1988 World Snooker Championship

The 1988 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 1988 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	16 April – 2 May 1988
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£475,000
Winner's share	£95,000
Highest break	Steve James (140)
Final
Champion	Steve Davis
Runner-up	Terry Griffiths
Score	18–11
← 1987 1989 →

Steve Davis won his fifth world title, defeating Terry Griffiths 18–11 in the final. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• Terry Griffiths reached his second world final, nine years after his victory over Dennis Taylor in 1979. Steve Davis defeated Griffiths 18–11, to win his fifth world title.[1]
• Bill Werbeniuk made his last appearance at the Crucible when he played Taylor in the first round and lost 8–10.[2]
• Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry met in the second round of the tournament for the first of their seven Crucible encounters. In a close match, Hendry levelled the score at 12–12 but White won the deciding frame, and the match, 13–12. He would not beat Hendry at the Crucible again until they met in the first round in 1998. This match was showcased on BBC Two on 23 April 2020, one of the "Crucible Classics" shown in place of the 2020 World Snooker Championship which was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.[3]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[4][5]

• Winner: £95,000
• Runner-up: £57,000
• Semi-final: £28,000
• Quarter-final: £14,250
• Last 16: £7,125
• Last 32: £4,007.81
• Last 48: £3117.19
• Last 64: £1632.81
• Stage one highest break: £2,375
• Stage two highest break: £9,500
• Stage two maximum break: £90,000
• Total: £475,000

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in brackets beside players are their seeding ranks. Players in bold denote match winners.[4][6][7][8]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 31 frames

16 April

Steve Davis (1)

10

21 & 22 April

John Virgo

8

Steve Davis (1)

13

16 & 17 April

Mike Hallett (16)

1

Mike Hallett (16)

10

26 & 27 April

Bob Chaperon

2

Steve Davis (1)

13

17 & 18 April

Tony Drago

4

Alex Higgins (9)

2

22 & 23 April

Tony Drago

10

Tony Drago

13

17 & 18 April

Dennis Taylor (8)

5

Dennis Taylor (8)

10

28, 29 & 30 April

Bill Werbeniuk

8

Steve Davis (1)

16

18 & 19 April

Cliff Thorburn (4)

8

Joe Johnson (5)

10

23, 24 & 25 April

Cliff Wilson

7

Joe Johnson (5)

9

19 & 20 April

Steve James

13

Rex Williams (12)

6

26 & 27 April

Steve James

10

Steve James

11

19 & 20 April

Cliff Thorburn (4)

13

John Parrott (13)

10

24 & 25 April

Warren King

4

John Parrott (13)

10

20 & 21 April

Cliff Thorburn (4)

13

Cliff Thorburn (4)

10

Kirk Stevens

6

20 & 21 April

Neal Foulds (3)

10

24 & 25 April

Wayne Jones

7

Neal Foulds (3)

13

20 April

Doug Mountjoy (14)

1

Doug Mountjoy (14)

10

26 & 27 April

Barry West

6

Neal Foulds (3)

9

19 April

Terry Griffiths (6)

13

Willie Thorne (11)

10

23, 24 & 25 April

Peter Francisco

6

Willie Thorne (11)

9

18 & 19 April

Terry Griffiths (6)

13

Terry Griffiths (6)

10

28, 29 & 30 April

Steve Longworth

1

Terry Griffiths (6)

16

17 & 18 April

Jimmy White (2)

11

Tony Knowles (7)

10

22 & 23 April

Danny Fowler

8

Tony Knowles (7)

13

17 & 18 April

Eddie Charlton

7

Silvino Francisco (10)

7

26 & 27 April

Eddie Charlton

10

Tony Knowles (7)

6

16 & 17 April

Jimmy White (2)

13

Dean Reynolds (15)

6

21, 22 & 23 April

Stephen Hendry

10

Stephen Hendry

12

16 April

Jimmy White (2)

13

Jimmy White (2)

10

John Campbell

3

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 1 & 2 May 1988. Referee: John Williams[9]
Steve Davis (1)  England	18–11	Terry Griffiths (6)  Wales
46–71, 53–52, 64–21, 76–25, 80–22, 78–0, 1–86, 56–60, 83–6, 81–0, 22–79, 9–82, 60–63, 61–70, 67–9, 8–111, 60–53, 56–33, 74–8, 10–68, 70–9, 79–31, 9–78, 92–41, 70–46, 118–4, 28–87, 123–1, 66–35	Century breaks: 2 (Davis 2) Highest break by Davis: 123 Highest break by Griffiths: 65	46–71, 53–52, 64–21, 76–25, 80–22, 78–0, 1–86, 56–60, 83–6, 81–0, 22–79, 9–82, 60–63, 61–70, 67–9, 8–111, 60–53, 56–33, 74–8, 10–68, 70–9, 79–31, 9–78, 92–41, 70–46, 118–4, 28–87, 123–1, 66–35
Steve Davis wins the 1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 18 century breaks in the championship, the highest of the tournament was 140 made by Steve James.[10][11][12] James' performance at the championship earned him the Snooker Writers Association's Achievement of the Year award.[13] The highest break of the qualifying stage was 141 made by Billy Kelly.[4]

• 140, 112, 104, 103 Steve James
• 125, 108, 101 Stephen Hendry
• 124 Tony Knowles
• 123, 118, 106, 104 Steve Davis
• 119 Jimmy White
• 114, 101 Terry Griffiths
• 109, 105 Silvino Francisco
• 102 Neal Foulds

References

1. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
2. "Bill Werbeniuk at the World Championships". Snooker Database. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
3. Hafez, Shamoon; Phillips, Owen (17 April 2020). "World Snooker Championship: Stephen Hendry & Steve Davis relive Crucible classics". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
4. "World Championship 1988". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
5. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
6. "1988 World Championships Results Grid". Snooker Database. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
7. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
8. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 26–27.
9. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
10. "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
11. Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
12. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 147.
13. Turner, Chris. "Snooker Awards". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2011.