UK Championship
August 31, 2010
UK Championship
This is the second biggest Snooker tournament after the World Championships, and was first held in 1977 and was only open to British residents. However, this was changed in 1984 to allow other professionals to enter, and gained ranking status – interesting, only British or Irish players won until 2005!
The UK Championship carries 1.5 times as many ranking points as other tournaments (World Championship excluded), is held towards the end of each calendar year, and has prize money of £500,000, with the winner receiving £70,000.
The tournament has had many different sponsors over the years, from bookies to breweries to electronics companies, and is currently sponsored by PukkaPies.
World Open
August 24, 2010
Created in 1982 (as the Professional Players Tournament) in order to provide another ranking event, the World Open is now one of the ‘major’ ranking tournaments.
The tournament has had various sponsors and venues; in 1984 Rothmans (a British tobacco manufacturer) started sponsoring the tournament, and so the name was changed to the Rothmans Grand Prix, and the venue moved to the Hexagon Theatre in Reading. Other sponsors include LG Electronics (who changed the name to the LG Cup, after taking over in 2001), ToteSport (in 2004 and the Grand Prix name was revived), and Royal London Watches (2006 to 2008, no name change).
For 2006 and 2007 it was played in a unique round-robin format, more similar to association football and rugby tournaments than the knock-out systems usually played in snooker.
The knockout format returned for 2008.
German Masters & Welsh Open
August 17, 2010
German Masters
The German Masters is a professional snooker tournament, and started life as the German Open. The German Masters was a ranking tournament for the World Championship from 1995 to 1997; however, when changing its name to the German Masters from German Open in 1998, it became a non-ranking tournament.
However, during this season (2010/2011), the German Masters shall become a ranking tournament again. It will continue to be known as the German Masters, and it will be held in Berlin’s Tempodrom between 2 and 6 February 2011.
Welsh Open
The Welsh Open replaced the Welsh Professional Championship (which started in 1980 and only involved Welsh players) in 1992, when it became a ranking tournament and brought in overseas players.
Due to the UK restrictions on tobacco advertising, the Regal Welsh Open (known as such because the event was sponsored by Regal until 2003), was without a sponsor until 2009, when Totesport.com (a betting company) became the sponsor.
The Welsh Open is played at the Newport Centre, although it has had a brief holiday at the Cardiff International Arena from 1999 to 2005.
This tournament takes place after the Masters.
Shanghai Masters & China Open
August 10, 2010
Shanghai Masters
The Shanghai Masters is now in its third year, having been introduced in the 2007/08 season, and following a recent spurt of snooker playing in China, it is now the second ranking event to be played in China.
This is the first full ranking event of the Snooker season, and is played in September.
China Open
The China Open is now in its sixth year, having been re-introduced in the 2004/05 season.
The growing popularity of Snooker in China has resulted in an extra wild-card round being included; before the first round, sixteen of the top Chinese players showcase their abilities at the Beijing University, Students Gymnasium in Beijing.
The China Open is the last ranking event before the World Championship, although the qualifying tournament is held in December.
Players Tour Championship
August 3, 2010
This is the first year (2010/2011) that the Players Tour Championship is to be played.
Over a series of 12 non-televised events, a maximum of 128 players will compete for the £10,000 prize money (per event), with the overall winner taking home £60,000. With 6 events held in Sheffield (England), 4 across Germany, the remaining 2 events will be played in other locations around the world. This year’s events will start on 20th June 2010, and will end on 27th March 2011.
Each event lasts for three days and features 96 pros and 32 amateurs, with main tour players be able to gain ranking points in these events.
The finals of these games will be between the top 24, order of merit players; these are the players who have played at least 6 events (3 at PTC and 3 at EPTC events), and these finals will be televised.
