 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Tianjin People's Stadium |
| Location | Tianjin |
| Country | China |
| Established | 2012 |
| Organisation(s) | World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £825,000 [1] |
| Recent edition | 2023 |
| Current champion |  Zhang Anda (CHN) |
The International Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Zhang Anda.
The event was introduced in the 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "first overseas 'major'", because the tournament had the same level of ranking points as the UK Championship. [2] With the change in the rankings system from points to prize money, the International Championship had the third highest prize fund and winner's cheque of any ranking event on the snooker calendar, behind the World and UK Championships, and the highest outside of the United Kingdom, until 2018 when the China Open had its winner's cheque raised to £225,000. [3] [4] [5] The 2012 edition ran from 28 October to 4 November in Chengdu, China, and it was won by Judd Trump, who defeated Neil Robertson 10–8 in the final. [6]
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Final score [7] | Venue | City | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 [6] |  Judd Trump (ENG) |  Neil Robertson (AUS) | 10–8 | Sichuan International Tennis Center | Chengdu, China | 2012/13 |
| 2013 [8] | Ding Junhui (CHN) |  Marco Fu (HKG) | 10–9 | Chengdu Eastern Music Park | 2013/14 | |
| 2014 [9] | Ricky Walden (ENG) |  Mark Allen (NIR) | 10–7 | Sichuan International Tennis Center | 2014/15 | |
| 2015 [10] |  John Higgins (SCO) | David Gilbert (ENG) | 10–5 | Baihu Media Broadcasting Centre | Daqing, China | 2015/16 |
| 2016 [11] | Mark Selby (ENG) | Ding Junhui (CHN) | 10–1 | 2016/17 | ||
| 2017 [12] | Mark Selby (ENG) | Mark Allen (NIR) | 10–7 | 2017/18 | ||
| 2018 [13] | Mark Allen (NIR) | Neil Robertson (AUS) | 10–5 | 2018/19 | ||
| 2019 [14] | Judd Trump (ENG) | Shaun Murphy (ENG) | 10–3 | 2019/20 | ||
| 2020–2022 | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||||
| 2023 [15] | Zhang Anda (CHN) | Tom Ford (ENG) | 10–6 | Tianjin People's Stadium | Tianjin, China | 2023/24 |
A maximum break is the highest possible break in a single frame of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 reds with 15 blacks for 120 points, followed by all six colours for a further 27 points. Compiling a maximum break is regarded as a highly significant achievement in the game of snooker, and may be compared to a nine-dart finish in darts or a 300 game in ten-pin bowling.
Liu Chuang is a Chinese former professional snooker player.
The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Grand Final, where qualification was based on performance in the other PTC events, and had the status of a full ranking tournament. Each regular event lasted for at least three days, with qualifying days for amateurs should the event be oversubscribed. Each event costs £100 to enter, and Main Tour players can gain ranking points in the events.
The 2012–13 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 16 May 2012 and 6 May 2013. The season featured two new ranking events: the Wuxi Classic and the International Championship. The tour had a record five ranking events in China, and three new PTC events in Asia. The tour also visited Bulgaria for the first time in its history, and returned to Poland, Belgium and Australia. Before the start of the season World Snooker requested every player to sign a players contract, that would allow players to choose which events they want to enter – no player was forced to play in any event. At the end of the season Mark Selby was named the World Snooker Player of the Year, the Snooker Writers' Player of the Year and the Fans' Player of the Year and Ian Burns the Rookie of the Year. Ronnie O'Sullivan received the "Performance of the Year" for winning his fifth World title after playing just one competitive match during the season. Jimmy Robertson's 57 break in just 130 seconds at the Snooker Shoot Out received the "Magic Moment of the Year" award. Terry Griffiths, Joe Johnson, Peter Ebdon, Ken Doherty, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Guotai Liquor Asian Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 1 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 and 22 June 2012 at the Zhangjiagang Sports Center in Zhangjiagang, China.
The Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 1 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 and 22 July 2012 at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester, England.
The Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 2 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 8–12 August 2012 at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester, England.
The 2012 International Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 28 October and 4 November 2012 at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in Chengdu, China. It was the fourth ranking event of the 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "first overseas 'major'", as the tournament had the same level of ranking points as the UK Championship.
The Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 3 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 5–9 September 2012 at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester, England.
The Guotai Liquor Asian Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 2 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 23 and 27 September 2012 at the Yixing Sports Centre in Yixing, China.
The Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 4 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 11 and 14 November 2012 at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester, England. On 12 August 2012 it was announced, that this will be the last professional event held at the venue.
The Guotai Liquor Asian Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 3 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 5–9 November 2012 at the Henan Province Sports Stadium in Zhengzhou, China.
The European Tour 2012/2013 – Event 5 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 13 and 16 December 2012 at the Ravenscraig Sports Facility in Ravenscraig, Scotland. This was the first World Snooker event in Scotland since the 2010 World Open. The event was the fifth of the European Tour 2012/2013
The 2013–14 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 6 June 2013 and 5 May 2014. From this season every qualifying match was held open to the public at various venues in the United Kingdom, replacing the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. The number of wild-card players at the Chinese ranking events, except the Shanghai Masters, was reduced from eight to four and former Main Tour players were excluded. A professional player could not be selected for more than one wild-card match during the season.
The 2014–15 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 8 May 2014 and 4 May 2015. The Riga Open was the first professional snooker tournament held in Latvia. The season also saw the first professional tournament in Portugal as the Lisbon Open took place.
The 2013 Players Tour Championship Grand Final was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 12 and 17 March 2013 at the Bailey Allen Hall in Galway, Republic of Ireland. It was the ninth ranking event of the 2012/2013 season.
The Asian Tour 2013/2014 – Event 1 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 11 and 15 June 2013 at the Yixing Sports Centre in Yixing, China.
The official 2014/2015 snooker world ranking points for the professional snooker players on the World Snooker Main Tour in the 2014–15 season are based on performances in ranking and minor-ranking tournaments over a two-year rolling period. Following an overhaul of the world rankings it is the first season where the tariffs are based on prize money. Rather than being awarded points according to tariffs preset by the governing body as in previous seasons, the players are now ranked by their prize money earnings in tournaments that carry ranking status. The only exception to this is when a player loses their first match: for the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons only half the money earned for the event counts towards the player's ranking, and for the 2014/2015 season a player will not receive any points at all for that tournament. Due to the transition to the new ranking system, the start ranks of the 2014/2015 season for the top 64 players are incongruent with the ranks of the players at the end of the previous season.
The 2017–18 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 4 May 2017 and 7 May 2018. The season began with the pro–am Vienna Snooker Open in May 2017 and ended with the 2018 World Snooker Championship in April the following year. Ronnie O'Sullivan earned a joint-record five ranking titles in the season. He joined Stephen Hendry (1990/1991), Ding Junhui (2013/2014), and Mark Selby (2016/2017) in winning five ranking titles in the same season.
Active professional snooker tournaments | |
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| Non-ranking events | |
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