Baird produced his best snooker towards the end of the &lt;a href="2012%E2%80%9313%20snooker%20season"&gt;2012/2013 season&lt;/a&gt; as he beat Luca Brecel and Martin Gould to reach the main draw of the Welsh Open for the second successive year.&lt;ref name="2012/13"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; He whitewashed Gerard Greene 4–0 in the first round, before losing 2–4 to Robert Milkins. In qualifying for the World Championship, Baird defeated Chen Zhe 10–7, Peter Lines 10–9 and Rory McLeod 10–9 to find himself just one match away from playing in the biggest tournament on the snooker calendar. He faced world number 20, Joe Perry, but it was world number 83, Baird who played by far the better as he won 10–3 and in the 12th frame made a break of 142, the highest of the whole qualifying tournament. Baird played Stuart Bingham in the first round, losing 2–10 to finish the year ranked world number 81.