2017 International Championship

[JimMalone]

I agree with those thoughts, JimMalone, and would predict similar scorelines myself.

As you say, Gould having a positive record over Selby is a little misleading, because it's almost exclusively short-format stuff. He is the kind of player who can play absolutely world-class snooker in short spells, so events like the Championship League are perfect for him. He has some good results in the longer events as well, of course he does, but there is more time for inconsistency to punish him the longer the match is.

Great analysis. That resembles exactly my thoughts about Gould.

[JimMalone]

Thanks, looks like a good sign for a player that is hopefully around for a longtime.

Who has/what is the record for you get loser in a ranking final?

Youngest players in ranking finals (winners bold):
1993, UK Championship..Ronnie O'Sullivan........17 years, 358 days........10-6 over Stephen Hendry
1995, China Open..........Ding Junhui...............18 years, 2 days............9-5 over Stephen Hendry
1993, European Open.....Ronnie O'Sullivan..............18 years, 14 days........lost 5-9 to Stephen Hendry
1987, Grand Prix...........Stephen Hendry..........18 years, 285 days........10-7 over Dennis Taylor
1998, Welsh Open.........Paul Hunter................19 years, 103 days........9-5 over John Higgins
1994, Grand Prix...........John Higgins...............19 years, 158 days........9-6 over Dave Harold
1989, Asian Open..........James Wattana.................19 years, 222 days......lost 6-9 to Stephen Hendry
2003, Scottish Open......Mark Selby.......................19 years, 298 days......lost 7-9 to David Gray
1995, Welsh Open.........John Higgins.......................19 yeras, 256 days........lost 3-9 to Steve Davis
1988, UK Championship...Stephen Hendry..................19 years, 319 days.......lost 12-16 to Doug Mountjoy

That's all players who reached a ranking final in under 20 years. I took only earliest win and loss for each player (O'Sullivan, Higgins, Hendry and Ding would have a few more appearances, although as you can see Ding didn't lose any final at age of under 20).

[JimMalone]

So we basically know our first finalist. There's no way back for Martin Gould, falling behind 1-7 in the first session.

Quite fascinating: It's an important tournament, it's semifinal and Selby is playing great again.

[Rane]

A couple of uncharacteristic misses from Selby on the winning line. but Gould still needs to win 6 frames in a row. 8 - 3 .

[Rane]

Then Selby got over the line. Congratulations. He´s so hard to defeat in long distance matches.

[JimMalone]

A couple of uncharacteristic misses from Selby on the winning line. but Gould still needs to win 6 frames in a row. 8 - 3 .

His concentrations seemed a bit gone.

The match sadly was too one-sided and I certainly would have wished a less devastating scoreline for Martin Gould, but it was good to see him in the semifinal of such a prestigious event and I hope he will gain confidence from it and continue to get good results.

[Ethanat]

Gosh. Not another one sided semi pls.

[crocodile]

Now I'm hearing/reading from someone in China that it's not that expensive, cheap tickets around $10. The reason it's deserted is that snooker just isn't popular in that part of China, they're all mad about Chinese 8-ball there. Still begs the question, why hold it there?

Holding tournaments in China, regardless of where, seems to be an obsession with World Snooker nowadays for some reason. It's quite laughable when one considers the one man and his dog attendances at most of them (and half the time you can't even see the dog).

One might think that bearing in mind the number of tournaments in China on this season's calendar there'd be every reason to hold the International Championship in a different country.

Perhaps this strategy will completely backfire at some stage.

[Cue crafty]

Anyone know what was bothering Martin Goulding when playing Ali Carter ? Looked like he was getting static shocks off the side rails?

Been catching up a little on YouTube. Very strange atmosphere, so quiet and no commentary etc.

[jonny66]

Holding tournaments in China, regardless of where, seems to be an obsession with World Snooker nowadays for some reason. It's quite laughable when one considers the one man and his dog attendances at most of them (and half the time you can't even see the dog).

One might think that bearing in mind the number of tournaments in China on this season's calendar there'd be every reason to hold the International Championship in a different country.

Perhaps this strategy will completely backfire at some stage.

I think it would be good if it moved around, there's plenty of countries that could host it and would get crowds in. But World Snooker have just signed a 3 year deal to keep it exactly where it is.

[Odrl]

I think the Chinese events are largely funded by local sponsors, so they are much easier to stage than events in Europe, despite the difference in attendance.

But anyway, great stuff from Mark Allen today. Okay, Yan Bingtao succumbed to the pressure a little bit, but credit where it's due, Allen raised his game to a very high standard today. He saw the opportunity to take control of the match very early on and grasped it with both hands. Yan did his best to get back into the match after the interval, but even then Allen had an answer with those two successive centuries. Maybe it could have been a longer match had Yan made it 6-3 in the second session, but from 7-2 it was pretty much over. :smile:

It will be difficult for Allen to beat Selby tomorrow, it always is, but he would have every chance if he could produce this sort of snooker again. As for Yan, today was a good lesson for him, and I'm sure we'll see plenty more from him over the course of the season. :smile:

[DeanH]

I think the Chinese events are largely funded by local sponsors, so they are much easier to stage than events in Europe, despite the difference in attendance.

Often the main funding would be from the city itself, in China the cities battle for one-upmanship with each other with holding events, more prestigious the better - face
Then local firms, etc. to cover other costs

[JimMalone]

Sad that the other semifinal was lopsided as well. But I'm pretty sure it's just a question of time when Yan will be in his first final. Same as with Zhou, who recently lost in the European Masters semifinal. But both are step by step climbing towards the top of the game.

A quick preview for tomorrows final.

Mark Selby - Mark Allen
The World Champion has found his form to the right time and so it would be easy to make him the favorite for tomorrow. He has won the last four huge ranking events, which are of at least Best-of-11-format and has won his last ten matches that were Best-of-17 or longer, which is quite a remarkable stat for todays game. He also has played now three at least solid games in a row and we know he is usually at his best when under pressure.
But he might have prefered another opponent for todays final. Those two have played in six matches of a Best-of-11-distance (but not a single duel has been in a longer format) and all six have gone the full distance! So this gives us hope for a close match tomorrow. But the thing is, while Selby has won two of those duels, Allen has won the last four in a row, dating back until the 2012 World Open. The three later ones were at the 2014 Shanghai Masters and last season at the China Championship and the Champion of Champions, so all of those three victories of Allen happened during Selbys "reign of the game" and at the 2014 Shanghai Masters, he was already 5-2 ahead before losing. So has Allen got into Selbys head by now? Cause this is a series that could lead to something like this.
Or will be Allen under pressure himself? A victory tomorrow would probably be seen as his biggest success of his career (along with reaching the semifinal of the World Championship in 2009). But he has been great under pressure this week, winning three matches in the decider and also getting stronger with every match.

I find it pretty tough to pick a winner for this final and actually my track record this weak was quite horrendous anyway. My feeling tells me that this could very well be Allen's day, but I always find it difficult to pick against Selby in such an important match. I say Selby to win 10-8.


Bitter is that I won't be able to see the first session tomorrow.

[Odrl]

Yeah, Selby is quite relentless these days. I think it's his hunger for winning that separates from the rest of the field. He obviously gets himself up for the big events, having won all of the most important ranking titles since December 2015, but you could see even in the China Open last season how much he wanted to win. At the start of the season I was wondering whether his motivation will drop a little now, with another World title to his name, but here we are again, another big event, another run to the final. His record in major ranking finals actually used to be below average, with only three wins in his first eleven attempts, but he has reversed that trend in a major way in recent years, with eight wins from his last nine finals. That's the kind of record O'Sullivan and Higgins used to have when they were right at the top of their game, and I think Selby has now reached that level of dominance where you can't really bet against him in any situation.

Having said that, Allen has played tremendously well in the matches that were televised this week, and his record against Selby is solid. Those 6-5 matches that Jim mentions were all very entertaining, played in a good spirit, and with the two players clearly bringing out the best in one another. I think that could be the case tomorrow as well. If either player is going to win easily, I think it will almost certainly be Selby. But if Allen plays as well as he did today, I think it will be a fantastic match and a very close scoreline. As always, a 10-9 either way is my wish, and on this occasion my prediction as well. Selby to win 10-9. :smile:

[Csmith]

I think quite recently I posted something like, we'll never see another teenaged ranking event winner. Yan Bingtao may have lost against Mark Allen, but he may make me eat my words before he turns 20.