere near the level required to play at the top, and, I guess, as a result his confidence must be quite low.

Shaun Murphy’s preparation was probably not ideal, with the restrictions imposed in Ireland. He made a few unexpected errors, and David Gilbert, who was playing well, took advantage.  Shaun improved as the match went on, but it was too late.