Amateur World Snooker Championship

Men's World Championship

The men's amateur world championship has a less rich history than a similar professional tournament , although various national championships in this category were held at the beginning of the 20th century . The first amateur championship was held in 1963 in Calcutta ( India ), the founder and organizer of the tournament was the International Association of English Billiards and Snooker. The championship, which was played in the format of a group tournament, was attended by only five players, and the winner was Welshman Harry Owen - he won all four of his matches in the group. The next tournament was held three years later in Karachi ( Pakistan ), and Owen successfully defended his title. In 1968, the format of the championship changed slightly - now the players were divided into two groups (5 in each), and the two best went to the semifinals. Thus, the knockout system was partially introduced into the tournament. In subsequent years, the number of participants in the competition increased, and in 1972 there were enough players to form four groups, of which the two best went to the next group round. Then the playoffs began.

From 1968 to 1984, the World Cup was held every two years, with breaks for a similar tournament in English billiards , and in 1974 the championship began to be held under the auspices of the new organization IBSF, which now controls all amateur snooker. Since 1984, the tournament has become an annual event, and the number of participants has continued to grow. After a while, a new format was introduced, which remained unchanged for a long time - eight groups of 11 players each, of which the four best went into the playoff stage - 1/32 finals. Also, since 1974, the tournament changed its official name (World Amateur Snooker Championship) to the IBSF World Championship, although many still call the tournament the old way. In 2001 and 2005, the championship was not held - in the first case because of the war in Afghanistan, in the second because of the earthquake in the venue of the tournament - Pakistan. However, in 2005, the IBSF World Grand Prix of similar importance was organized, which became a year-long replacement for the World Cup.

In 2009, the championship format changed for the first time in a long time - in particular, the final was played up to 10 wins instead of 11, and the number of groups increased to 16 (6 players each). The world champion became the Englishman Elfi Burden , who defeated the Brazilian Igor Figireydo with a score of 10: 8 ^[1] . Interestingly, Burden became the first representative of England since 1998 to win the tournament.

It was with the amateur world championship that future famous professionals often began their careers - for example, Jimmy White , Ken Doherty , Stephen Maguire . Almost all of the winners of this tournament subsequently received professional status.

Since 1987, the World Championship has been held among players under 21 years old, and since 2004 - among veterans (over 40 years old). Both of these competitions are included in the overall program of the tournament, although the youth championship is usually held a few months earlier than the rest of the tournament.

Women's World Cup

In 2003, the IBSF announced the start of the women's championship, which was equal in importance and status to the men's tournament. Thus, since 2003, two IBSF championships of the same status have been held (held in parallel).

In 2007, the IBSF World Championship for female players under 21 also appeared.

• History and Statistics of the Men's Championship in the Chris Turner Archive
• The history and statistics of the women's championship in the archive of Chris Turner (English)
• History and statistics of the U21 World Cup in the Chris Turner Archive