Joe Johnson the world number 16 defeated Davis 18–12 in the final to win his sole ranking event.

There were 20 century breaks compiled in total during the tournament, the highest of which was a 134 made by Davis in the opening frame of his quarter-final win.

[1] However, in the modern era, which started in 1969 when the World Championship reverted to a knockout format,[3] it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

[4][5][6] Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, hosted by the Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England.

These competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the snooker world rankings and the winners of a pre-tournament qualification stage.

[14] Joe O'Boye recorded the first century break of the qualifying rounds, compiling a 118 in his 8–10 defeat to Bill Oliver.

Veteran professional Bernard Bennett suffered the only whitewash of the first qualifying round, failing to win any frames against Sakchai Sim Ngam.

[14] Hendry became the youngest-ever qualifier for the Crucible stages at the time, by defeating Dene O'Kane 10–9, after having led 6–3.

[12][20] Defending champion Dennis Taylor, looking "jaded" according to Clive Everton, lost the first seven frames of his match against Mike Hallett, who ended the first session 8–1 ahead.

[29] The 16th seed Joe Johnson defeated Dave Martin 10–3 in the first round, his first win in three appearances at the World Championship.

[30] Three-time world champion Spencer made his final appearance at the tournament, losing 7–10 to Alex Higgins in the first round.

[31] Future seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry made his Crucible debut, losing 8–10 to Willie Thorne in the first round.

[26][32][33] Aged 17 years and 3 months, Hendry was the youngest player ever to compete at the World Snooker Championship.

[41] Joe Johnson led Mike Hallett 5–3 after their first session, on his way to completing a 13–6 win, making a break of 110 in frame 13.

[43][44] Steve Davis played Jimmy White in what was effectively a rematch of the 1984 World Snooker Championship final.

Davis made a break of 134 in the opening frame and played consistently well in securing a 13–5 victory, White having missed a number of relatively simple pots.

The match report in The Times stated that Thorne "was never allowed to play his usual fluent game.

Knowles led 1–0 and 2–1 but ended their first session 3–4 behind, having missed middle pocket pots to allow his opponent into both the sixth and seventh frames.

[47] Thorburn pulled ahead 9–8 and 10–9 in the third session before Davis made his fifth century break of the tournament, a 112, to tie the match at 10–10.

[26] In the final session, the crowd responded in favour of Johnson, who had played with an attacking style throughout the tournament.

[53] The popularity of Johnson's win resulted in an appearance on television show Wogan, as well as him accompanying Cliff Richard in a box to watch Wimbledon.

[53] The two players again met in the final at the following year's championship to contest the world title for a second time, Davis winning the match 18–14.

[26] A condensed version of the final was showcased on BBC Two on 22 April 2020 in place of the 2020 World Snooker Championship which had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

There were 20 century breaks in the main stage of the tournament, the highest amount at the World Snooker Championship until the 1991 event.