Selby lost 11–13 in the second round to event debutant Anthony McGill, and became the 16th first-time champion unable to defend his title at the venue.

[1] Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India,[2] the sport was originally played in the United Kingdom.

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

[4] The world championship sees professional players compete in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each played over several frames.

The player participating in the championship are selected through a mix of the snooker world rankings, and a pre-tournament qualification round.

[5][6] The first world championship in 1927 was won by Joe Davis, the final being held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England.

[9] 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.

[10][11] Englishman Mark Selby had won the previous year's championship by defeating fellow countryman Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final 18–14.

[6] This was the 39th consecutive year that the tournament had been held at the Crucible, and it was the 47th successive world championship to be contested through the knockout format after reverting from a challenge match system in the 1960s.

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[13][22] The event featured 144 participants, 128 competing in qualifying alongside 16 invited players.

[23] The top 16 seeds automatically qualified for the main draw based on the snooker world rankings before the tournament.

[25] Davis became the first player to compete in a total of 100 World Championship matches, including qualifiers, as he lost 1–10 to Kurt Maflin.

[33] First-round debutants at the championship were England's Craig Steadman,[34] and Stuart Carrington,[35] Scotland's Anthony McGill,[36] and Norway's Kurt Maflin.

[41] Carter, who had missed the first five months of the season after extensive treatment for cancer,[42] won his match 10–5 against Alan McManus.

Murphy, who declared that he was planning to take an attacking approach to matches, as he had in winning the 2005 tournament, won 10–3 against Hull.

Robbie Williams led 5–4 against Stuart Bingham after their first session, which featured breaks over 50 in each of the frames, but lost 7–10.

He later won the match 13–9, making Selby the 16th first-time champion who failed to defend his title since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977, succumbing to what has become known as the 'Crucible curse'.

Three of the other four-second round matches ended with 13–5 wins for O'Sullivan over Matthew Stevens, Murphy over Perry, and Robertson over Carter.

[48] Murphy led the last remaining qualifier McGill 9–7, and won four of the next five to win 13–8 and reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2009.

[49] A controversial incident occurred in the fifth frame of the match, when O'Sullivan placed his chalk on the table and used it to line up a shot.

Referee Terry Camilleri did not penalise O'Sullivan, even though the rules of snooker call for a seven-point foul if a player uses an object to measure gaps or distances.

He was also the first Belgian to take charge of a World Championship final, and the second referee from continental Europe to do so, after Jan Verhaas.

[61] To open the final, Murphy took a 3–0 lead, but Bingham fought back to end the session all-square at 4–4.

[73][74] † = Winner of frame The three qualifying rounds took place between 8 and 15 April 2015 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England.

[78] For every century break made during the 17-day championship in Sheffield, the title sponsor, Betfred, pledged to donate £200 to World Snooker's official charity, the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice; in line with the sponsor's declaration, the donation was rounded up to £25,000 as at least 70 centuries were achieved.