1953 World Professional Match-play Championship
Tournament information
Dates10 November 1952 – 28 March 1953 (1952-11-10 – 1953-03-28)
Final venueLeicester Square Hall
Final cityLondon
CountryEngland
Highest breakEngland John Pulman (133)
Final
ChampionEngland Fred Davis
Runner-upScotland Walter Donaldson
Score37–34
← 1952
1954 →
1953 World Professional Match-play Championship is located in the United Kingdom
Slough
Slough
Derby
Derby
Belfast
Belfast
Bolton
Bolton
Wellington
Wellington
Liverpool
Liverpool
London
London
Venues

The 1953 World Professional Match-play Championship was a professional snooker tournament, the second edition of the World Professional Match-play Championship, held from 10 November 1952 to 28 March 1953. The event was held across several venues in the United Kingdom, with the final held at the Leicester Square Hall in London, England. Fred Davis was the defending champion, after winning the 1952 event, with a 38–35 win over Walter Donaldson. The same players contested the 1953 final, with Davis defeating Donaldson 37–34 in the 71-frame final. The highest break of 133 was made by John Pulman in his semi-final loss to Davis.

Overview

The World Professional Match-play Championship was created in 1952 as an alternative to the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC) professional World Snooker Championship, which was retrospectively recognised as a world championship.[1] However, founder and 15-time champion Joe Davis of the BA&CC's events did not participate in the Match-play Championships.[2] The defending champion of the event was Davis' brother Fred Davis, who had won the World Snooker Championship as the BA&CC authorised event, and the match-play championship in 1952.[3][4] Davis won his second World title by defeating Walter Donaldson 38–35 in the final.[1]

Format

The 1953 World Professional Match-play Championship was held over several months between 10 November 1952 to 28 March 1953.[5] The final was held at Leicester Square Hall in London, England from 23 to 28 March 1953.[6] The event featured eight participants.[4] The rounds were played at different locations in the United Kingdom over different match lengths. Matches were played as the best-of-61 frames in the quarter and semi-finals, and a best-of-73 frames final.[4]

Schedule

Below is the list of venues and dates for the matches during the championships.[5]

MatchDatesVenue, City
Albert Brown v Alec Brown10–15 November 1952Central Billiards Hall, Slough
Fred Davis v John Barrie8–12 December 1952Mechanics Institute, Derby
John Pulman v Jackie Rea8–12 December 1952RAOB Hall, Belfast
Walter Donaldson v Kingsley Kennerley15–20 December 1952Bolton
Fred Davis v John Pulman16–20 February 1953Wrekin Hall, Wellington, Shropshire
Walter Donaldson v Albert Brown9–14 March 1953St George's Hall, Liverpool
Fred Davis v Walter Donaldson23–28 March 1953Leicester Square Hall, London

Summary

The qualifying section was held at Leicester Square Hall from 25 August to 6 September 1952. 66-year-old Willie Smith met Jim Lees from 25 to 27 August. Smith led 16–8 after two days and won 21–14.[7] The match between Kingsley Kennerley and Rex Williams was played from 28 to 30 August. Kennerley led 16–8 after two days and won 25–12.[8] Smith and Kennerley met from 1 to 6 September in the six-day final. Kennerley led 27–21 after four days and took a winning 36–24 lead after the fifth day, winning all six of the evening session frames. The final score was 42–29.[9]

Albert Brown and Alec Brown met in the first quarter-final, played in Slough, played over 6 days. Albert Brown took a 7–3 lead on the first day but Alec Brown had levelled the match at 15–15 after day 3. Albert Brown won all 5 frames on the fourth afternoon session and led 23–17 after four days. Alec Brown reduced Albert Brown's lead to 26–24 after day 5 but won only 2 frames on the last day as Albert secured a 35–26 win.[10]

Defending champion Fred Davis played John Barrie at the Mechanics Institute in Derby. Davis led 20–16 after three days, making a break of 121 on day 3,[11] but Barrie levelled the match at 24–24 on the fourth day, where he made a century break.[12][13] On the final day, Davis led 28–26 after the afternoon session, despite a break of 125 by Barrie, and Davis eventually won 32–29.[14][15]

John Pulman met Jackie Rea in the five-day match played at the RAOB Hall, Belfast. This was the first World Championship match to be played in Ireland. Pulman had the best of the first four days and led 29–19, needing just two frames on the final day for victory.[13] Pulman won the match by taking a 31–21 after winning the fourth afternoon frame on the final day. The match ended with Pulman completing a 36–25 victory.[16][14]

Walter Donaldson met Kingsley Kennerley, the winner of the qualifying competition, in the final quarter-final played in Bolton. Donaldson dominated the match, leading 27–8 after the fourth afternoon session. Kennerley won all five frames in the evening session,[17] but Donaldson took a winning lead of 31–14 after the fifth afternoon.[18] The match ended with Donaldson 42–19 ahead.[19]

Fred Davis met John Pulman in the first semi-final played at the Wrekin Hall in Wellington, Shropshire. Davis tok a winning 31–17 lead after the fourth day.[20] The final score was 36–25.[21] In the final afternoon session Davis made a break of 101 while Pulman made a 105 break and the highest break of the championship - a 133 - in the evening, and finished 36–25.[22][23][24] Albert Brown withdrew from his semi-final match against Walter Donaldson in Liverpool before the second day's play, on medical advice, but was trailing 1-9 after the first day.[25]

The final was held at Leicester Square Hall for the first time since 1949, the last time the final was held there and was held over 71 frames.[6] The match was level at 6–6 after the first day but Donaldson took a 13–11 lead after day 2, despite a break of 107 by Davis.[26] Donaldson led 20–16 after day 3 but Davis tied the match at 24–24 after the fourth day which included another Davis century, this time of 102.[27] David led 28–26 after the fifth afternoon session but Donaldson took a 31–29 lead at the end of the fifth day.[28] The match was again level at 33–33 after the final afternoon session but Davis crept ahead in the evening session to win 37–34.[29]

Main draw

The draw for the competition is below. Players in bold denote match winners.[4][30][31]

Quarter-finals
61 frames 		Semi-finals
61 frames 		Final
71 frames
England Fred Davis 32
England John Barrie 29 England Fred Davis 36
England John Pulman 36 England John Pulman 25
Northern Ireland Jackie Rea 25 England Fred Davis 37
Scotland Walter Donaldson 42 Scotland Walter Donaldson 34
England Kingsley Kennerley 19 Scotland Walter Donaldson w/o
England Albert Brown 35 England Albert Brown w/d
England Alec Brown 26

Qualifying

The draw for the qualifying competition is below. Players in bold denote match winners.[9]

Round 1
37 frames 		Round 2
71 frames
England Willie Smith 21
England Jim Lees 14 England Willie Smith 29
England Kingsley Kennerley 25 England Kingsley Kennerley 42
England Rex Williams 12

References

  1. 1 2 Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  2. ↑ Nunns, Hector; Hendon, David (2020). "Full History of Snooker". wpbsa.com. WPBSA. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "History of the World Snooker Championship". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Snooker". The Times. 12 September 1952. p. 9.
  6. 1 2 "Donaldson and Davis level". Dundee Courier. 24 March 1953. p. 6. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 28 August 1952. p. 2. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 1 September 1952. p. 9. Archived from the original on 10 February 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 8 September 1952. p. 9. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  10. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 17 November 1952. p. 9. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "Snooker win for Joe Davis". The Glasgow Herald. 11 December 1952. p. 2. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  12. ↑ "Barrie now level". Dundee Courier. 12 December 1952. p. 6. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. 1 2 "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 12 December 1952. p. 7. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  14. 1 2 "World snooker semi-finalists – Holder qualifies". The Glasgow Herald. 13 December 1952. p. 2. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  15. ↑ "World championship". The Times. 13 December 1952. p. 4.
  16. ↑ "Pulman celebrates his birthday with great win". Northern Whig. 13 December 1952. p. 6. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ↑ "World championship". The Times. 19 December 1952. p. 4.
  18. ↑ "World championship". The Times. 20 December 1952. p. 4.
  19. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 22 December 1952. p. 2. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  20. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 20 February 1953. p. 9. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  21. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 21 February 1953. p. 9. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  22. ↑ "2004 Embassy World Championship Information". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 8 December 2004. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  23. ↑ "Snooker". The Times. 21 February 1953. p. 4.
  24. ↑ "Fred Davis". Dundee Courier. 21 February 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  25. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 11 March 1953. p. 11. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  26. ↑ "Fred Davis". Dundee Courier. 25 March 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  27. ↑ "Snooker". The Glasgow Herald. 27 March 1953. p. 9. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  28. ↑ "Professional snooker". The Times. 28 March 1953. p. 4.
  29. ↑ "Professional snooker". The Times. 30 March 1953. p. 2.
  30. ↑ "World Championship 1953". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  31. ↑ Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. p. 144. ISBN 0-9548549-0-X.
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