1981 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	7–20 April 1981
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£75,000
Winner's share	£20,000[1]
Highest break	Doug Mountjoy (145)
Final
Champion	Steve Davis
Runner-up	Doug Mountjoy
Score	18–12
← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1981 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 6 and 20 April 1981 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Steve Davis won in the final 18–12 against Doug Mountjoy. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• Jimmy White, Tony Knowles and Dave Martin made their World Championship debuts, but they lost in the first round 8–10 against Steve Davis, 8–10 against Graham Miles and 4–10 against Bill Werbeniuk respectively.^[2][3][4]
• Steve Davis won his first world title at the third attempt, when he beat White, Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths, and defending champion Cliff Thorburn, before beating Doug Mountjoy 18–12 in the final.^[5]
• Both finalists defeated the top three seeds in their half of the draw.
• John Williams refereed the final.^[6]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[7]

• Winner: £20,000
• Runner-up: £10,000
• Semi-final: £5,000
• Quarter-final: £2,500
• Last 16: £1,800
• Last 32: £875
• Highest break: £1,200
• Maximum break: £10,000
• Total: £75,000

Main draw

Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings.

Sources:^{[8][9][10][11]}

	Round 1 Best of 19 frames					Round 2 Best of 25 frames					Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames					Semi-finals Best of 31 frames					Final Best of 35 frames
		Graham Miles (16)	10				Cliff Thorburn (1)	13
		Tony Knowles	8				Graham Miles (16)	2
												Cliff Thorburn (1)	13
												David Taylor (9)	6
		David Taylor (9)	10		Fred Davis (8)	3
		Cliff Wilson	6				David Taylor (9)	13
																	Cliff Thorburn (1)	10
																Steve Davis (13)	16
		John Virgo (12)	6				Terry Griffiths (5)	13
		Tony Meo	10				Tony Meo	6
												Steve Davis (13)	13
												Terry Griffiths (5)	9
		Steve Davis (13)	10		Alex Higgins (4)	8
		Jimmy White	8				Steve Davis (13)	13
																						Steve Davis (13)	18
																						Doug Mountjoy (14)	12
		Doug Mountjoy (14)	10				Eddie Charlton (3)	7
		Willie Thorne	6				Doug Mountjoy (14)	13
												Dennis Taylor (6)	8
												Doug Mountjoy (14)	13
		Kirk Stevens (11)	10		Dennis Taylor (6)	13
		John Dunning	4				Kirk Stevens (11)	11
																	Doug Mountjoy (14)	16
																Ray Reardon (2)	10
		Bill Werbeniuk (10)	10				Perrie Mans (7)	5
		Dave Martin	4				Bill Werbeniuk (10)	13
												Bill Werbeniuk (10)	10
												Ray Reardon (2)	13
		John Spencer (15)	10		Ray Reardon (2)	13
		Ray Edmonds	9				John Spencer (15)	11

Century breaks

There were 13 century breaks in the championship, equalling the record from 1979. Mountjoy meanwhile made a record at the World Championship making a 145 break beating the 142 of Rex Williams in 1965 and Bill Werbeniuk in 1979. With this record he earned a £5,000 bonus.^[7] His record would last until the 1983 tournament.^[12][13]

• 145, 129, 110 Doug Mountjoy
• 135, 133 Dennis Taylor
• 134 Tony Meo
• 119, 119, 106 Steve Davis
• 112 Ray Reardon
• 101 Tony Knowles
• 100 Terry Griffiths
• 100 Cliff Thorburn

References

1. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
2. "Jimmy White at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
3. "Tony Knowles at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
4. "Dave Martin at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
5. "Steve Davis at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
6. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
7. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
8. "World Championship 1981". Global Snooker. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
9. "1981 World Championships Results Grid". Snooker Database. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
10. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
11. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 12–13.
12. "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
13. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 146.