The Championship: Semi-Finals

The players did a great job arranging and playing their quarter-final matches with the last match being played just 21 days after the draw was published. Well done again!
Semi-Finals Draw
The draw for the semi-finals of The Championship was made on 8 March 2020. The draw was conducted by Zara Butler and witnessed by Steve & Louise Butler.

Quarter-Finals Summary
Bash Maqsood defeated reigning Masters champion John Fountain 3-0 at BCI Snooker Centre. I expected this match to be much closer but Fountain did not play to his usual high standard. The match was a scrappy affair, but they all count and this was a terrific result for Maqsood.
Dave Bolton overcame Adam Hussain 3-2 in a high quality encounter at Spot On Sneinton. Bolton went 2-0 up before Hussain produced some quality snooker to level the match at 2-2. Bolton turned on the style in the decider to seal the win and afterwards Hussain described Bolton’s positional play as “different gravy”.
Jon Sully travelled to Newark to take on Dave Jobling on his highly rated table. He certainly enjoyed the playing conditions but Jobling, the two-time Radford Open winner, is a fantastic player and he won the match 3-0 with breaks of 30, 40 and 49. Sully stuck around to play a few more frames and he can be pleased with his overall performance in the competition.
Audie Miller and Tony Morgan agreed to play a best of 7 frame match at Welcome Institute. Morgan raced into a 2-0 lead before Miller pulled it back to 2-2. Morgan then won the next for a 3-2 lead but the impressive Miller won the next two for a superb 4-3 victory.
Tournament Information
- The winner of The Championship will receive a trophy and £500 cash.
- The runner-up will receive £200 cash.
- All matches will be played off scratch (no handicaps).
- All matches best of 5 frames.
- All matches must be played at an approved venue.
- Any table costs to be shared 50/50.
- The ‘Three Miss Rule’ will be used in all matches.
- The final will be played at a neutral venue and will be refereed by Steve Butler. The final will be best of 7 frames and the full miss rule will be played.
VAR Procedure

View the draw
- The TD will conduct a random draw for each round and publish the draw on the Nottingham Snooker website.
- Players drawn at home will receive a message from the TD with details of their opponent including their phone number.
Arrange and play your match
- Within 7 days of the draw, the home player must:
- Make contact with the away player to arrange the match.
- Inform the TD of the date and time of the match.
- The TD will publish the date, time and venue of the match on the Nottingham Snooker website.
- Players will then play the match at the agreed date and time.
Result to TD
- Within 48 hours of the match being played, the home player must send the result to the TD, including details of any breaks over 50.
- The TD will then publish the result on the Nottingham Snooker website.
Penalty for Ungentlemanly Conduct
The TD is at liberty to expel a player from the tournament for any conduct that he considers to be ungentlemanly, unsportsmanlike or at the detriment to the fair progression of the tournament.
Any failure to adhere to the tournament rules and/or VAR procedures will be classed as ungentlemanly conduct and may result in a player being expelled from the tournament by the TD.