Bingham lost 9–10 against Ali Carter in the first round, falling to the Crucible curse and becoming the 17th first-time champion unable to defend his title at the venue.

Alan McManus and Ding Junhui set a record in their semi-final for the most century breaks achieved in a professional match, scoring ten.

In the other semi-final, Englishman Mark Selby and Hongkonger Marco Fu set a record for the longest frame of snooker ever played at the Crucible, at 76 minutes 11 seconds.

After beating Robert Milkins 10–6, Sam Baird 13–11, Kyren Wilson 13–8, and Fu 17–15, Selby defeated Ding 18–14 in the final to claim his second World title, having won the 2014 event previously.

During the tournament, six-time champion Steve Davis played the last professional match of his 38-year career against Fergal O'Brien in the qualifier and announced his retirement during the first round of the event.

[a][4] The sport of snooker was founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India.

[5] The world championship sees 32 professional players compete in one-on-one snooker matches in a single elimination format, each played over several frames.

The 32 players for the event are selected through a mix of the world snooker rankings and pre-tournament qualification rounds.

[6][7] The first world championship was held in 1927 at Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England, and was won by Joe Davis.

[10][11] 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.

[12][13] The previous year's championship had been won by England's Stuart Bingham, who defeated Shaun Murphy in the final 18–15.

Six-time champion Davis lost 4–10 to Fergal O'Brien in the first round of qualifying,[24] and subsequently announced his retirement from the sport after 38 years as a professional.

[26] Former world number one Ding Junhui was no longer in the top 16 ranked players before the tournament, and had to qualify to the Crucible.

[29] Un-Nooh had also missed the last black in attempting a maximum break earlier in the season, in a match against Neil Robertson in the 2015 UK Championship.

[30] Hong Kong's Ng On-yee attempted to become the first woman ever to reach the main stage of the event; she lost 1–10 against Peter Lines in the first round of qualifying.

[33] Steve Davis announced his retirement on live television during the tournament's first weekend, before play began on the first Sunday afternoon.

The loss made Bingham the 17th player to succumb to the Crucible curse, as no first time defending champion won the event the following season.

[39] After his 10–7 victory over David Gilbert, Ronnie O'Sullivan refused to attend a post-match meeting with the press or talk to tournament broadcasters, and received a formal warning from World Snooker.

[28] Ding's 13–3 victory over Mark Williams saw him win the match with a session to spare to reach his second Crucible semi-final, after his first appearance in 2011.

[66] Ding's seven centuries equalled the record for the most by one player in any professional snooker match, set by Hendry in the 1994 UK Championship final.

This was the longest frame ever played at the Crucible, breaking the previous record of 74 minutes 58 seconds set in the 2009 match between Maguire and Mark King.

Some frames in the second session were lengthy, and play did not end at the Crucible until 00:24 local time on Monday morning.

[74][75] The afternoon session of the final was watched by 45 million people in China, the country's largest audience for a sporting event that year.

There were 86 century breaks made by 24 players in the televised stage of the World Championship, equalling the record set the year before.

[61][84] For every century break made during the 17-day championship in Sheffield, the title sponsor, Betfred, donated £200 to the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice.