This was the 26th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, marking the 25th anniversary of the first staging of the event at this venue.

Peter Ebdon won his only world title by defeating seven-time winner Stephen Hendry 18–17 in the final.

Hendry made 16 centuries during the event, a record for any individual tournament, equalled by Mark Williams in 2022.

[3] In the modern era it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

[a][3][5][6] The championship featured 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single elimination format, each played over several frames.

The 32 competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the world snooker rankings and a pre-tournament qualification stage.

[7] Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, the final match being held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England.

[15] The tournament featured a prize fund of £1,615,770 with the winner receiving £260,000 and bonuses for completing a maximum break.

The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[18] The first round was played as the best-of-19 frames matches, held over two sessions.

The defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's opening match against Drew Henry was delayed for 25 minutes due to a problem with the scoreboard.

[20] Seven-time winner Stephen Hendry recorded a break of 130 in frame three of his match with Shaun Murphy and led 6–3 at the end of their first session.

[21][22][23] Stuart Bingham narrowly missed out on a maximum break during his match against Ken Doherty, failing to pot the pink ball.

[26] Peter Ebdon led Michael Judge 5–4 at the end of their first session then took five frames in a row to win 10–4.

[27] Dominic Dale, who had been ill with food poisoning in the days before his match with Jimmy White, accused White of making a push shot,[28] pretended to go to sleep in his chair during the final frame, and after losing 2–10, snapped his own cue stick and threw it out of his dressing-room window.

[29][30] This match and the contest between Hunter and Hann which were being played simultaneously, were interrupted by a streaker wearing a Sven-Göran Eriksson mask.

[40] Hamilton had been defeated by Williams in the final of the China Open earlier in the season, despite being ahead by three frames.

During his second session match again Lee, O'Sullivan missed a shot on the blue ball, throwing his cue stick in the air in frustration.

[49] He commented "the most satisfying thing for me to send Stephen Hendry back home to Scotland",[43] and that "there is not a lot of respect there at all".

[55][56] Hendry made a strong start to the final session, taking the lead for the first time with breaks of 63, 55 and 38, to put him 14–12 ahead.

[56][55] Poised to win the championship, Ebdon was 52–27 up in frame 34 when he missed a straight pot on the black on its spot, allowing Hendry to clear the colours and level the match at 17–17.

[40][56] Then, with just three reds remaining on the table,[58] Hendry potted the cue ball while attempting to play a snooker, giving Ebdon his chance to take the frame and win the match 18–17.

[40][59] With his win, Ebdon received a cheque for £260,000 and moved up to third place in the end-of-season world rankings (behind O'Sullivan and Williams).

[58] Hendry ultimately blamed his defeat on nerves and poor concentration, but also conceded that Ebdon was a stronger player than he had been in their previous world final encounter in 1996.

[16] Willie Thorne, in his 27th world championship, lost in the seventh round of amateur pre-qualifying to Stephen Croft.

During her fifth-round defeat, Kelly Fisher became the first female player to compile a century break at the World Championship, making a 106.

1986 Champion Joe Johnson was 4–1 ahead of Ricky Walden but then lost a contact lens and, with impaired vision, ended the first session 4–5 behind.

[46] Hendry's 16 century breaks made during the tournament bettered the previous record total of 14 set by John Higgins in 1998.