1985 World Snooker Championship

The **1985 World Snooker Championship** was a snooker tournament. It took place from 12 to 28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The event was run by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). It was the ninth World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible, the first taking place in 1977. A five-round qualifying event was held at the Preston Guild Hall. The event was shown on TV in the United Kingdom by the BBC. There was £250,000 to be won. It was the highest amount for any snooker tournament to that date; the winner received £60,000.

The defending champion was Steve Davis, who had won the event three times. Davis met Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor in the final which was a best-of-35-frames (first to 18) match. Davis took an early 8–0 lead, but Taylor drew level at 17–17. The final frame was played over the final black ball - the player able to pot the ball winning the event. After both players missed, Taylor potted the black to win.. The match, often called the "black ball final", is the best-known match in the history of the sport..

Canadian Bill Werbeniuk made the event's highest break, a 143, in his first-round match. There were 14 century breaks made, with 10 more in qualifying matches. This was the first professional snooker event to have a ban on drugs. All players in the main stage having to undertake tests. The final between Davis and Taylor holds the record for the most-viewed show in the United Kingdom of a programme shown after midnight. It had a peak of 18.5 million viewers for the match's final frame, breaking the existing records for the most-viewed sporting event and BBC2 programme.

## Main draw

The results for each round of the main stage of the championship are shown below. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).

## Century breaks

There were 14 century breaks in the championship. Bill Werbeniuk's 143 against Joe Johnson in the first round was the joint third-highest break in the championship's history, tied with his break in 1979 and Willie Thorne's in 1982. Only Cliff Thorburn's maximum break in 1983 and Doug Mountjoy's 145 in 1981 were higher. Tony Knowles missed the black on a break of 137 that would have scored a 144 in his second-round match with Jimmy White.

- 143 Bill Werbeniuk
- 137, 117 Tony Knowles
- 128, 117 Dennis Taylor
- 123 Tony Meo
- 114, 108 Jimmy White
- 114 John Parrott
- 106, 105, 100 Steve Davis
- 103 Cliff Thorburn
- 101 Neal Foulds

### Qualifying stages

There were ten century breaks in the qualifying stages; the highest was made by Danny Fowler in his round-of-64 10–0 whitewash of Jim Donnelly.

- 137 Danny Fowler
- 134 Steve Newbury
- 132 Bernie Mikkelsen
- 119 John Virgo
- 110, 101 Bob Chaperon
- 109 Neal Foulds
- 107 Dave Chalmers
- 104 Tony Jones
- 100 Steve Longworth

## Infobox (individual snooker tournament)

- **tournament name**: 1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship
- **caption**: The programme for the event featuring defending champion Steve Davis
- **alt**: Steve Davis playing a shot
- **dates**: 12–28 April 1985
- **venue**: Crucible Theatre
- **location**: Sheffield
- **country**: England
- **organisation**: World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, WPBSA
- **format**: Snooker world rankings, Ranking event
- **total prize fund**: Pound sterling, £250,000
- **winners share**: £60,000
- **highest break**: Bill Werbeniuk (143)
- **winner**: Dennis Taylor
- **runner up**: Steve Davis
- **score**: 18–17
- **previous**: 1984 World Snooker Championship, 1984
- **next**: 1986 World Snooker Championship, 1986