Ronnie O’Sullivan gets the defence of his Victorian Plumbing UK Championship title underway on the opening day of the tournament on Saturday November 23rd at the York Barbican.
O’Sullivan won the title for a record-extending eighth time last year, beating Ding Junhui 10-7 in the final. His quest to make it nine crowns gets underway at 1pm on the first day. The matches for the top 16 seeds have been scheduled, and they will be drawn at random against the 16 players who come through the qualifying rounds.
Shaun Murphy also plays on the opening afternoon, with Ding and new top-16 member Xiao Guodong in action on the Saturday evening. Mark Allen, the 2022 champion, plays his opening match at 1pm on Sunday November 24th. World Champion Kyren Wilson enters the fray on the afternoon of Monday November 25th, while world number one Judd Trump gets underway the following day at 1pm.
The qualifying event, featuring 128 players, runs from November 16th to 21st at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester….
Click here for the qualifying match schedule and draw
Players starting in the first qualifying round need to win four matches to make it to York, while those seeded higher need only three or two wins. Three-time UK Champion Neil Robertson, having dropped out of the world’s top 16, plays his first match on the evening of Tuesday November 19th. Star names in the same round include Crucible finalist Jak Jones, former UK Champion Stephen Maguire, former Crucible king Stuart Bingham, Jack Lisowski, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Barry Hawkins.
Ronnie would face Xiao Guodong in the second round (last 64) should they both win their opening match … 🙄
The world ranking event runs from Wednesday December 4th to Saturday December 7th at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, and as always there is a unique format with all matches lasting a maximum of ten minutes. There’s a shot clock of 15 seconds for the first five minutes and just ten seconds for the last five, cranking up the pressure on the players as the time tickets down! The tournament always produces a sizzling atmosphere.
World number three Allen won the title for the first time last year and now aims to become the first player to win the Shoot Out twice. Robertson is in the field for the first time since the inaugural event in 2011, in a strong line-up which includes the likes of four-time World Champion Selby, former Crucible king Murphy, Gary Wilson, Si Jiahui, Stuart Bingham, Ali Carter, Jimmy White, Leicester’s local favourites Tom Ford, Joe O’Connor, Ben Woollaston and Louis Heathcote….and many more.
The first round draw for all 128 players is out now and intriguing matches include:
Wednesday December 4th Mark Allen v Ross Muir Gary Wilson v Reanne Evans Anthony McGill v Sophie Nix Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Jimmy White Jordan Brown v Si Jiahui
Thursday December 5th Mark Selby v Baipat Siripaporn Stan Moody v Riley Powell Barry Hawkins v Shaun Murphy He Guoqiang v Stuart Bingham Iulian Boiko v Jack Lisowski Ali Carter v Chris Wakelin Neil Robertson v Simon Blackwell
The last 64 takes place on Friday December 6th, with 32 players to head into the final day on Saturday December 7th and the champion to be crowned that night. The event, which features a random draw for each round, is televised by Eurosport, discovery+ and many other broadcasters worldwide.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
The second round is last 16 at the UK Championship 🙂 .
Possibly 2 professional events left for Ronnie in this year (UK Champs & Saudi Arabian golden ball exhibition event) hope he has good runs on those…