1988 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	16 April–2 May 1988
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£475,000
Winner's share	£95,000
Highest break	Steve James (140)
Final
Champion	Steve Davis
Runner-up	Terry Griffiths
Score	18–11
← 1987 1989 →

The 1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 1988 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

Steve Davis won in the final 18–11 against Terry Griffiths.

Tournament summary

• Terry Griffiths made his second world final nine years after his victory against Dennis Taylor in 1979, but lost 11–18 to Steve Davis, who won his fifth World title.
• Bill Werbeniuk made his last appearance in the Crucible when he played Taylor and lost 8–10.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

• Winner: £95,000
• Runner-up: £57,000
• Semi-final: £28,000
• Quarter-final: £14,250
• Last 16: £7,125
• Last 32: £4,007.81
• Last 48: £3117.19
• Last 64: £1632.81

• Stage one highest break: £2,375
• Stage two highest break: £9,500

• Stage two maximum break: £90,000

• Total: £475,000

Main draw

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

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 31 frames

16 April

Steve Davis (1)

10

21 & 22 April

John Virgo

8

Steve Davis (1)

13

16 & 17 April

Mike Hallett (16)

1

Mike Hallett (16)

10

26 & 27 April

Bob Chaperon

2

Steve Davis (1)

13

17 & 18 April

Tony Drago

3

Alex Higgins (9)

2

22 & 23 April

Tony Drago

10

Tony Drago

13

17 & 18 April

Dennis Taylor (8)

5

Dennis Taylor (8)

10

28, 29 & 30 April

Bill Werbeniuk

8

Steve Davis (1)

16

18 & 19 April

Cliff Thorburn (4)

8

Joe Johnson (5)

10

23, 24 & 25 April

Cliff Wilson

7

Joe Johnson (5)

9

19 & 20 April

Steve James

13

Rex Williams (12)

6

26 & 27 April

Steve James

10

Steve James

11

19 & 20 April

Cliff Thorburn (4)

13

John Parrott (13)

10

24 & 25 April

Warren King

4

John Parrott (13)

10

20 & 21 April

Cliff Thorburn (4)

13

Cliff Thorburn (4)

10

Kirk Stevens

6

20 & 21 April

Neal Foulds (3)

10

24 & 25 April

Wayne Jones

7

Neal Foulds (3)

13

20 April

Doug Mountjoy (14)

1

Doug Mountjoy (14)

10

26 & 27 April

Barry West

6

Neal Foulds (3)

9

19 April

Terry Griffiths (6)

13

Willie Thorne (11)

10

23, 24 & 25

Peter Francisco

6

Willie Thorne (11)

9

18 & 19 April

Terry Griffiths (6)

13

Terry Griffiths (6)

10

28, 29 & 30 April

Steve Longworth

6

Terry Griffiths (6)

16

17 & 18 April

Jimmy White (2)

11

Tony Knowles (7)

10

22 & 23 April

Danny Fowler

7

Tony Knowles (7)

13

17 & 18 April

Eddie Charlton

7

Silvino Francisco (10)

7

26 & 27 April

Eddie Charlton

10

Tony Knowles (7)

6

16 & 17 April

Jimmy White (2)

13

Dean Reynolds (15)

6

21, 22 & 23 April

Stephen Hendry

10

Stephen Hendry

12

16 April

Jimmy White (2)

13

Jimmy White (2)

10

John Campbell

3

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 1 & 2 May 1988. Referee: John Williams
Steve Davis (1) England	18 – 11	Terry Griffiths (6) Wales
46–71, 53–52, 64–21, 76–25, 80–22, 78–0, 1–86, 56–60, 83–6, 81–0, 22–79, 9–82, 60–63, 61–70, 67–9, 8–111, 60–53, 56–33, 74–8, 10–68, 70–9, 79–31, 9–78, 92–41, 70–46, 118–4, 28–87, 123–1, 66–35	Century breaks: 2 (Davis 2) Highest break by Davis: 123 Highest break by Griffiths: 65	46–71, 53–52, 64–21, 76–25, 80–22, 78–0, 1–86, 56–60, 83–6, 81–0, 22–79, 9–82, 60–63, 61–70, 67–9, 8–111, 60–53, 56–33, 74–8, 10–68, 70–9, 79–31, 9–78, 92–41, 70–46, 118–4, 28–87, 123–1, 66–35
Steve Davis wins the 1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 18 century breaks in the championship, the highest of the tournament was 140 made by Steve James. James' performance at the championship earned him the Snooker Writers Association's Achievement of the Year award. The highest break of the qualifying stage was 141 made by Billy Kelly.

• 140, 112, 104, 103 Steve James
• 125, 108, 101 Stephen Hendry
• 124 Tony Knowles
• 123, 118, 106, 104 Steve Davis
• 119 Jimmy White
• 114, 101 Terry Griffiths
• 109, 105 Silvino Francisco
• 102 Neal Foulds