1982 World Snooker Championship

The breakdown of prize money for 1982 is shown below:[13]^: 146 The total of £110,000 was a new record high for the world championship.[10]

Defending champion Steve Davis (pictured in 2007) lost in the first round 1–10 to Tony Knowles.

The contest's first round took place between 30 April and 6 May, each best-of-19 frames match being played over two sessions.[13]^: 14–15 Defending champion Steve Davis was the bookmakers' favourite to win the tournament, with odds of 2/5.[14] However, he lost 1–10 to Tony Knowles,[15] who won the first frame and followed it with the second after Davis twice failed to pot the final black ball and then won the next two by more than 60 points to lead 4–0 at the mid-session interval. Without making a significant break, Davis won the fifth frame, after which Knowles scored 67, the highest break of the session, to win the sixth frame. Davis' highest break of the first session was 32, and he finished 1–8 behind.[16] In the first frame of the second session, Davis made a foul shot by lightly feathering the cue ball while preparing to play a shot, which Knowles went on to win. In the eleventh frame, Knowles took a 53–0 lead before Davis failed to pot the black ball after the last red ball, and Knowles won the frame and match. Knowles said he had been to a nightclub until 2:00 am that day and had slept for only five hours.[15]

Graham Miles, who was level at 5–5 with Dave Martin, won the next five frames to complete a 10–5 victory.[17] Bill Werbeniuk led John Bear 7–2 after their first session; Bear won the next three frames to reduce the lead to 7–5, but Werbeniuk won 10–7.[17] Cliff Wilson led Eddie Charlton 5–4 but lost the match 5–10.[2]^: 148[18] Wilson, who had been taking medication for a viral infection prior to the first round, was feeling unwell and lost six consecutive frames in the second session.[19] Dennis Taylor had lost one of his contact lenses the previous week and played without vision aids. He trailed Silvino Francisco 2–7 but won five of the next six, bringing the score to 7–8. Francisco then won three successive frames, winning 10–7.[17]

Eight-time champion Fred Davis, the event's oldest competitor at the age of 68, lost 7–10 to Dean Reynolds, who at 19 was the youngest participant in the tournament. After defeat in the first three frames, Davis had led 6–5.[17][20] Jim Donnelly was the first Scottish player to play at the Crucible.[21] Ray Reardon built a 6–3 lead over Donnelly in the first session but lost the next two frames. From this point, Reardon won four consecutive frames to win 10–5.[21] John Virgo defeated Mike Hallett 10–4 after leading 7–2.[21] Terry Griffiths, who had become the bookmakers' favourite to win following the elimination of Steve Davis, led 4–2 but finished his first session behind 4–5 to Willie Thorne, who had never won a match in his six earlier Crucible appearances.[21] Thorne defeated Griffiths 10–6 and compiled a break of 106, which was the first century break of the 1982 tournament.[22] John Spencer defeated John Dunning 10–4.[2]^: 148 Alex Higgins, who had said he was having the "worst season of his professional career", became the bookmakers' favourite to win after Steve Davis and Griffiths had been eliminated. Higgins won his opening-round match against Jim Meadowcroft 10–5.[22] Doug Mountjoy defeated Rex Williams, the reigning world billiards champion, 10–3.[22]

David Taylor led Patsy Fagan 6–3 overnight then extended his lead to 7–3 before Fagan levelled at 7–7.[23] Taylor asked Fagan, who was 7–8 behind, to play again after making a foul shot while failing to escape from a snooker. He failed to pot the green ball and hit the cue ball again as it was still moving, disturbing other balls from their position. The referee could have interpreted this as Fagan conceding the frame but instead replaced the balls. Fagan went on to win the frame.[24] From 9–9, Fagan made the highest break of match, 78, to win the deciding frame.[23] Perrie Mans won 10–8 over Tony Meo, his first win at the Crucible since the 1978 semi-final.[25] Jimmy White, who started his match against Cliff Thorburn with a break of 102 in the first frame and led 7–2 in the first session,[23] won the match 10–4.[25] Kirk Stevens defeated Jack Fitzmaurice 10–4.[25] In the first round, five of the top-eight seeds were eliminated: Steve Davis (1), Thorburn (2), Griffiths (3), Dennis Taylor (5), and David Taylor (7).[23] This included the previous three world champions, who were also the top-three seeds.[26]

The second round took place between 5 and 10 May; each match was played over three sessions as the best-of-25 frames.[13]^: 14–15 Knowles defeated Miles by 13–7.[2]^: 148 Charlton led Werbeniuk 6–1 and 11–4,[23][27] and won 13–5.[28] Francisco won the first four frames of his match against Reynolds to lead 4–0 and led at 5–3 and 9–5[28] before winning 13–8.[29] Reardon was 6–2 and later 10–6 against Virgo,[28] winning 13–8.[29]

Thorne, after being 5–3 ahead of Spencer after the first session,[28] made a break of 122 during the second and went on to win the match 13–5.[29] Francisco won the first four frames of his match against Reynolds, and after leading 5–3 and 9–5,[28] won it 13–8.[29] Higgins won the first three frames of his match against Mountjoy; two of them on the final black ball after trailing on points in each of them, and finished their first session leading 6–2.[28] Higgins moved to 9–7 ahead[29] and Mountjoy then won three consecutive frames. Higgins then won the next three consecutively for 12–10. Mountjoy forced a deciding frame by winning the next two and was nearly 40 points ahead in the decider but Higgins won the frame to win the match 13–12.[30] Stevens defeated Fagan by 13–7,[31] having led 10–6 at the end of their second session.[30] White led Mans 5–3[29] before winning 13–6.[2]^: 148

Jimmy White (pictured in 2016) was the only non-seeded player to reach the semi-finals, defeating Kirk Stevens 13–9.

The quarter-finals took place from 9 to 11 May; each match was played over three sessions as the best-of-25 frames.[13]^: 14–15 White led Stevens 5–3 in their first session,[31] extending this to 10–6, making a break of 126,[32] and winning the match 13–9.[18] Reardon led Francisco 6–2 and 10–6 after their sessions,[13]^: 14–15 and won 13–8.[33] Thorne was 3–5 behind Higgins;[31] despite scoring breaks of 143—the highest of the tournament—in the 9th frame, and 112 in the 16th frame, he still trailed 7–9 at the end of the second session.[32] Higgins won the match 13–10, compiling a 68 break in the last frame.[13]^: 14–15

Knowles led Charlton 5–3 after their first session[30] and 10–6 after the second.[31] Knowles then won the first frame of the third session to lead 11–6. Charlton narrowed the lead to 9–11 and won another frame to score 10–11 when Knowles missed an routine green ball. Knowles missed a black ball from its spot in the 22nd frame, saying he was distracted by a member of the audience rustling paper. After this, Charlton made a break of 78 to level the match 11–11. Charlton took the following frame as well, then won the match 13–11 with a break of 58, concluding a seven-frame winning streak.[33]

The semi-finals took place from 12 to 14 May, with both matches played over four sessions as the best-of-31 frames.[13]^: 14–15 White, by defeating Stevens, had become the youngest-ever player to reach a world championship semi-final. Higgins, his opponent, won the opening frame of the match. White made breaks of 60 and 38, and won the second frame to even the score to 1–1 before Higgins built a 4–1 lead. With breaks of 63, 69 and 44, White again drew level at 4–4 by the end of the first session.[34] White won the first four frames of the second session, compiling a breaks of 69 in the first and 52 in the second. White left Higgins with a chance in the second frame but Higgins failed to pot the last red and conceded the frame. After the mid-session interval, Higgins made a break of 61 and won the 13th frame, and also took the 14th frame after White missed an easy black. After White missed a red ball, Higgins also won the next frame, ending the day one frame behind at 7–8.[35] In the third session, White took three of the first four frames, compiling a break of 89 in the fourth of these to lead 11–8, Higgins then won the next three to level the match at 11–11 by the end of the session.[13]^: 14–15

White won the first frame of the fourth session and Higgins fluked a brown in the following frame, which he went on to win. The scores were level at 13–13, with Higgins scoring only nine points across two frames as White moved into a 15–13 lead with three frames to play. Higgins narrowed his deficit to one frame with a break of 72.[36] In the 32nd frame, White was 59 points ahead when he missed a simple red.[37] Higgins then made a break of 69, showing excellent potting but poor positional play that is described in the book Masters of the Baize (2005) as "arguably the greatest clearance of all time" to take the match to a deciding frame. In the last frame, Higgins made a break of 59 to win the match 16–15.[37][38]

Charlton gained a 3–0 lead over Reardon[39] but lost the next four frames. Reardon made breaks of 50, 47, 48 and 35, and finished the first session 4–3 ahead.[34] Charlton scored a break of 83 in the first frame of the second session, levelling the score at 4–4. Reardon again moved a frame ahead with a break of 98. Charlton gained a two-frame lead at 7–5 by winning three consecutive frames but lost the 13th frame after snookering himself on the yellow ball. Reardon then equalised the match at 7–7, scoring a break of 59 in the last frame of the session.[35] In the third session, the score went to 8–8 and Reardon then compiled breaks of 94 and 77 to win the next two frames. Charlton again equalised with a 54 break in the 17th frame and by winning the 18th frame on the pink. Reardon took the lead with a 93 clearance at 11–10 but Charlton won the last frame of the session with a break of 64 that started with a fluke.[35] In the fourth session, Reardon won five successive frames to with the match 16–11, making a 98 break in the fourth frame.[36]

Alex Higgins (pictured in 1968) won his second championship, defeating Ray Reardon in the final 18–15.

The final between Reardon and Higgins was played on 15 and 16 May as the best-of-35 frames over four sessions.[13]^: 14–15 Reardon, a six-times champion, had never lost in the world championship final.[37] It was Higgins' fourth world final following his win in 1972, and his losing appearances in the 1976 and 1980 finals.[40] The 1982 final was a rematch of the 1976 final, which Reardon won 27–16.[41] In the opening session, in which both players made a number of errors, Reardon built a 5–3 lead. Higgins had compiled a break of 118 in the fourth frame to equalise at 2–2. In the second session, Reardon was 6–4 ahead when he failed to pot the pink ball; Higgins won that frame and the next to equalise at 6–6. Reardon won the next frame but Higgins took the lead at 8–7, the first day finishing with Higgins 10–7 up.[42]

On the second day, Reardon won the first frame with a break of 95 and also won the next frame. Higgins won the next two frames to gain a 12–9 lead, which Reardon reduced by winning frames 22 and 23, the session ending with Higgins leading 13–12. In the fourth and final session, Higgins won the first frame and took the second after Reardon missed an easy yellow. Now 15–12 ahead, Higgins missed a pot that allowed Reardon to win the frame and narrow Higgins' lead to two frames, 15–13. With Higgins showing signs of nervousness, Reardon won another two frames to level at 15–15,[42] having required Higgins to concede points from a foul in the second of these.[43] Higgins then won the 31st frame 79–0, the 32nd 112–0 with breaks of 38 and 73,[13]^: 14–15 and then won the match with a clearance of 135.[42] A tearful Higgins summoned his wife and baby daughter from the audience to celebrate with him.[37][41] The tournament was broadcast on BBC2, with 10.8 million viewers on the second day of the final.[44]