The 1990 World Snooker Championship was a professional rankingsnooker tournament that took place between 13 and 29 April 1990 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy. The final was contested by Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White. Hendry led 9–7 after the first day's play and won the first four frames of the second day to lead 13–7, before White reduced the gap to four frames. At 16–12, Hendry compiled breaks of 81 and 71 to win the match 18–12, claiming his first world title. In so doing, he became the youngest-ever world champion at the age of 21 years and 106 days.
For the first time since 1982, Davis failed to reach the final, losing 14–16 to Jimmy White in the semi-final. It was the first time White had beaten Davis at the Crucible after Davis beat White in four previous encounters.
1982 champion Alex Higgins returned to the Crucible after missing out the previous year. He lost 5–10 to Steve James in the first round. After the match, Higgins punched an official in the stomach at the post-match press conference; this, alongside a threat to have Dennis Taylor shot at the 1990 World Cup a month earlier, led to Higgins being banned for the entire 1990/1991 season.
In the first round match between James and Higgins, James was an awarded a free ball in a frame before any reds had been potted. In taking a baulk colour as an extra red and compiling a total clearance of 135 the break became the only at the Crucible.
For the only time since seeding began, the four semi-finalists were also the top four seeds.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £120,000
Runner-up: £72,000
Semi-final: £36,000
Quarter-final: £18,000
Last 16: £9,000
Last 32: £5,000
Stage one highest break: £3,000.
Stage two highest break: £12,000
Stage two maximum break: £100,000
Total: £620,000
Main draw
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks.
Century breaks
There were 18 century breaks in the championship. The highest break was 140 made by John Parrott.
