Last Sunday night (early Monday morning Beijing time), Mark Allen lifted the British Championship trophy for the first time, bringing an end to this unforgettable event.
文 / Phil Haigh，《Metro》
In recent years, the 128-member British Championship main event has been widely criticized as low viewing and the importance of the event cannot be highlighted, so this year's British Championship has reformed the format and restored the qualification system, and the top 16 players in the world ranking directly qualified for the main competition.
As a result, the low-key British Championship qualifiers were held at the Ponzer Fuge Sports Centre in Sheffield, and the 32 players who made the main draw arrived in York, and the eyes of the audience were focused on the two tables at the Barbican Centre.
We saw intense clashes, high-quality rounds and moments of saber rattling in the main match, like a gripping drama where the audience was desperate to know what would happen next...
Question 1: Are format changes useful?
Yes, that's what I want to ask at the end of the day. The British Championship moved from parallel big signing to World Championship qualification this year, giving us a series of stories and drama moments, so to speak, we watched two games for the price of one game.
Jimmy White's astonishing win of four qualifying matches cleanly ignited York, while a new generation of players like Andrés Petrov seized the opportunity to grab some headlines, as did games such as Liam Highfield's comeback victory over Ali Carter.
The return of qualifying means that the centre table has more charm and seriousness, with only two tables in the center of the field instead of four, and no more "death tables" squeezed into the corner of the field, so close or noisy to the bathrooms, parking lots and entrances.
The entrance ceremony for the players was special – especially when Jimmy White entered – the entire venue was lit up and the atmosphere reached its peak. While not every match sold out, tickets were clearly selling out well, with the Barbican Centre cementing its position as an ideal venue for the British Championship.
There are also different voices among the players regarding the setting of the qualifying round. Sean Murphy has always opposed qualifying for grading events, while David Gilbert has detailed that he doesn't like the use of a qualifying format in two tournaments this season, which has led to a divergence in the world rankings.
However, with the rebound in word of mouth at the British Championships, we can know that it is these changes that have brought everything that everyone has expected.
The interactive area at the Barbican Centre has also been improved, with fans seeing presentations from professional players and interacting with Q&As before and during matches, encouraging spectators to arrive early and linger after the game, and the relaxed and fun atmosphere outside the stadium is sometimes far more inviting than many events themselves.
Question 2: Has Mark Allen joined the ranks of top players?
Mark Allen has already collected two of the "Big Three" titles, just behind the World Championships – and admittedly, the World Championships are the biggest piece of cake and the hardest piece to eat.
With Allen having already won the Northern Ireland Open before, this has allowed him to climb the ranking tournament champions list with 8 titles to a position just one step away from John Parlot, Peter Alberton and Sean Murphy.
Mark Allen has been a contender for the tournament for a long time, but is rarely considered a potential champion. It's never surprising to see him reach the final, but it's not shocking to see him out early.
With his weight loss, attention and work in the psychology of the game, it can be seen that he has significantly improved from his posture to mental state, so is Allen now regarded as a regular in the small team for the championship?
His attitude after winning the title in York showed this, with Allen saying he would soon be back at the practice table and working hard towards the next title.
Allen has risen to fifth place in the world rankings and is sure to be one of the favourites for the upcoming Scottish Open and England Open. Adding another title or two this season is also a possibility, and it's hard to deny his status among the top players right now, but we know it will ultimately be his performance at the World Championships that will determine his final place in the sport.
Allen's best result so far at the World Championships has been just one semi-final, a puzzlingly bad record for a player like him. If the rejuvenated Mark Allen can solve this problem and become king in Cruzburg in the coming years, he can be recognized by history.
Question 3: Is Ding Junhui's state back?
Ding Junhui's form is definitely picking up, but we don't yet know how far he has come on this road to returning to the top level.
This is the first time Ding Junhui has reached the final of a ranking tournament since winning the British Championship for the last time in 2019. For three years, he calmly watched his ranking slip from top 16 to 38th in the world, and he had to pass the qualifying round to reach the main draw.
He played comfortably, beating Barry Hawkins and Jamie Clark in a hot 6-0 victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan. We can say that O'Sullivan performed poorly, but we have to admit that Ding Junhui's performance is very good.
Ding Junhui beat Tom Forde in the semi-finals and then took a 6-1 lead at one point in the final, and it looks like he's really back. Allen then won 9 of the next 10 innings to defeat Ding Junhui 10-7, and he seemed to be back but not quite back.
Even without the title, it was a good few weeks for Ding Junhui, whose ranking rose to 19th in the world, a ranking closer to his true level.
Whether this will be the norm for Ding Junhui remains to be seen, his 2019 triumph was so sudden and he hasn't really shown more consistency since the 2017/18 season.
We can't announce Ding Junhui's return yet, but he seems to be slowly returning to the ranks of one of the best players in the world.
After the qualifiers, Ding Junhui said: "I don't think with one or two matches, confidence will come back. I've won a couple of games lately, hit a few hundreds, but lost again in the next round or two. I believe that if you take your time, it will get better. ”
The runner-up is worth celebrating, and we'll see if it can be better next time.
Question 4: Is Sam Craige among the elite players?
When Sam Craigie won the qualifying round, he was asked if reaching York's main draw meant he had become an elite player, and he replied that "I am already an elite player".
Craigie's answer was clearly objective. He turned professional for the first time in 2011 and has previously reached the quarterfinals of the ranking tournament and made appearances in the main tournament of the World Championships, but if he had been in the elite ranks before, his current results would certainly make him more visible.
Several solid qualifying wins brought Craige to York, where he easily defeated defending champion Zhao Xintong before defeating an in-form Ryan Day to reach the quarter-finals of the "Big Three" for the first time.
In the quarterfinals, he lost 4-6 to Mark Allen, but it was still a breakthrough week for the 28-year-old. Craigie's world ranking rose to 37, the highest of his career, and we can feel that his ceiling is much higher than it is now.
Prior to the British Championships, he did not have a great season, but hopefully this will boost his confidence to be more focused on snooker and less to pay attention to criticism. As one of the favoured under-30 players in the UK, he needs to continue to improve his rankings.
Question 5: Is Mark Williams right?
Speaking before the British Championships, Mark Williams said: "You see, one of the top four was in the top four twenty years ago, and three of the top six were in the top six twenty years ago. ”
"Twenty years ago, the top four in the world were me, Hendry, Higgins and O'Sullivan. Are the top four better today than we were then? I don't think so. ”
In York, Williams and Higgins went down in the first round, as did Neil Robertson and Mark Selby.
Williams and Robertson are both unwell, so that's understandable, of course, but there's no doubt that the top-ranked players aren't exactly in form when challenged by qualifiers.
Ronnie O'Sullivan did excel in his first two fights, but then suddenly went silent against Ding Junhui and suffered the most comprehensive rout he has ever had in a major event.
Few would argue that snooker's level of competition has not improved, and some will question Williams' claims, but Williams' argument was exemplified at this year's British Championships.
Question 6: Jack Lisovsky's future?
Questions about Jack Lisovski are hard to pinpoint, and he remains one of the most unpredictable players on the professional circuit.
His work with Peter Alberton seems to be getting positive feedback. In York, he sometimes played as well as before, especially beating Sean Murphy 6-1 in the quarterfinals with a four-shot 100.
He also had other good performances, but in the end he showed a vulnerable side, and he ended up losing the match 5-6 against Allen in the semi-finals, and his choice in the tiebreaker was once again questioned.
Lisovski's work with Alberton is aimed at improving his stability and tactical play, and improvements in that area are indeed happening, but Lisovsky also admits that he is not learning as fast and that there is still room for improvement.
Lisovsky said in an interview last year: "I'm playing the best game of my career so far. I still think I still have five more years to go and in five years I will be a better player. ”
He seems to be playing better now, and he's four years away from his predicted peak, so maybe we just need to be a little more patient with Jack, but as fans we still have to live with the frustration he gives us from time to time.