China Open (snooker)

Early years

The first international snooker tournament in China was the China Masters which has staged on three occasions in 1985, 1986 and 1996. The inaugural 1985 edition, held in Guangzhou, was the first professional tournament to be played in China, and featured the two 1985 World Snooker Championship finalists Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor, with Davis winning the final 2–1.^[1] The following season Davis again won the competition, this time defeating Terry Griffiths 3–0 in the final.^[2] A third tournament was held in 1996 for lower-ranked players; Rod Lawler won this tournament defeating Shokat Ali 6–3 in the final.^[3]

The event rebranded as the China International in September 1997, a non-ranking tournament for the top 16 players and local players. The following season the tournament became ranking and was held in March. Then the name of the event was changed to China Open and was held in December, so there were two events in 1999. After the 2002 tournament the event was abandoned.^[4]

2005-2019: Ding Junhui win and Beijing years

The event was revived for the 2004-05 snooker season. Local wild-card players were invited to play against the qualifiers. The three Chinese players on the tour were invited to play as wild-cards, rather than qualify the usual way. Ding Junhui was one of them, and he won the tournament, but as he entered as a wild-card, he received no prize money nor ranking points.^[4] The tournament win for Ding was later deemed as a major contributing factor to the rise in popularity of snooker in China.^[5][6] The tournament was also held annually since then, usually in early April as the last ranking event before the World Championship.

The tournament had largely stayed in Beijing, and since the 2018 edition it was held at the Olympic Sports Center in Chaoyang District. The 2020 edition was scheduled to take place, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be cancelled: the subsequent restrictions meant it was not staged through 2021, 2022 and 2023. Despite the COVID restrictions ending in China, the tournament did not get immediately restored to the calendar, with new events in Wuhan and Xi'an being staged in its place.

Current editions

During the 2026 World Snooker Championship, after several months of rumours and speculation, it was confirmed that the event would be returning to the tour from the 2026-27 snooker season and is expected to run until at least 2028.^[7][8] Rather than being played directly before the World Championship, it is played in mid-August and utilises a new format that directly copies the format of the ranking Triple Crown events, whereby the Top 16 are seeded through to the venue and 144 players (which includes wildcards and other invited non-professional players) playing in qualifiers to reach the venue. The prize fund of £1,205,000 also mirrors the latest edition of the UK Championship at the time, making it the third-highest earning ranking event on the snooker calendar.

Finalists

More information Rank, Name ...

Rank	Name	Nationality	Winner	Runner-up	Finals
1	Mark Selby	England	4	2	6
2	Mark Williams	Wales	3	2	5
3	Ding Junhui	China	2	1	3
	Neil Robertson	Australia	2	1	3
5	Ronnie O'Sullivan	England	2	0	2
	Peter Ebdon	England	2	0	2
	Judd Trump	England	2	0	2
8	Stephen Maguire	Scotland	1	1	2
9	Graeme Dott	Scotland	1	0	1
10	John Higgins	Scotland	0	2	2
11	Stephen Lee	England	0	1	1
	Anthony Hamilton	England	0	1	1
	Stephen Hendry	Scotland	0	1	1
	Jamie Cope	England	0	1	1
	Shaun Murphy	England	0	1	1
	Gary Wilson	England	0	1	1
	Ricky Walden	England	0	1	1
	Barry Hawkins	England	0	1	1
	Jack Lisowski	England	0	1	1
	Noppon Saengkham	Thailand	0	1	1

Close

Maximum breaks

• James Wattana (1997)
• Mehmet Husnu (1999 (qualifiers))
• Stephen Maguire (2008)
• Neil Robertson (2010)
• Judd Trump (2017)
• Ronnie O'Sullivan (2018)
• Stuart Bingham (2018, 2019)
• Michael Holt (2026 (qualifiers))