Geography lesson over and back to the snooker, I've already mentioned the big money prize at the end of the week for the winner, and that also ties in with the longer format for this event, a format that is even longer than the UK Championship these days. Matches are best-of-11 for the early rounds, and then move to best-of-17 for the semi-finals (which was scrapped from the UK's in 2014) and best-of-19 frames for the final. With the UK Championship only just over a month away itself it will be good to watch events this week and start to get into the spirit of the heavy snooker period to come ahead of the first triple crown event of the season.
Of course, the Last 128 round was played in Barnsley, other than the matches of defending champion Ricky Walden Vs Tian Pengfei, World Champion Stuart Bingham Vs Steven Hallworth, and the top two Chinese players Ding Junhui (who will play amateur Sam Craigie) and Liang Wenbo (who will play amateur Alex Taubman). That all came after Mark Selby and Ding Junhui (world champion and China's No.1 at the time respectively) failed to make it to the venue. However, this year Judd Trump has failed to qualify after losing 6-0 to Michael Wild in the qualifying round. Stephen Maguire also fell in the Last 128 to Noppon Saenghkham 6-2 as the Scot's struggles continue. Robert Milkins won't be repeating his semi-final appearance of Chengdu last year, having lost in the Last 128 round also, 6-4 to Darryl Hill.
There is also the unfortunate wildcard round for the four victims who have been drawn at random to play in that and they are Daniel Wells, Ken Doherty, Noppon Saengkham and Aditya Mehta and their wildcard opponents don't look like particularly easy ones either so that will be tough going for those 4.
The whole week of snooker will be broadcast as usual on Eurosport and i'm really looking forward to watching unfold over the upcoming 8 days, so here's a look at the draw, my views on the players involved and some predictions:
Quarter 1
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Ricky Walden/Tian Pengfei Vs Cao Yupeng
Liang Wenbo/Alex Taubman Vs Andrew Higginson
Kyren Wilson Vs Jamie Cope
Mark Allen Vs Joe Swail
Mark Williams Vs Ian Burns
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Ross Muir
Martin Gould Vs Zhou Yuelong
Sanderson Lam Vs Michael Wild
This is one of the most interesting quarters of the draw as we have not only the defending champion from last year Ricky Walden, but Mark Allen who lost 10-7 to Ricky in the final and Mark Williams who lost 9-8 to Mark Allen in last years semi-finals, in my favourite match of 2014. Also, we have recent Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson and Australian Open runner-up Martin Gould all present in this section of the draw.
First off, Martin Gould will feel like he has a good chance this week of going well yet again. A final appearance in the Australian Open was joined by a quarter-final at the Shanghai Masters, which should've been more after Stuart Bingham won all of the last 3 frames to come back from 4-2 down. It feels as if Martin is really ready to break through and kick on, having had his prior taste of being a top 16 player, and he certainly has the potential to be a tournament winner. Perhaps not an event such as this, but maybe something like the Shanghai Masters like Kyren Wilson or the Australian Open which he came so close to finishing off this year. Although, having said that it wouldn't take much for this draw to open up and a door to open for Martin to go really deep this week.
Ricky Walden has had an up and down time of things this season. This is mainly due to the birth of his first child. The birth came around the time of the Shanghai Masters which meant he withdrew from the event, while in the European Tour events his focus has understandably been elsewhere. A first round exit in the Paul Hunter Classic came right at the time of the due date, while the Ruhr Open was the first event since the birth. Although, he did choose to play at the Asian Tour event which has been going on this week and he was the runner-up to Ding Junhui there having led 3-1 in the final. So the signs are there that he'll be ready to go and defend his title this week in Daqing, but if he does get a couple of wins together he may begin to feel homesick, with this already becoming his longest period away from home since the birth.
Mark Williams has been showing signs in recent times that he could be about to re-enter the winners circle, but at the moment he just isn't managing that final burst at the back end of events. Quarter-final appearances in the Ruhr Open, Shanghai Masters and Paul Hunter Classic are all well and good but they aren't getting him the silverware that he is still well capable of winning. The fact that he came within a frame of winning the Players Championship, losing from 3-0 up in the final to Joe Perry just indicates that he could still easily go out and win an event, and he was only a frame from making the final of this event last year. A place in the champion of champions for the winner of this event may be the inspiration he needs to go out and win the £125,000 top prize this week, as I know that is something that his personal trainer Steve is eyeing. Even with the results from his season so far that I've mentioned with a few quarter-finals, he still may not even be 100% with the shoulder he had an operation on in July, although the signs in Mulheim and Shanghai were that he's not feeling too much pain so it's time to kick on. To compare his form to that of a batsman in Cricket, Williams keeps getting decent innings in the 50's, 60's and 70's but really needs that one innings where he scores a big century for everyone to take notice, and maybe this week will be his week to get that "big score".
Mark Allen was the runner-up here to Ricky Walden last year, and like Ricky, he appears to play better in China than anywhere else in the world. His two ranking titles both came in the same Chinese event in consecutive years, while last season he reached the final in Shanghai as well as Chengdu. He's not had the worst start to the season either making the Last 16 of two out of three European Tour events as well as making the semi's in Shanghai so I think he's gearing up for a really big run for what would really be the first time since this event a year ago, and how close he came there to victory will spur him on to go one better this year. Allen is definitely a title contender this week in Daqing, and I must say that i'm expecting big things from the Northern Irishman.
Quarter Winner: Mark Allen
Quarter 2
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Barry Hawkins Vs Chris Wakelin
Jimmy Robertson Vs Darryl Hill
Ali Carter Vs Jack Lisowski
Marco Fu Vs Matthew Stevens
Oliver Lines Vs Noppon Saengkham/Lin Shuai
Xiao Guodong Vs David Gilbert
Ryan Day Vs Mark Joyce
Ding Junhui/Sam Craigie Vs Craig Steadman
In the other section making up the top half of the draw we find Riga Open champion Barry Hawkins and Paul Hunter Classic champion Ali Carter. As well as this we have the two 2013 finallists who have a lot of money to defend and they are Ding Junhui and Marco Fu.
Ali Carter has had a good start to the season by winning the Paul Hunter Classic at the back end of August, and this is only his second trip out to China for a competition since the General Cup in Hong Kong a year ago (which he also won), with the other being his 5-4 first round loss to Kurt Maflin in the China Open so it could go either way for Ali this week. Jack Lisowski is his first round opponent in Daqing and certain people have already begun to see subtle changes and improvements in Jack's game since he started working with Terry Griffiths at the start of the season. He was said to be much more defensive in his qualifying match for this against Hossein Vafei Ayouri who I actually thought would give him a really close game, but that was not the case. Carter's win in Furth is also only one step towards getting back to where he needs to be and he needs to continue producing that, but it's not that easy and he'll know that, so we can't expect massive things from him every single week.
Marco Fu may have been the runner-up at the International two years ago, but his recent form has been nothing short of woeful. If he doesn't start stepping up soon his place in the top 16 is in real jeopardy and the only way for him will be down the rankings. His loss to Mike Dunn in the Shanghai Masters made it two first round exits in two years at that event, while in the European Tour events he's failed to get past the opening day of three matches. Even this week in the Asian Tour event he showed signs of improvement but still couldn't go any further than the Last 16, and even then he was lucky to get that far. If the man from Hong Kong is to get anywhere close to repeating his form of two years ago, a drastic improvement in form will be needed.
Ding Junhui will be much happier and have improved confidence after his victory in the Haining Open event this week. Even if many top players weren't present and the only time he had to play a top player was in the final (which he won from 3-1 behind) it's still a confidence booster as he enters an important part of his season and career. After his performances of two years ago, he is provisionally set to drop in the seedings list from third, to eighth in the list even with his Asian Tour title. He also has the tough task of keeping his energy levels up after a big week in Haining, as he must now fly to Daqing ready to play just 48 hours after finishing the final with Walden. The fact that his Last 128 match has been held over also means that Ding must play that on Sunday, and his Last 64 game on Monday, so to get out of this quarter he'll have to play 5 best-of-11 matches in 5 days, which is very unusual for one of these Chinese events. Craig Steadman in the Last 64 will be no pushover and amateur Sam Craigie could well push him after some decent showings in the Ruhr Open himself (leading Shaun Murphy 2-0 at one stage). Then if Ryan Day could beat Mark Joyce, he would be Ding's Last 32 opponent if he can get through those first two games, and his games with Day are always very tough. So, by no means is it going to be easy if Ding is to repeat his feat of two years ago.
Barry Hawkins is one man that, despite his win in the first European Tour event, has still somewhat been under the radar this season. In the recent Ruhr Open he made the quarter-finals before losing to David Gilbert so he's playing pretty solid stuff so far. His Shanghai Masters 5-1 first round exit to Martin Gould appeared to be a temporary blip as he really just did not show up at all, and that could have been caused by any number of things. Barry usually does well when the format of matches is increased, and of course this is the first tournament of best-of-11's since his embarrassing loss from -0 ahead in last year's UK Championship so he'll be looking to right some wrongs there. All things considered Barry is solid player who quietly goes about his business and I don't think this week will be any different, which certainly makes him a contender for the crown next Sunday.
Quarter Winner: Barry Hawkins
Quarter 3
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Mark Selby Vs Mike Dunn
Anthony McGill Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Lee Walker Vs Daniel Wells/Fang Xiongman
Michael White Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Graeme Dott Vs Jamie Burnett
Peter Ebdon Vs Ken Doherty/Chen Zifan
Fergal O'Brien Vs Tom Ford
Neil Robertson Vs Martin O'Donnell
Onto the bottom half of the draw and this looks like one of the most intriguing quarters of the draw on the surface. It features 2012 runner-up Neil Robertson as well as number one in the rankings Mark Selby. Graeme Dott has money to defend after his run to the 2013 semi-finals, while Michael White will be looking to get his season going again. Possible underdogs in this section of the draw are "veterans" Fergal O'Brien and Peter Ebdon the latter of whom made the semi's of this event in 2012 and the quarters in 2013.
As I mentioned Peter Ebdon has a pretty good record at the International Championship, and all over China really as a former champion of the China Open. He seems to adjust well to conditions in Asia and often has runs from the outside in these Chinese events as he proved in 2012 and 2013 and the draw this week doesn't set up horribly for him. A likely first round match against Ken Doherty he'd probably be favourite for, and he wouldn't have to meet a full top 16 player until the last 16 (with Dott ranking 17th) and even then, Neil Robertson has been struggling a lot this season so you never know with Peter.
Michael White is another player who has been shaky at the start of the season. He was beaten heavily in the first round of the Shanghai Masters, and is yet to impress too much on the European Tour either. In fact he's not as yet managed to kick on and move forward from his Indian Open victory in March. His draw for the first couple of rounds could be tougher but he'll still need to be on top of his game to progress in this tournament. Especially with a possible Last 16 meeting with Mark Selby. It was even a struggle to qualify for White in fact as his game with Alfie Burden went right down to the wire and he was lucky to get over the line. That could be a good sign for White as he looks for his fortunes to change or it may just be another indicator that there's room for improvement.
It's not at all harsh to say that Neil Robertson has struggled horrendously this season and comes into this event with absolutely no form. The only match he's won this season was his qualifier for the main stages of this event, and even then he had to come from 3-1 down to beat amateur Kuldesh Johal. He's only entered one of the European Tour events so isn't incredibly match sharp as yet either, and that was at the Ruhr Open where he lost 4-3 against James Cahill. 5-4 losses at the Shanghai Masters to Jamie Cope and the Australian Open to Matt Selt show exactly why improvement is needed. For fear of sounding like a broken record, his game hasn't quite been the same since his 10-2 loss in January's Masters final, and that could be down to a number of things. If you look too much into his Twitter feed you'll see that he likes to spend the majority of his time playing video games, and watching various series of programming on the Television. I don't want to point to that reason as the one for his poor form in recent months, but his season is already becoming reminiscent to that of the one Ding Junhui went through last year. Not playing many European Tour events led to early exits through lack of match practice and preparation, and those confidence denting losses just helped to continue the spiral. The Australian is far too good a player not to come out the other side of this snookering slump, but there could be a lot of time left to run in this monologue before that happens.
Someone else who falls into the Ricky Walden category of having a "stop-start" season is Mark Selby. Due to family bereavement he withdrew from the Shanghai Masters, though at the recent Ruhr Open I think he showed good signs that his best wasn't too far away losing out narrowly to Mark Williams in the Last 16 and the way the draw panned out that week, he easily could've gone on to win the whole event. Having not qualified for this event a year ago, he has a point to prove in some ways and will want to make up for that disappointment. Mark has always had a good record in China, and the International Championship is one of the few events where he hasn't reached at least a final in it's history, so that could well change this week also. In fact, Selby is one of the players you'd always like to be when playing in China. Whether he suffers from jet lag or not, or if the table conditions are not easy for playing fluent snooker, Selby is one of the best at adapting to that and grinding his way through a match. He doesn't necessarily have to play show stopping snooker to win an event, just keep battling and make the important contributions at the right time, which he has such a great knack of doing. When it comes to playing in Asia, Selby is always going to be a title contender.
Quarter Winner: Mark Selby
Quarter 4
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Shaun Murphy Vs Luca Brecel
Jamie Jones Vs Kurt Maflin
Michael Holt Vs Rod Lawler
John Higgins Vs Zhao Xintong
Joe Perry Vs Aditya Mehta/Wang Yuchen
Matt Selt Vs Dominic Dale
Ben Woollaston Vs Robbie Williams
Stuart Bingham/Steven Hallworth Vs Yu DeLu
The big name of course in the final section of the draw is world champion Stuart Bingham, while Masters champion Shaun Murphy will be in the hunt for something more like his 2012 International semi-final showing. The same could be said for Joe Perry who made the semi's in 2013 and has plenty of ranking money to defend on that front. Australian Open champion John Higgins will also hope for another good week, while guys like Matt Selt, Ben Woollaston and Michael Holt could make big runs from the outside this week.
Joe Perry has not exactly had his greatest ever start to a season at the beginning of this snooker campaign, but there's still loads of time for him to turn that around. In the Shanghai Masters he fell in the first round to Kyren Wilson, so in many ways there you could say he was unlucky with the draw. In the European Tour events it's also been a tale of struggles as he's not made it past the Last 32 of any of the three tournaments so far and that will disappoint him as the defending Players Champion. If anything spurs Joe into action this week it will be the thoughts of how much ranking money he has coming off by making it to the semi's of this event two years ago, and he needs to go deep this week to not do large amounts of damage. Joe is like many players in this draw who have had bad starts to the season, and you think it won't be long before they get going, but there's no way that they could all explode into life at once realistically. However, believing that they all work very hard to continually improve, then you'll never keep a hard working talent down for too long.
John Higgins may have won the Australian Open in the early stages of this campaign, but since then he hasn't really done all that much and gone back to some of the inconsistencies that have blighted the latest passage of his career. He didn't compete in the Ruhr Open, but did show up at the Asian Tour event, only to lose in the Last 16 after struggling past Chinese amateur players in the early stages of the event. He also suffered early exits in the two European Tour events that he did show up for and with such inconsistencies, a tough draw like the one he has been presented with in the early stages of this event doesn't bode well for his chances of running deep and picking up a large cheque.
Stuart Bingham again has had a very stop start season. I was very surprised to see him skip the Asian Tour event last week, as usually enters a high percentage of those and has an incredibly good record in them. Especially after the start he's had since becoming world champion, he could really have done with some confidence boosting wins, the likes of which Ding Junhui has picked up instead. Fergal O'Brien has twice seen him off coming from behind in the first round of both the Australian Open, and more recently in Mulheim. A first round exit was also suffered at the hands of John Higgins from 3-1 ahead in the Paul Hunter Classic. The fact that he has lost a number of matches from winning positions is almost as alarming as those early exits, and even though he showed signs of a little form on the way to the Shanghai Masters, large parts of the early rounds there were also a struggle and he was far from in full control of his game. He's also in that horrible position where he has a lot of matches coming thick and fast at the beginning of this tournament and he will have to play every day in the first 5 to reach the semi-finals. With so many hurdles to overcome early on, deep progression in this event will certainly not be a given for Bingham.
To start my little paragraph on the chances of Shaun Murphy this week, i'm going to do something that I wouldn't usually and that is to point out something that I saw in another preview on a website that I shall not name. When discussing Shaun they said that "every match seemed like a struggle" for him. As I've brought this up you know i'm going to have a strong opinion, and in my view I think that's total nonsense. Shaun has already reached one final in the early stages of this season at the Paul Hunter Classic, while Last 16 exits in the other two ET events are far from shocking displays either. They pointed to an early exit in the Australian Open as one example, but i'm sure Shaun wouldn't mind me saying that his preparation wasn't great for what would've been a very tough early season encounter with Ali Carter nonetheless. Shanghai was the only time I believed that he did struggle having to come from 4-1 down against Ebdon, before losing from 3-1 up to Mark Davis. However, that is a blip in an incredible 12 months for Murphy, and not a part of a trend. Shaun loves he events like this when the format is longer than what is the norm these days, and with a big money prize he considers this a big event and is fully charged up and ready to unleash himself on this tournament. Early exits in the 2013 ad 2014 stagings of this event gives himself something to improve upon and it would be foolish not to be putting Murphy on your list of potential winners this week.
Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy
Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Barry Hawkins
Predicted Tournament Winner: Mark Selby
A very exciting looking event is in prospect here over a little longer format, as the players enjoy these types of events more and will be well aware of the money on offer to the winner and the coveted places in the Champion of Champions next month and the World Grand Prix in March.
I hope you've all enjoyed my preview and will also enjoy the coverage of the event. I'll be back throughout the week here on the blog with updates and views both forward on back on the action we've seen and what lies ahead.
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