1991 World Snooker Championship

The 1991 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1991 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 1991 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, but he lost in the quarter-finals to Steve James and thus fell to the Crucible curse, becoming another champion who was unable to defend his first world title.

John Parrott won his only World Championship title by defeating Jimmy White 18–11 in the final. It was the third time that White had lost in the final after 1984 and 1990. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

The highest break of the tournament was 140, made by Jimmy White.

Tournament summary

 * Future champion Ken Doherty made his Crucible debut, losing to Steve Davis 8–10; former champion Joe Johnson qualified for the last time, losing to Dennis Taylor 6–10. Both of these were first-round matches.
 * Future three-time semi-finalist Alan McManus also made his debut this year. He came through five rounds of qualifying and reached the second round at the Crucible, where he narrowly lost 12–13 to Terry Griffiths.
 * Ray Reardon the six time world champion announced his retirement from the game after losing his second round qualifying match 10–5 to Jason Prince. Reardon was a professional since 1967.
 * Cliff Thorburn failed to qualify for the first time, after playing in every championship since 1973.
 * In the 4th frame of his first round match against Doug Mountjoy, Gary Wilkinson potted 15 reds and 15 blacks to make a break of 120. With all 6 colours on their spots, Wilkinson had a golden chance of clinching a 147 maximum break and a £100,000 prize, but Wilkinson then missed the yellow, which wobbled in the jaws of the pocket.
 * The 14th frame of the second round match between Steve Davis and Tony Meo took 70 minutes, including a 33-minute spell on just the final yellow and green. Meo won the frame by the bizarre score of 87–72, which included many foul points. Undeterred, Davis then won the next five frames to win 13–6.
 * One of the matches of the tournament was the second round match between Jimmy White and Neal Foulds. White took early leads of 3–0 and 4–2, but then fell 4–6 behind. In the 13th frame, when 5–7 behind, White made the highest break of the tournament, a 140. Foulds kept a one or two frame lead until he pulled three frames clear at 11–8. White then responded by winning five of the last six frames, including the final two frames, to win 13–12. White's quarter final against the in form Gary Wilkinson was expected to be a close affair, but White won 13–3.
 * Defending champion Stephen Hendry lost to Steve James 11–13 in the quarter-finals, despite Hendry having led 11–9. Hendry would not suffer another defeat at the Crucible until the 1997 final against Ken Doherty.
 * Steve Davis made his ninth semi-final in a row, a record that still stands, but lost 10–16 against John Parrott. In the other semi final between Jimmy White and Steve James, the first day of which was played on their 29th and 30th birthdays respectively, White won 16–9.
 * John Parrott took a 7–0 lead against Jimmy White in the final with near flawless snooker in the first session, and although White reduced his arrears to 8–12 at one stage, Parrott eventually won 18–11, again with a seven frame advantage.

Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
 * Winner: £135,000
 * Runner-up: £80,000
 * Semi-final: £42,000
 * Quarter-final: £20,000
 * Last 16: £11,000
 * Last 32: £6,500
 * Highest break: £12,000
 * Maximum break: £100,000
 * Total: £750,000

Main draw
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).

1st qualifying round

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rod Lawler 5–0 🇿🇦 Derek Mienie
 * 🇨🇦 Bill Werbeniuk w/o–w/d 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Clive Everton
 * 🇦🇺 Vladimir Potaznyk w/o–w/d 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jim Meadowcroft
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jonathan Birch 10–4 🇮🇪 Pascal Burke
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Cookson 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Derek Heaton
 * 🇨🇦 Paul Thornley 10–7 🇦🇺 Paddy Morgan
 * 🇭🇰 Franky Chan 10–1 Ian Black
 *  Jason Ferguson 10–1 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Greaves
 *  Alan McManus 10–1 🇮🇪 Billy Kelly
 * 🇨🇦 Gary Natale 10–3 Bert Demarco
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Whittaker 10–2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bernard Bennett
 *  Jason Prince 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Fred Davis
 * 🇮🇪 Ken Doherty w/o–w/d 🇮🇪 Patsy Fagan

2nd qualifying round

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rod Lawler 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Anthony Harris
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jack Fitzmaurice 10–9 🇨🇦 Marcel Gauvreau
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mick Price 10–1 🇨🇦 Bill Werbeniuk
 * 🇦🇺 Vladimir Potaznyk 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Graham Cripsey
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jonathan Birch 10–4 🇨🇦 Kirk Stevens
 * 🇨🇦 Mario Morra 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Vic Harris
 *  Tony Wilson 10–2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dennis Hughes
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jon Wright 10–0 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Watterson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Brumby 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Terry Whitthread
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Cookson 10–1 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Roger Bales
 *  John Rea 10–9 🇦🇺 Robby Foldvari
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Smith 10–9 🇨🇦 Jim Bear
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Medati 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Williamson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ray Edmonds 10–3 🇨🇦 Paul Thornley
 *  Eddie Sinclair 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Malcolm Bradley
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Terry 10–8 🇭🇰 Franky Chan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Campbell 10–4 🇮🇪 Tony Kearney
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Gilbert 10–3 🇮🇪 Dessie Sheehan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Harris 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Darrington
 * 🇲🇹 Joe Grech 10–1 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Dunning
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Ferguson 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Pat Houlihan
 *  Alan McManus 10–6 Tommy Murphy
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Meakin 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Graham Miles
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barry Pinches 10–3 Jim Donnelly
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andrew Cairns 10–2 🇨🇦 Gary Natale
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Gibson w/o–w/d 🇮🇪 Paul Watchorn
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Whittaker 10–8 🇮🇪 Stephen Murphy
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bill Oliver 10–7 Duncan Campbell
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 George Scott 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mick Fisher
 *  Jason Prince 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Ray Reardon
 * 🇮🇪 Ken Doherty 10–9 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Smith
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ken Owers 10–2 Matt Gibson

3rd qualifying round

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rod Lawler 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brian Rowswell
 * 🇦🇺 Warren King 10–3 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jack Fitzmaurice
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mick Price 10–4 Jack McLaughlin
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Les Dodd 10–3 🇦🇺 Vladimir Potaznyk
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Graham 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jonathan Birch
 * 🇨🇦 Mario Morra 10–8 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Taylor
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Robert Marshall 10–9 Tony Wilson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Johnston-Allen 10–0 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jon Wright
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brian Morgan 10–3 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Brumby
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Cookson 10–4 Murdo MacLeod
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mark Bennett 10–5 John Rea
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Smith 10–8 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jim Chambers
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Darren Morgan 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Medati
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ray Edmonds 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Spencer
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Dyson 10–8 Eddie Sinclair
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Rowing 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Terry
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Gilbert 10–8 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Campbell
 * 🇦🇺 John Campbell 10–8 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Gilbert
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Harris 10–9 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Longworth
 * 🇨🇦 Jim Wych 10–1 🇲🇹 Joe Grech
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Ferguson 10–9 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Chappel
 *  Alan McManus 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Roe
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Meakin w/o–w/d 🇮🇪 Joe O'Boye
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barry Pinches 10–6 🇨🇦 Brady Gollan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Jones 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andrew Cairns
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Duggan 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Gibson
 * 🇮🇪 Eugene Hughes 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Whittaker
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Bond 10–2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bill Oliver
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Craig Edwards 10–3 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 George Scott
 *  Jason Prince 10–9 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Colin Roscoe
 * 🇮🇪 Ken Doherty 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rex Williams
 * 🇮🇪 Paddy Browne 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ken Owers

4th qualifying round

 * 🇦🇺 Warren King 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rod Lawler
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Les Dodd 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mick Price
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Graham 10–7 🇨🇦 Mario Morra
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Robert Marshall 10–9 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Johnston-Allen
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Cookson 10–4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brian Morgan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mark Bennett 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Smith
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ray Edmonds 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Darren Morgan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Dyson 10–3 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Rowing
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Gilbert 10–9 🇦🇺 John Campbell
 * 🇨🇦 Jim Wych 10–7 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Harris
 *  Alan McManus 10–6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Ferguson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barry Pinches 10–8 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Meakin
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Jones 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Duggan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Bond 10–5 🇮🇪 Eugene Hughes
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Craig Edwards 10–6 Jason Prince
 * 🇮🇪 Ken Doherty 10–6 🇮🇪 Paddy Browne

5th qualifying round

 * 🇦🇺 Warren King 10–2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barry West
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Steve Newbury 10–1 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Les Dodd
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Graham 10–7 🇳🇿 Dene O'Kane
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Robert Marshall 10–9 🇿🇦 Peter Francisco
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gary Wilkinson 10–2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Cookson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mark Bennett 10–8 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wayne Jones
 * 🇦🇺 Eddie Charlton 10–2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ray Edmonds
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Dyson 10–5 🇨🇦 Cliff Thorburn
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Gilbert 10–8 🇨🇦 Bob Chaperon
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Knowles 10–2 🇨🇦 Jim Wych
 *  Alan McManus 10–8 🇲🇹 Tony Drago
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barry Pinches 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Danny Fowler
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Jones 10–6 🇿🇦 Silvino Francisco
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joe Johnson 10–8 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Bond
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Craig Edwards 10–8 🇹🇭 James Wattana
 * 🇮🇪 Ken Doherty 10–5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Cliff Wilson

Century breaks
There were 31 century breaks in the championship. The highest break of the tournament was 140 made by Jimmy White.


 * 140, 138, 136, 117, 115 – Jimmy White
 * 138, 137, 131, 122, 117, 112, 112, 101 – John Parrott
 * 137 – Alan McManus
 * 135, 126, 106, 102 – Steve James
 * 135, 122, 116, 105, 102, 100 – Stephen Hendry


 * 123, 114 – Tony Meo
 * 120, 112 – Gary Wilkinson
 * 106 – Dean Reynolds
 * 103 – Martin Clark
 * 102 – Tony Jones