1981 World Snooker Championship

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[10]

Qualifying matches took place at Redwood Lodge Country Club, near Bristol, and at Romiley Forum, near Stockport,[11][12] from 23 March to 4 April.[13] All qualifying matches were the best-of-seventeen frames.[12] Former champion John Pulman lost 2–9 to Dave Martin.[14] Chris Ross, who had experienced a "nervous breakdown" in his first year as a professional, having tuned professional after winning the 1976 English Amateur Championship, found that his bridge hand was unsteady and that he was unable to control his cue properly, and conceded his match against Tony Knowles when trailing 0–7.[15]

The first round matches took place from 7 to 10 April and were the best-of-nineteen frames.[16] Jimmy White, who turned professional after winning the 1980 World Amateur Championship, made his World Snooker Championship debut,[5] as did Knowles,[17] and also Dave Martin, who had been accepted as a professional only a few days before entries closed.[5]

Davis made the first century break of the tournament, 119, in the fifth frame of his match against White, on his way to building a 4–2 lead by the end of their first session.[17] He made another century, 102, in their second session, and led 8–4 by the end of that session.[18] In the last session, White closed the gap to one frame, but from 9–8 ahead, Davis won the next, and then defeated White 10–8.[19]

Knowles compiled a 101 break in his match against Graham Miles, but lost the match after they had been tied at 5–6, 6–6, and 8–8.[17][20] In the eighteenth frame, at one frame behind, Knowles played a forceful shot on the final black, to get a position on the yellow, and missed the black when potting it would have left Miles unable to win the frame without Knowles conceding penalty points. Miles won the frame, and took the next as well to win the match 10–8.[20]

The 1968 World Amateur Champion David Taylor won the first three frames against the 1978 World Amateur Champion Cliff Wilson, but then lost the next four. Taylor finished their first session 5–4 ahead and went on to defeat Wilson at 10–6.[17] Tony Meo was 4–2 ahead, then later 4–5 behind and 7–5 ahead of John Virgo,[18] before winning 10–6.[21] Meo made a break of 134 during the match.[22] From 5–4, Kirk Stevens won the next five frames to beat John Dunning 10–4.[18] Mountjoy was a frame ahead of Willie Thorne at 5–4, and extended his lead to 9–4 before winning 10–6.[18] Bill Werbeniuk beat Martin 10–4.[21]

The two-time World Amateur Champion Ray Edmonds had never beaten John Spencer in a match, and had lost to him twice in the final of the English Amateur Championship. Edmonds led 5–4 after the first session of their match, but then found himself 5–7 behind as Spencer won three consecutive frames. Edmonds then equalised the score at 7–7, and Spencer drew ahead again to lead 9–7. Edmonds, aided by fluking a pink ball, won the next two frames to force the match to go to a deciding frame. Jack Karnehm, a snooker commentator and author, later suggested that Spencer was able to win the last frame, in which he made a break of 38, because he had the better ability to handle pressure better than Edmonds did.[23][20]

The second round matches took place from 10 to 14 April and were the best-of-nineteen frames.[24] Davis led 6–2 against Higgins after their first session, but lost five of the eight frames and made only one break over 30 in the second session, and by the end of the session led by two frames, 9–7.[25] In the third session, Higgins made a break of 47 in the first frame, but Davis responded with a 45 and won the frame to move into a three frames lead rather than having only a one-frame advantage,[26] saying afterwards that his 45 was "the most important break [he had] made for months."[25] Higgins won the second frame of the session, before Davis won the third with a break of 71, and then the next two, to win the match 13–9.[25][19] Mountjoy won the first four frames, then lost the next four, against Eddie Charlton. He then built a lead of 9–6,[19] and won 13–7 to reach his first world championship quarter-final since 1977.[27]

Miles only won a single frame in each of the two sessions against defending champion Thorburn. He lost the first session 1–7 and the match 2–13. Eight-times former world snooker champion,[28] and reigning world billiards champion Fred Davis also lost his first session 1–7, and lost his match against David Taylor 3–13.[22] Griffiths and Meo finished their first session all-square at 4–4, but Meo only won two of the next eleven frames, with Griffiths winning at 13–6[19]

Dennis Taylor won four frames in a row from 9–11 to beat Stevens 13–11, and compiled breaks of 135 and 133 during the match.[27] Stevens had been unable to use the practice table at the venue before the match because it was being used to record a programme for a television broadcast. According to Karnhem, Stevens was "frustrated and bitterly hot-tempered when he came out for the second session ... his pots missed by fractions, his safety shots would unluckily stay in the open, his judgement was becoming erratic."[20]

Werbeniuk led Perrie Mans 6–2 after their first session, and went on to win 13–5.[27] Former champions Reardon and Spencer were level at 11–11, with Reardon then winning 13–11.[29]

The quarter final matches took place from 10 to 12 April and were the best-of-25 frames.[30] Davis and Griffiths shared the first eight frames, finishing their first session 4–4.[27] After that, Davis pulled ahead to 9–5,[29] and won 13–9.[31] Thorburn was a frame behind David Taylor as they started their second session, at 3–4,[29] but went on to lead 10–5 and win 13–6.[31] Mountjoy was 5–3 ahead of Dennis Taylor,[29] before falling 5–6 behind, and defeated Taylor 13–8.[31] Reardon beat Werbeniuk 13–8, to reach his first semi-final since 1978.[31]

The semi-final matches took place from 17 to 18 April and were the best of 31 frames.[32] Mountjoy made the record world snooker championship break of 145 in the twelfth frame against Reardon, pocketing blacks after all reds except the eighth, when he potted the blue.[33] Mountjoy won the match 16–10.[21]

Karnehm described the match between Davis and Thorburn as the best of the championship. Thorburn had lost 0–6 to Davis in a challenge match in Romford, Davis's home area, two weeks before the championship. According to Karnehm, Thorburn "was still seething at this result and the remarks of the gloating Romford fans in their own stronghold."[20][lower-alpha 1] Karnehm says that the players barely acknowledged each other's presence in the first session of the semi-final.[20] Davis went 4–3 ahead of Thorburn after a long first session,[34] then 6-4 ahead, but was then 6-8 behind as Thorburn won four in succession, scoring 347 points across the four frames to Davis' 35.[20] It was level at 9–9,[33] before Davis won 16–10.[21] In the 22nd frame, Davis was 80–23 ahead with only the pink and black remaining, leaving Thorburn no realistic chance of winning the frame. However, when Davis offered Thorburn a handshake, the acceptance of which would have been an acknowledgement by Thorburn that the frame was lost, Thorburn declined, started to aim for the pink and "in an elaborate mockery of the Steve Davis habit, went over to his chair, [and] took a minute sip of water."[lower-alpha 2] Thorburn later apologised for this behaviour to Davis and, on television, to the public.[20]

Steve Davis (pictured here in 2014) won his first world championship, defeating Doug Mountjoy 18–12

The final was played across four sessions on 19 and 20 April, as a best-of-35 frames match.[35][36] It was the first world professional snooker championship final for both players.[37] Mountjoy led 40–0 in points in the first frame, but Davis made a break of 59 to win it, and went on to take all of the first six frames, making breaks of 52, 49, 56, and 40.[35] In the eighth frame, Davis was 49–48 ahead with only the last three balls left on the table. The black ball was very close to the pocket, with the blue ball near it, and the players had, between them, 37 visits to the table on the blue, before the frame was abandoned and restarted due to the stalemate. Mountjoy won the restarted frame with a break of 76, which was the highest of the first session. Mountjoy won the last frame of the first session as well, leaving Davis 6–3 ahead.[37]

In the second session, Davis won the first frame, then Mountjoy the next two, and Davis took the following one, leaving Davis 8–5 ahead at the mid-session interval. Mountjoy compiled a break of 129, his fourth century of the event, in frame 14,[35] and a couple of frames later, Davis fluked the blue to win the 17th.[9] Mountjoy won the last frame of the second session to finish 8–10 behind.[37]

On the second day of the final, Davis compiled a break of 83 to win the first frame, and took the next frame as well, making it 12–8. Mountjoy then won two consecutive frames to halve Davis' lead, and they subsequently each won two of the session's last four frames to leave Davis 14–12 ahead going into the fourth and final session. Mountjoy had led by 46 points in the 24th frame before Davis made a break of 55 to win it.[37] Davis made a break of 84 in the first frame of the fourth session, followed by a break of 119, in the second, and won the next two as well to defeat Mountjoy 18–12.[36] After Davis' win, his manager Barry Hearn ran into the arena excitedly and lifted Davis up.[38] In a post-match interview, Mountjoy said of Davis that "He's the player to beat from now on. The top players are all on a par but he is a black better."[36]

It was the first of six World Snooker Championship wins for Davis as he dominated the sport in the 1980s; he won his last world title in 1989.[39][40]