The defending champion was Steve Davis, who had previously won the World Championship five times.

[1] 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.

[10][11] These competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top 16 players in the snooker world rankings and the winners of a pre-tournament qualification stage.

[24] There were 126 participants in the qualifying competition, 16 of whom reached the main stage, where they met the 16 invited seeded players.

[14] Mannie Francisco, playing his first match in the United Kingdom since losing in the final of the 1972 World Amateur Snooker Championship, led Tony Wilson 5–4 after their first session, but was eliminated 6–10.

[25] Bill Werbeniuk had been due to return to competitive play after a six-month ban imposed by the WPBSA for his use of beta blockers, but did not appear for his match.

[28] Steve Duggan eliminated two former World Championship title-holders, Fred Davis and John Spencer.

[10] Another ex-champion, Alex Higgins, failed to qualify for the championship for the first time in his career, after he lost to Morgan.

[29][30] Higgins, the world number 17,[31] who had beaten four of the top seven players in the rankings on the way to victory at the 1989 Irish Masters on 2 April, was defeated 8–10 by Morgan the following day.

[32] Seven players qualified for the main event for the first time: Morgan, Wilkinson, Browne, O'Boye, Duggan, Steve Newbury, and David Roe.

[34] For the seventh time, Cliff Wilson failed to win a match at the Crucible, eliminated 1–10 by Steve Duggan.

[23] Stephen Hendry built a 4–0 lead over Gary Wilkinson, and led 6–3 as the second session commenced, but after missing several short-length pots during the match, won only in the deciding frame, 10–9.

[40] Charlton, aged 59 years and 169 days, became the second-oldest player to win a match at the World Championship, after Fred Davis in 1979.

[23] The match between White and Virgo saw White take a 5–3 lead from the first session,[36] and went to a deciding frame during which Virgo, leading by two points in the frame, announced that he had committed a foul by slightly touching a red ball with his cue stick.

[11][38][44] There was no television coverage of matches on 24 April due to strike action by the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance and the National Union of Journalists relating to a pay dispute.

[11] After trailing Davis 2–5 and 4–10 at the end of their first two sessions,[23] Hendry reduced his arrears to 6–10, and compiled a 68 break to lead by 51 in the 17th frame.

[50] In the final session, Hendry scored only eight points across three frames, while Davis made breaks of 63, 71, 54 and 40 to wrap up a 16–9 victory.

[55] Davis increased his advantage to 9–2 by winning the first four frames of the evening session on 30 April, recording breaks of 42, 37, 55 and 112, whilst Parrott potted only six balls, totalling 15 points.

[56] In the next frame, Davis missed potting the pink whilst using the rest, and Parrott made it 3–11 with a break of 68.

[56] During the last two frames of the first day, Parrott potted only one red as Davis extended his lead to 13–3, including breaks of 80 and 68.

[53] It was a third consecutive World Snooker Championship win for Davis,[57] and his sixth title, to equal Reardon's total since the competition was re-launched in 1969.

"[53] Davis remarked that "A month before the championship I wasn't playing well enough to beat players like Hendry and Parrott.

"[60] The two players occupied the top places in the 1989/1990 world rankings, calculated based on results from the previous two seasons; Davis retaining first position with 64 points, followed by Parrott on 48.

[62][63] In his 1989 book Snooker: Records, Facts and Champions, Ian Morrison wrote "Don't let the scoreline lead you to believe that Parrott did not do justice to the occasion.