The format for the week is the much longer best-of-11 frames, compared to some of the recent best-of-7 dominated tournaments, up until the semi-finals which are played on Friday and Saturday over the best-of-17 frames before the best-of-19 frames final.
As always there is a wildcard round, with four Chinese wildcards and Ian Burns, Ross Muir, Wang Yuchen and Tian Pengfei are the unlucky professionals who have been drawn to face the four wildcard players. This weeks notable absentees are Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins, who both lost in the Last 128 round that was played in Preston in September. Kyren Wilson meanwhile failed to enter for whatever reason, but other than that we have a top field again for this week.
This will be the fifth staging of the International Championship, with Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and Ricky Walden being the other former winners that join defending champion Higgins this week, though this will only be the second year it has been held in Daqing.
For viewers in the UK there is a 7 hour time difference that will then stretch to 8 hours for the final, when the clocks go back on Saturday 28th October. The event will be covered in full on Eurosport.
Quarter 1
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
John Higgins/Sydney Wilson Vs Eden Sharav
Jimmy Robertson Vs Jak Jones
Martin Gould Vs Mark Joyce
Anthony McGill Vs Zhou Yuelong
Matthew Stevens Vs Chris Wakelin
Ding Junhui/Mitchell Mann Vs David Grace
Graeme Dott Vs Fergal O'Brien
Ricky Walden Vs Ken Doherty
Quarter one has three of the four champions in the International Championship history including Ricky Walden who has not had the best season to this point with just a quarter-final in last weeks English Open to cheer about after a few poor results. As well as Walden there is Ding Junhui who won the Shanghai Masters back in September and looks to be back to his best. Over the long format I would very much expect Ding to be a big threat and a contender for the title. Don't forget Indian Open winner Anthony McGill who has had an excellent season so far and is another big threat over the longer format. Chris Wakelin showed what he could do at the English Open in Manchester by beating McGill and Ronnie O'Sullivan on the way to the quarter-finals, while Jimmy Robertson and Martin Gould could also be dangerous players.
My opening quarter choice though is defending champion John Higgins. I have picked out Higgins to win his quarter in the European Masters and English Open and in both tournaments he lost out in the quarter-finals. He is the defending champion this week and his form has been pretty good through the first part of the season without yet really challenging for a title, but over the long format he really should be a major threat one again in Daqing.
My opening quarter choice though is defending champion John Higgins. I have picked out Higgins to win his quarter in the European Masters and English Open and in both tournaments he lost out in the quarter-finals. He is the defending champion this week and his form has been pretty good through the first part of the season without yet really challenging for a title, but over the long format he really should be a major threat one again in Daqing.
Quarter Choice: John Higgins
Quarter 2
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Judd Trump Vs Ian Burns/Yuan Sijun
Tom Ford Vs Zhao Xintong
Mark Williams Vs Wang Yuchen/Xu Si
David Gilbert Vs James Wattana
Michael White Vs Sam Baird
Marco Fu Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Mike Dunn Vs Yan Bingtao
Shaun Murphy Vs Robin Hull
The second quarter is where we find the other former International champion in form man Judd Trump, the way Trump has been going, winning the European Masters and making the English Open final, it's hard not to see him making the latter stages once again in China. Meanwhile, Mark Williams has struggled for form lately with a few early exits in the European and Shanghai Masters, while Shaun Murphy has also not been at his best in the last few tournaments with Last 32 exits in the Shanghai and European Masters and a Last 64 exit to eventual champion Liang Wenbo in the English Open. Last year's runner-up David Gilbert could be a sleeper in the draw having had another couple of decent results this season so far, while Tom Ford has reached the Last 16 in both the English Open and European Masters so he too could be a dark horse.
My quarter choice here is another former runner-up however in Marco Fu. Fu has not had the best of starts to the season but on the whole his form is usually fairly hit and miss. However, in the four stagings of the International Championship he has made three quarter-finals as well as being a runner-up in 2013. Fu also reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championships in the last couple of years, and the World Championship semi-finals back in April so it seems that he really thrives in some of these longer matches. With Fu's record in the International and the fact that he is certainly due a run in a big tournament this season he is my second quarter choice.
Quarter Choice: Marco Fu
Quarter 3
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Ross Muir/Zhang Jiankang
Luca Brecel Vs Dominic Dale
Ali Carter Vs Robbie Williams
Stephen Maguire Vs Rod Lawler
Matt Selt Vs Kurt Maflin
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Xiao Guodong
Michael Holt Vs Jamie Jones
Stuart Carrington Vs Daniel Wells
The third quarter is where we find World Open champion Ali Carter who could meet Stuart Bingham once again in the Last 16 of this one. Carter was knocked out in the Last 32 in both the English Open and European Masters and he could face a very tough Last 32 match here. Bingham has been in decent form with semi-finals in the Shanghai Masters and the English Open so he will be hoping to carry that on in Daqing. Stephen Maguire will want to pick up from his last China trip when he too was a semi-finalist in the Shanghai Masters, looking in fantastic form there but he has not replicated this since. Matt Selt was impressive in beating Joe Perry in the first round of the English Open, but then lost in the Last 64 to Anthony Hamilton and has not looked at his best this year consistently. However, Selt did win the event in China last year that very few pro's knew anything about. Xiao Guodong was impressive when I saw him in Manchester, and he battered Michael Holt there in round one, though Holt has also looked good this year so far. Either one of those two players could be dark horses in the draw.
However, my selection in this section is the one and only Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan lost in the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters in his first event back this season before flying to the final of the European Masters before losing out in a decider to Trump. He then lost out narrowly in the Last 32 of the English Open but having played his way into the season I think O'Sullivan will be ready for a big title winning performance very soon. The longer format matches should suit O'Sullivan and all of the other very top players this week, rather than the best-of-7 of recent times, and he should be inspired by the fact that this is one of the bigger tournaments on the circuit now and he is yet to win it.
However, my selection in this section is the one and only Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan lost in the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters in his first event back this season before flying to the final of the European Masters before losing out in a decider to Trump. He then lost out narrowly in the Last 32 of the English Open but having played his way into the season I think O'Sullivan will be ready for a big title winning performance very soon. The longer format matches should suit O'Sullivan and all of the other very top players this week, rather than the best-of-7 of recent times, and he should be inspired by the fact that this is one of the bigger tournaments on the circuit now and he is yet to win it.
Quarter Choice: Ronnie O'Sullivan
Quarter 4
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Oliver Lines
Gary Wilson Vs Anthony Hamilton
Joe Perry Vs Andrew Higginson
Ryan Day Vs Aditya Mehta
Liang Wenbo/Mei Xiwen Vs Tian Pengfei/Chen Zifan
Li Hang Vs Lee Walker
Mark King Vs John Astley
Mark Selby/Paul Davison Vs Alfie Burden
As with all of the others the final quarter in the draw is packed with talent. Liang Wenbo won his first ranking event at the English Open and with this new found confidence, he will be very hard to stop in Daqing and he showed last year in the UK Championships that he can do it over the best-of-11 frames longer matches. World Champion Mark Selby dropped off a bit in the English Open after reaching the European Masters semi-finals and Shanghai Masters final, but again over a longer format he should be able to get some results and he will be looking to go one better than his semi-finals efforts last year. Joe Perry has also been a finalist in China this season, but since the World Open in the summer he has not produced anything close to that form again with a first round exit at the Shanghai Masters, European Masters and English Open. Ryan Day reached yet another Last 16 in Manchester but once again failed to kick on, and with a lot of players from the "best player never to have won a ranking event" winning one this year, you have to ask now if Day ever will.
The fourth and final International Championship quarter selection is former finalist Neil Robertson. Robertson is a former finalist at the International Championship and his recent record in Chinese events has been a good one. Robertson has been in good form this season making the semi-finals of the World Open and the European Masters and winning the Riga Masters, and his draw for this week does look good for him to get into the event and really make a challenge for the title.
Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson
Winner Selection: Ronnie O'Sullivan
A tough week to call given that this is the first longer format event of the season with the best-of-11 frames matches. In terms of scheduling, Sunday and Monday see the Last 64 completed as well as the heldover and wildcard games, Tuesday is the Last 32 before Wednesday's Last 16 and Thursday's quarter-finals. The two session semi-finals are played with one match on Friday and the other on Saturday before the final on Sunday 30th October.
Meanwhile, you can still view my combined Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten blog here:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/international-championship-stat-attack.html
I hope to have a few updates on the blog through the International, before the build-up will again begin for the China Championships which start just a couple of days after things draw to a close in Daqing.
Meanwhile, you can still view my combined Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten blog here:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/international-championship-stat-attack.html
I hope to have a few updates on the blog through the International, before the build-up will again begin for the China Championships which start just a couple of days after things draw to a close in Daqing.
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