page_title: 2020 World Snooker Championship
section_title: Qualifying
hierarchical_section_title: 2020 World Snooker Championship / Tournament summary / Qualifying
caption_attribution_description: Allan Taylor beim Paul Hunter Classic 2014
context_page_description: The 2020 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 July to 16 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 44th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible, and it was the final ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 18 April to 4 May 2020, but both the qualifying stage and the main rounds were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was one of the first to allow live audiences since the outbreak of the pandemic, but on the first day it was announced that the event would be played behind closed doors for subsequent days; however, a limited number of spectators were later allowed in for the final two days of the championship.
  The tournament was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and the World Snooker Tour, and was broadcast by the BBC, Eurosport and Matchroom Sport. The event had a total prize fund of £2,395,000, with the winner receiving £500,000.
context_section_description: Qualifying for the event was held over four rounds, between 21 and 28 July 2020 with with 16 players progressing into the main draw. James Cahill, who defeated five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the main stage in 2019, lost in the opening round to amateur player Ben Mertens. Mertens, aged 15, became the youngest player to win a match at the event. Mertens lost in the second round to Sam Baird. Allan Taylor won the Challenge Tour play-off to gain a two-year professional tour card prior to qualifying, and won both of his first two matches 6–1. In these matches he scored four century breaks, including a career-high 145 – the highest break in qualifying. Six-time runner-up Jimmy White won his first two qualifying matches over Ivan Kakovskii and Michael Georgiou, but lost in the third round to Robert Milkins. Gary Wilson, who reached the semi-finals in the 2019 event, lost in the third round of qualifying to Swiss player Alexander Ursenbacher 3–6. Two-time runner-up Ali Carter started in round three, but lost his opening match to Louis Heathcote. This was the first time in 17 years that Carter did not play in the main stage of the event.
  The final round of qualifying was played on 27 and 28 July, with matches played as best-of-19 frames over two sessions. Alexander Ursenbacher became the first Swiss player to play the main stage of the tournament, after defeating Andrew Higginson 10–8. Ursenbacher led 6–2 after the first session, but the lead was cut to 9–8 before he won frame 18. Alan McManus qualified for the main stage for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2016 after defeating Louis Heathcote 10–5. Elliot Slessor won the final nine frames of the match to defeat Martin O'Donnell 10–3. Slessor had promised to plan a wedding with his girlfriend if he made it through the qualifying rounds. Liang Wenbo led Fergal O'Brien 5–2, but won just two frames of the next eight to trail 7–8. The match went to a deciding frame at 9–9 which Liang won with a break of 141. Anthony McGill lost only one frame in his win over Sam Baird, whilst Norwegian player Kurt Maflin defeated Matthew Selt by the same scoreline, 10–1, to qualify for the first time since 2015.
  Slessor and Ursenbacher made their debuts in the main draw. Other debutants in the main draw were Jamie Clarke, Ashley Carty and Jordan Brown. Anthony Hamilton qualified for the main draw of the World Championship for the first time since 2008, but withdrew because of health concerns over the coronavirus. As an asthmatic, he had criticised the decision to allow a limited number of spectators into the Crucible. Defending champion Judd Trump said Hamilton should have made his decision earlier, as by participating in the qualifiers despite knowing there would be spectators in the final stages he had denied a place to another player.
caption: Allan Taylor made the highest break in qualifying, a 145.
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