This was the 27th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, marking the 26th anniversary of the first staging of the event at this venue.

Mark Williams won his second World Championship title by defeating Ken Doherty 18–16 in the final.

Having won the UK Championship and the Masters earlier in the season, Williams held all three Triple Crown titles simultaneously.

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

[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.

[14] The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[16][17] The opening round was played from 19 to 24 April as the best-of-19 frames, held over two sessions.

Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled a maximum break in his first-round match against Marco Fu, making him the first player to have scored two 147s at the venue.

[20] The number one seed Peter Ebdon won the opening match of the event, with a 10–3 victory over Gerard Greene.

Paul Hunter defeated the defending champion Peter Ebdon in a deciding frame 13–12.

[28] Having not reached a single final during his year as champion, Ebdon commented that "it's been a disappointing season".

A condensed version of the match was showcased on BBC Two on 28 April 2020 in place of the 2020 World Snooker Championship which was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In winning the event, Williams completed the Triple Crown, having also won the UK Championship and Masters in the season.

[44] The win allowed Williams to become world number one again, the first player to regain the position under the current ranking system and only the second overall after Ray Reardon.

The numbers in brackets represents players seeding, whilst those in bold denote match winners.