The 1992 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1992 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1992 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, it was the tenth and final ranking event of the 1991–92 snooker season and the sixteenth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible since the tournament moved to the venue in 1977. Broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Television, the tournament was sponsored by the Embassy cigarette brand. The winner received £150,000 from the total prize fund of £850,000.
Nine rounds of qualifying for the championship were held. The pre-qualifying competition, which had four rounds with matches played as the best of 11 frames, started on 22 May 1991 at three snooker clubs: Frames Plaza in Sheffield, Spencers in Bolton, and the Royal Hampshire Snooker Lodge in Aldershot. The main qualifying stage was held at Preston Guild Hall from 18 to 29 March 1992. The 16 successful qualifiers joined the 16 seeded players at the main stage at the Crucible. Debutants at the main stage that year were Nigel Bond, Peter Ebdon, Jason Ferguson, Mark Johnston-Allen, Stephen Murphy, Mick Price, Chris Small, and James Wattana.
John Parrott was the defending champion, having defeated Jimmy White 18–11 in the final of the previous year's tournament to win his maiden world title. Parrott lost 12–13 to Alan McManus in the quarter-finals, becoming the seventh first-time winner at the Crucible who failed to defend the title, a phenomenon known as the Crucible curse. While playing Tony Drago in the first round, White made the second maximum break in a World Championship match, nine years after Cliff Thorburn made the first in 1983. In addition to the £14,000 highest break prize, White received £100,000 for making a televised maximum at the Crucible. White advanced to the final, where he faced Stephen Hendry. White led 12–6 and 14–8, but Hendry then won 10 successive to secure his second World Championship title. It was White's fourth defeat in a World Championship final and his second by Hendry.
Overview The World Snooker Championship is an annual professional snooker tournament organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India, the cue sport was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era, which started in 1969 when the World Championship reverted to a knockout format, it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, hosted by the Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England. The 1992 championship featured 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each round being played over a pre-determined number of , and each match divided into two or more containing a set number of frames. These competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the snooker world rankings and the winners of a pre-tournament qualification stage. The top 16 players in the world rankings automatically qualified for the event, the remaining 16 players coming through the qualification rounds. It was the tenth and final ranking event of the 1991–92 snooker season, and the sixteenth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible, the first tournament there having taken place in 1977. The defending champion in 1992 was John Parrott, who had defeated Jimmy White 18–11 in the final of the 1991 World Snooker Championship. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy, and was also referred to as the Embassy World Snooker Championship. The championship was broadcast on BBC Television in the UK.
Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £150,000 Runner-up: £90,000 Semi-final: £45,000 Quarter-final: £22,500 Last 16: £12,000 Last 32: £6,500 Last 48: £5,000 Last 64: £3,000 Last 96: £1,375 Last 128: £750 Last 155: £500 Qualifying stage highest break: £4,000 Televised stage highest break: £14,000 Televised stage maximum break: £100,000
Total: £850,000
Tournament summary
Qualifying There were nine rounds matches across the pre-qualifying and qualifying stages. The pre-qualifying competition, which had four rounds with matches played as the best of 11 frames, started on 22 May 1991 at three snooker clubs: Frames Plaza in Sheffield, Spencers in Bolton, and the Royal Hampshire Snooker Lodge in Aldershot. The main qualifying stage was held at Preston Guild Hall from 18 to 29 March 1992. Matches at Preston were the best of 19 frames.
During pre-qualifying, Robert Foxall became the first player to make a century break in their first frame as part of a world championship match, when he compiled a 107 against Mike Colquitt in the first of the rounds. Peter Williams lost 0–6 to Kieran McAlinden; it meant that he had competed in ten pre-qualifying events that season without winning a frame. The highest break of the pre-qualifying phase was 136 by Mike Dunn.
In the first of the rounds after pre-qualifying, eight-time champion Fred Davis lost 1–10 to first-season professional Peter Daubney. On his 43rd birthday, two-time champion Alex Higgins defeated Wayne Murphy 10–3. The 1974 runner-up Graham Miles misread the date of his match against Sean Lynskey and failed to appear, giving Lynskey a walkover. Chris Brooks had died in a car crash earlier in the year, which gave his scheduled opponent Bill Werbeniuk a walkover to the second round, in which Werbeniuk did not turn up to his match against David Taylor. In round two, Higgins defeated Paul Gibson 10–6 after they had been level at 4–4, while Bjørn L'Orange whitewashed three-time champion John Spencer. In the third round, Higgins was 4–5 down to Alan McManus at the end of their first session and lost 7–10 despite having led 6–5. Stephen Murphy compiled three century breaks as he beat Eugene Hughes 10–5. David Taylor lost 5–10 to 1980 champion Cliff Thorburn in a match that lasted more than eight hours.
In the fourth round, Thorburn lost in a match that took eight hours and 50 minutes, 7–10 to Chris Small. Kirk Stevens, twice a world championship semi-finalist, defeated Joe Swail 10–7. James Wattana won the against Stevens in their fifth round match. In another fifth round match that went the distance, Mick Price beat 1986 champion Joe Johnson. A break of 141 by Johnson in the third frame was the highest of the qualifying competition. Cliff Wilson, who had forgotten to bring tablets that he took for a heart condition, retired from his match against Peter Ebdon when he was 0–9 behind.
First round
The first round took place between 18 and 23 April, each match played over two sessions as the best of 19 frames. Debutants at the Crucible this year were Nigel Bond, Peter Ebdon, Jason Ferguson, Mark Johnston-Allen, Stephen Murphy, Mick Price, Chris Small, and James Wattana. The 10–0 win by defending champion John Parrott over Eddie Charlton in the first round was the first-ever in Crucible history. There would not be another whitewash until Shaun Murphy's 10–0 defeat of Luo Honghao in 2019. Tony Knowles established a 4–0 lead against Johnston-Allen and despite losing the next three frames, won the match 10–4. Price eliminated 1985 champion Dennis Taylor 10–6. When Taylor was 4–5 behind, referee Len Ganley called five shots in succession, which Taylor said afterwards was "the turning point... There was no way I was trying to miss the red." Mike Hallett lost his place in the top 16 of the rankings as a result of his 8–10 defeat by Alan McManus.
A break of 106 in the 16th frame saw Willie Thorne complete a 10–6 win against Gary Wilkinson. Dean Reynolds's total of 38 in the eighth frame against Jim Wych was the lowest ever recorded in a frame of professional snooker in which all balls were potted. Reynolds recovered from 3–7 behind to 7–7 but then lost the next three frames. Bond was 2–6 behind against Alain Robidoux but made a 129 break, missing the final from its . Robidoux won the match 10–7.
Jimmy White became only the second player ever to compile a maximum break at the Crucible, during his 10–4 first round win over Tony Drago, nine years after Thorburn's maximum in 1983.
Steve Davis's 4–10 defeat to qualifier Ebdon was his first loss in the opening round since 1982. It also ended his nine-year streak of reaching at least the semi-finals of the tournament. Davis led 4–3 but Ebdon won the next seven frames. Martin Clark and Peter Francisco were level at 5–5 and 7-7- before Clark won 10–7. The match between Griffiths and Chaperon over-ran, and required a third session that was played on the other table; Griffiths won 10–8. The first frame between Neal Foulds and Ferguson took 66 minutes, which was only three minutes shorter than the longest ever recorded at the Crucible. Breaks of 132 in frame six and 117 in frame eight helped Foulds to a 6–2 lead at the end of the first session, and he eventually won 10–8 after a third session was required.
Steve James led Dene O'Kane 5–0 but O'Kane recovered to 4–5 at the end of the first session. James went on to lead 9–6, but O'Kane then took four consecutive frames to secure victory. Small, who had won eight matches to emerge from the qualifying tournament, made a break of 110 during the first session against Doug Mountjoy, and having been a frame behind at 4–5, went on to win 10–7. Wattana was 7–2 ahead of Tony Jones after the first session and was still five frames ahead when he won 10–5. Murphy had a 2–1 lead against Stephen Hendry but lost 3–10.
In all, eight of the sixteen seeded players exited the tournament in the first round. This did not happen again until 2012.
Second round The second round, which took place between 23 and 27 April, was played as best of 25 frames matches spread over three sessions. Parrott defeated Knowles 13–4. At 4–6 behind, Knowles asked Parrott to replay after the referee Len Ganley had called a miss against Parrott. Ganley inadvertently placed the cue ball in a more favourable position, and Parrott the ball he was aiming at. After the match, Knowles said "How could I play after that? My cueing and timing went. Any slight upset, with the concentration involved these days, destroys your chances.
A break of 132 by Price in the 20th frame against McManus saw them level at ten frames each, with McManus then taking the next three frames to win. Wych reached the quarter-finals for the first time since his Crucible debut in 1980. He won eight consecutive frames from 5–6 behind against Thorne. When White and Robidoux were level at 6–6, White accidentally touched the cue ball while lining up a shot, causing a , and Robidoux went on to win the frame. The pair were level again at 10–10. White won the next two frames but lost the next of a , before completing a 13–11 victory. White remarked afterward that "I never found my game. I'm playing so well in practice, maybe I got complacent."