John Higgins was the defending champion who had won his second championship the previous year, defeating Mark Selby in the final 18–13.

[1] Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India,[2] the sport was popular in Great Britain.

[3] In modern times it has been played worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

[6] The 32 players were selected for the event using the snooker world rankings and a pre-tournament qualification competition.

[10][11] Scotsman John Higgins was the defending champion, having defeated Mark Selby 18–13 in the previous years final.

[6] Three players were making their debuts at the event; Jamie Cope,[23] Liu Chuang[24] and Liang Wenbo.

The defeat caused Doherty to drop out of the top 16 of the World Rankings for the first time since the 1992/93 season.

[28] Ronnie O'Sullivan made a maximum break against Mark Williams in the final frame of his 13–7 win.

[30] Hendry reached the quarter-finals for the seventeenth time in his career, after a 13–7 win over Ding Junhui.

[6] Leading at 12–10, Liang Wenbo punched the air in celebration as he potted match ball.

After the match, Swail complained bitterly that in the final frame the referee had incorrectly replaced the cue ball after calling a miss, giving Liang an easier escape from a snooker, and accused Liang of unprofessional conduct for not pointing out the referee's mistake.

[34] Hendry reached the 12th Crucible semi-final of his career after a 13–7 win over Day, setting a record for one-table appearances that still stands.

[35] Wenbo was the first player from mainland China to reach the quarter-finals of the world championships, but lost 7–13 to O'Sullivan.

[18] Both men were English for the first time since the 1991 event, when John Parrott defeated Jimmy White 18–11.

[40][42] In post-match interviews, both players admitted to not having played particularly well, with O'Sullivan commenting "Ali and I are disappointed not to put on a better performance".

The final round of qualifying took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between 7 and 10 March.