1929 World Snooker Championship

The 1929 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament held between 17 December 1928 and 7 March 1929 at various venues in England, with the final beginning on 4 March 1929. Joe Davis won his third World title by defeating Tom Dennis 19–14 in the final. "Dead" frames were played, the score when Davis won the match was 17–12. The highest break of the tournament was 61 made by Davis in the final.

World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	17 December 1928–7 March 1929
Final venue	Lounge Hall
Final city	Nottingham
Country	England
Organisation(s)	BACC
Highest break	Joe Davis (61)
Final
Champion	Joe Davis
Runner-up	Tom Dennis
Score	19–14
← 1928 1930 →

Schedule

Match	Dates	Venue, city
Tom Dennis v Kelsall Prince	17–22 December 1928	Town Hall, Loughborough
Fred Lawrence v Alec Mann	21–23 January 1929	Camkin's Hall, Birmingham
Joe Davis v Fred Lawrence	24–26 January 1929	Camkin's Hall, Birmingham
Joe Davis v Tom Dennis	4–7 March 1929	Lounge Hall, Nottingham

Detail

Five players entered the Championship: Joe Davis (Chesterfield), Tom Dennis (Nottingham), Fred Lawrence (Birmingham), Alec Mann (Birmingham) and Kelsall Prince (Loughborough). In July 1928 the BACC had decided to abandon the challenge system that had been used for both the Billiards Championship and for the Professional Snooker Championship.[1] This meant that Davis, the champion, had to play through the tournament. Lawrence and Mann had to play a first round match, the winner to play Davis. Dennis and Prince would play each other in the other semi-final.[2]

The first match played was the semi-final between Dennis and Prince. This was scheduled for 17 to 22 December 1928 at the Town Hall, Loughborough. The match was over 25 frames. There was just one session of four frames each evening, with five planned for the final day. The match was close until halfway through the fourth session with Dennis then leading 8–6.[3] However, Dennis then won the next five frames to win the match. A win in the final frame of the evening left the score at 14–6 after five sessions. The match did not continue to the planned sixth session and so finished on 21 December.[4]

The Championship Cup was presented by Tinsley Lindley.

The first round match and the other semi-final was arranged for the week of 21 to 26 January 1929 at Camkin's Hall, Birmingham. The first round match was on the first three days; the winner playing Davis on the last three days. Both matches were over 25 frames with two sessions of four frames each day. After 13 frames of their match Lawrence led Mann 10–3 but Mann won the last three frames of the day to close the gap to 10–6. On the final day Mann continued his run of frames, winning 9 out of 10, to take a 12–11 lead. However Lawrence won the last two to take the match 13–12.[5]

In the semi-final, Davis took a 5–3 lead on the first day and led 9–7 after two days. On the final day David won the first two frames but Lawrence took the next two to again close the gap. On the final evening, Davis won the first frame to lead 12–9 and although Lawrence won the next, David won the third of the evening to win the match 13–10.[6]

The final was played from Monday 4 March to Thursday 7 March and was over 33 frames. There were eight frames played each day with four frames in the afternoon and four in the evening (five on the final day). The match was held at The Lounge, Shakespeare Street, Nottingham. The referee was W. Malkinson of Nottingham.[7] Davis led 6–2 after the first day[8] and retained the lead at 10–6 after day 2.[9] On day 3, Dennis won three of the four frames in the afternoon but Davis won three in the evening to maintain his four frame advantage. Davis made a 61 break in the evening session with 9 reds, 6 blacks and 2 blues.[10] The fourth afternoon session was split and so Davis led 16–12. Davis then won the first frame in the evening to win the championship. The four "dead" frames were played with each player winning two.[11] The Championship Cup was afterwards presented by Dr. Tinsley Lindley.[12]

Main draw

[4][5][6][11]

	Round 1 Best of 25 frames					Semi-finals Best of 25 frames					Final Best of 33 frames
							Joe Davis	13
		Fred Lawrence	13				Fred Lawrence	10
		Alec Mann	12									Joe Davis	19
												Tom Dennis	14
							Tom Dennis	13
							Kelsall Prince	6

Final

Final: Best of 33 frames. Lounge Hall in Nottingham, England, 4–7 March 1929. Referee: W Malkinson.[8][9][10][11]
Joe Davis  England	19–14	Tom Dennis  England
Day 1: 70–34, 57–58, 95–4, 68–56, 71–24, 92–54, 47–56, 80–54 Day 2: 64–48, 83–22, 32–59, 29–50, 52–63, 75–29, 38–68, 105–15 Day 3: 73–51, 51–62, 50–62, 44–81, 73–41, 59–34, 100–42 (61), 24–50 Day 4: 56–57, 52–41, 45–78, 87–18, 98–16, 82–45, 63–32, 46–61, 38–70
"Dead" frames were played, Davis winning the match 19–14.

References

1. "Billiards – Important changes in the rules". The Times. 10 July 1928. p. 6.
2. "Professional Snooker". The Times. 20 October 1928. p. 6.
3. "Snooker Championship". Nottingham Evening Post. 21 December 1928. Retrieved 11 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Win for TA Dennis – Snooker Championship final reached". Nottingham Evening Post. 22 December 1928. Retrieved 11 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Lawrence to oppose Davis in to-day's semi-final". Sheffield Independent. 24 January 1929. Retrieved 11 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Snooker Championship – Davis and Dennis in the final at Nottingham". Nottingham Evening Post. 28 January 1929. Retrieved 11 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Snooker Championship – Joe Davis and Dennis in the final heat". Nottingham Evening Post. 4 March 1929. Retrieved 11 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Snooker Title – Davis leading Dennis by 6 games to 2". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 5 March 1929. Retrieved 12 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Snooker Title – Davis leads Dennis by 10 games to 6". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 6 March 1929. Retrieved 12 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Snooker Championship – Davis leading Dennis by 14 games to 10". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 7 March 1929. Retrieved 12 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Snooker Championship – Title retained by Davis leading Dennis by 19 games to 14". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 8 March 1929. Retrieved 12 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "Snooker Champion – The title retained by Joe Davis". Nottingham Evening Post. 8 March 1929. Retrieved 12 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.