A qualifying tournament was held from 8 to 16 April 2014 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield for 16 players, who met 16 seeded participants at the main championships.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, having won the previous year's event by defeating Barry Hawkins in the final.

[1][2][3] The first World Snooker Championship took place in 1927, with the final held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England, and the title was won by Joe Davis.

[6] As of 2022[update], Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan are the event's most successful participants in the modern era, having both won the championship seven times.

[16] Two-time champion Mark Williams lost to Alan McManus in the final qualifying round 8–10 and failed to play at the main championship for the first time since 1996.

[17] Three Welshmen, Dominic Dale, Michael White, and Ryan Day, won places in the first round through qualification.

[25][26] At the age of 44, 1997 champion Ken Doherty defeated Dechawat Poomjaeng 10–5 in qualifying to become the oldest player to reach the main stage.

[27][28] Kyren Wilson,[29] Michael Wasley,[30] Xiao Guodong, and Robbie Williams all made their debuts in the competition by coming through qualifying.

[33] Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan drew world number 122 Robin Hull in the first round,[34][35] and won 10–4.

[41][42] Fourth seed Ding Junhui had previously won five ranking events in the season, a record he jointly held with Stephen Hendry.

[43] In his first round match he was defeated 9–10 by debutant Michael Wasley, and so failed to set a new record for tournament wins in a season.

[43][44] Ken Doherty won the last seven frames of his match against sixth seed Stuart Bingham to win 10–5, recording his first victory at the event since 2006.

[51] During the first round, a "Ladies' Day" at the tournament featured events designed to encourage greater female participation in the sport.

[72] Neil Robertson trailed Judd Trump 2–6 after the first session, and 6–9 after the second, before he won seven of the last nine frames to win the match 13–11.

[84] During the match, Robertson extended his century break record to 103,[85] but his defeat meant that he lost his world number one position.

[86] The final was played on the 4 and 5 May 2014 between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby as best-of-35 frames, held over four sessions and was refereed by Brendan Moore.

[91] He then won three of the first four frames of the evening session, extending his lead to 15–12 at the mid-session interval, before winning the final 18–14 to capture his first world title.

[92] This was Selby's fourth ranking title, and made him the ninth player to win all three Triple Crown events,[91] reinstating him as the world number one.

[94] The draw for the first round took place on 17 April 2014, one day after the qualifying, and was broadcast live on World Snooker's YouTube channel at 12 pm BST.

[97][98][99] The qualifying rounds 1–3 for the tournament took place between 8 and 13 April 2014 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England.

[42] For every century break made during the main tournament, Dafabet, donated £100 to the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice.