It kicks off tomorrow morning from 10am and they're allowing spectators in.

From what I've seen on the news, it's 2 households per bubble, and they'll be socially distanced from other bubbles.

One player (Anthony Hamilton) has withdrawn, calling it ridiculous.

Bummer ... I had a tenner on Hamilton to win it too

I know Ronnie has expressed his reservations, but they have to try and get some form of limited attendance surely, although being an indoor event there is an added risk, but i assume they'll be the usual protocols in place, i guess each player has to make their own decisions about whether to compete or not.

Apparently the Thai lad that Ronnie's playing doesn't hang about, so that could be a classic match, both play at a good pace so there should be plenty of heavy scoring you'd hope.

It's a tough one to call this year because nobody has really got any form, but if Judd Trump plays as well as late year he'll be hard to beat.

Selby is usually thereabouts at the business end, and John Higgins has reached the last 2 finals, so he can't be discounted as a contender.

My instinct is the winner will be one of that trio, but i'm usually wrong, so don't take any store in my predictions.

Yeah I think this year I'm not going to bother making any predictions. I'm just glad it's back. There's not many tournaments on the BBC and I don't bother with it on Eurosport due to certain commentators and overall audio problems.

So will hopefully just be a cracking tournament and something to watch mixed with work.

Atmosphere wont be as good, but good to see it back like frank says, best snooker event by a mile. hard to predict, might have a small bet on Murphy.
Ding is tempting , has the talent but doesn't look strong enough mentally to win it. Maybe be proved wrong , who knows..

slw wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:30 pm

Atmosphere wont be as good, but good to see it back like frank says, best snooker event by a mile. hard to predict, might have a small bet on Murphy.
Ding is tempting , has the talent but doesn't look strong enough mentally to win it. Maybe be proved wrong , who knows..

No the atmosphere won't be as good, but 200-300 people is better than an empty auditorium, at least they'll be some applause for a good shot or a century break.

Just seen why Hamilton has withdrawn, he suffers from severs asthma, so i can fully understand why he's taken the choice not to take the risk this year.

Thought we were going to have a maximum there for the first frame!

Surely if there is any sport that a lack of audience helps, it would be snooker.

It also televises really well. Give the whispering lads a soundboard and add a few extra cameras. job done

Brilliant Black. Trump 3-0 down.

Trump facing a tricky test first up, 4-2 to Ford, this could be a nail biter.

Bingham's started solidly enough 3-1 up against Ashley Carty.

Despite the sparse crowd, the fact that there's any spectators at all makes a difference, live sport is never the same without an audience.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:37 pm

Trump facing a tricky test first up, 4-2 to Ford, this could be a nail biter.

Bingham's started solidly enough 3-1 up against Ashley Carty.

Despite the sparse crowd, the fact that there's any spectators at all makes a difference, live sport is never the same without an audience.

I'm glad Trump has gone behind, because I think he'll win, but it'll now last more frames.

Spectators no longer allowed as the government have stopped all pilot events until the 15th August where spectators were going to enter.

claretburns wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:53 pm

Spectators no longer allowed as the government have stopped all pilot events until the 15th August where spectators were going to enter.

Bummer. But if there are spikes, then it's the right thing to do.

I'm actually glad he's doing it now and not waiting 1-2 weeks too late.

5-4 to Ford now, this is shaping up to be a cracker, shame about the fans, but it's right to act quickly if there's any increased risk involved.

4-3 in the Bingham match, these are both too close to call, cracking start to the tournament on day 1.

Steve Davis nearly dropped the F-bomb earlier.

Trump through 10-8 but he had to work for victory, funnily enough he had a 1st round scare last year, and that didn't do him any harm.

All the matches are really close as it stands.

Stuart Bingham (Eng) 5-4 Ashley Carty (Eng)

Ding Junhui (Chn) 5-4 Mark King (Eng)

Mark Williams (Wal) 4-5 Alan McManus (Sco)

Pick the winners out of those matches, they could all go the distance.

I watched some of the Trump Ford match. Fair to day both players way below par. So many routine shots missed.

I'm still trying to get used to players potting some great balls, but nobody applauding.

So going with the form book so far, Trump, Bingham, Wilson (W/O) Ding in a last frame decider & Williams through to round 2.

Ronnie match starts this afternoon, that should be a cracker.

Been some excellent matches so far, noticeable that Hamilton received the 20K despite leaving the tournament being asthmatic & the people he'd already beaten in progression denied the opportunity & his opponent (Wilson) getting the bye, surely people knew the risks attached from the start.

The rocket

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:18 pm

Been some excellent matches so far, noticeable that Hamilton received the 20K despite leaving the tournament being asthmatic & the people he'd already beaten in progression denied the opportunity & his opponent (Wilson) getting the bye, surely people knew the risks attached from the start.

I note Barry Hearn wasn't happy in his interview the other day, but as far as i'm aware Hamilton hasn't broken any rules in withdrawing on the eve of the tournament, hence why he'll get his prize money and ranking points, but i do agree it's bad form in leaving it right until the last minute, and it's not fair on the other qualifiers, or the tournament itself, Marco Fu made the choice not to travel to the qualifying event, citing CV fears, and that's fair enough, but given Hamilton had played in the qualifiers it is strange that he forfeited his place in the tournament, i guess everybody has to make their own risk assessments, but you'd have thought he could have decided sooner, and then the organisers could have allowed somebody else to participate in his absence.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:40 pm

I note Barry Hearn wasn't happy in his interview the other day, but as far as i'm aware Hamilton hasn't broken any rules in withdrawing on the eve of the tournament, hence why he'll get his prize money and ranking points, but i do agree it's bad form in leaving it right until the last minute, and it's not fair on the other qualifiers, or the tournament itself, Marco Fu made the choice not to travel to the qualifying event, citing CV fears, and that's fair enough, but given Hamilton had played in the qualifiers it is strange that he forfeited his place in the tournament, i guess everybody has to make their own risk assessments, but you'd have thought he could have decided sooner, and then the organisers could have allowed somebody else to participate in his absence.

No true he hasn’t broken any rules, the rules are set that way, Wilson wouldn’t have any complaints the other 2 might be peed off, the excuse offered was that the advice changed, to be honest the matches I’ve watched I’ve seen no spectators anywhere apart from Williams son jumping down yesterday after he beat McManus I assumed the young lad was his son that’s the only person I’ve seen watching, although I haven’t watched every single match.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:46 pm

No true he hasn’t broken any rules, the rules are set that way, Wilson wouldn’t have any complaints the other 2 might be peed off, the excuse offered was that the advice changed, to be honest the matches I’ve watched I’ve seen no spectators anywhere apart from Williams son jumping down yesterday after he beat McManus I assumed the young lad was his son that’s the only person I’ve seen watching, although I haven’t watched every single match.

They had the crowd first day only, with about 1/4-1/3 of capacity.

Ronnie's in a rush 4-0 ahead already. Higgins within touching distance of victory he's 8-5 up on Stevens.

A baptism of fire for Elliott Slessor on his Crucible debut he's 7-1 adrift of his Chinese opponent.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:47 pm

Ronnie's in a rush 4-0 ahead already. Higgins within touching distance of victory he's 8-5 up on Stevens.

A baptism of fire for Elliott Slessor on his Crucible debut he's 7-1 adrift of his Chinese opponent.

I must admit, I'm not watching it as much as I normally would, but at the end of that frame I noticed applause - is this the equivalent of the Sky Sports Crowd?

FactualFrank wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:01 pm

I must admit, I'm not watching it as much as I normally would, but at the end of that frame I noticed applause - is this the equivalent of the Sky Sports Crowd?

Yes i believe so, they're piping in canned applause when there's a century break, or a good shot. I'm not sure it's working as well as they hoped, but we'll see how it develops over the coming days.

Good session from Ronnie, but Un Nooh didn't do himself any favours, disappointing performance

The Wizard of Wishaw, and The Thunder from Down Under both through, the all English affair between Gilbert and Maflin going all the way, 9-8 to Maflin ATM.

Enjoying the tournament as usual. Wide open competition, six or seven potential winners.

Just me that thinks the BBCs coverage is a bit poor this year though? JV is a big miss in the commentary box, the new guy who was commentating along with Stephen Hendry last night was very wooden and the new presenter (Radzi?) keeps mispronouncing players names, and actually seems to have no knowledge of Snooker from what I can gather.

Normally excellent the BBC with their snooker coverage, but seems a step back this year.

Maflin edging through last night, and Ronnie waltzing through 10-1 this morning in a record time.

Strong line-up as you would expect in the WC.

I haven't watched a lot of the coverage, but what i did view it seems to be lacking something this year, Willie Throne and John Virgo are a big miss.

Watch McGill and Lisowski pushing balls hopelessly round the table only serves to highlight how good the true greats are at this game.

Murphy out 10-4

The Enclosure wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:06 pm

Murphy out 10-4

Good, he is 1 player I can never take a liking for

It should be a good match this evening, Williams vs Bingham.

A few surprises that always adds to the tournament, Jamie Clarke and Martin Gould certainly turned the form-book upside down, that Allen match was strange, he scored 5 centuries and yet still went out.

Williams-Bingham is well matched as you'd expect, a slender lead for the Welshman, but it's definitely not a commanding lead.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:41 pm

A few surprises that always adds to the tournament, Jamie Clarke and Martin Gould certainly turned the form-book upside down, that Allen match was strange, he scored 5 centuries and yet still went out.

Williams-Bingham is well matched as you'd expect, a slender lead for the Welshman, but it's definitely not a commanding lead.

I'd have normally expected Bingham to have won it by a few frames, had Williams not decided to take things more seriously and start practicing properly again. It looked like he'd had enough after winning 2 years ago and was ready for retirement.

Now, if he were to get past Bingham, I'd give him a chance of coming close.

147 for John "the Fixer" Higgins

Brilliant maximum from Higgins.Both players producing great snooker, building up to a fantastic match.

the heavy breathing over the commentary is doing my head in.

Trump having a tough start again trailing Yan Bingtao 5-3, tight and tense in all the matches. We could see a few last frame deciders at this rate.

The standard has been surprisingly high given the lack of preparation the players had prior to the tournament. Just a shame that there was no fans to witness that 147, and the rest of the matches.

I opted for the Bingham match this afternoon. Currently watching the close Higgins-Maflin game - still fancy Higgins to come back and nick this one.

This Higgins Maflin game is an absolute classic.

Not impressed, with BBC4's coverage finishing, they've got Selby's game on the red button, which doesn't finish tonight, and left the Higgins game off which could go to a decider. Yeah, good one.

Despite rather not watching Eurosport, it’s all on there.

I'll settle for the Selby match - they might turn it over after this frame, as they sometimes do.

And just as I say that, they turn it over to the Higgins game.

FactualFrank wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:14 pm

And just as I say that, they turn it over to the Higgins game.

They must have heard you FF

Ha

Brilliant performance by Maflin, and his victory ensures a qualifier in the semi-finals.