World Snooker Championship: Yorkshire's David Grace happy to play the long game in quest to reach the Crucible

A field of 128 players will descend on the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield from today, needing to win upto four qualifying matches to claim one of 16 coveted places up for grabs at the Crucible.

Leeds potter Grace is one of six Yorkshire players competing – along with a group of overseas players who are based in the Steel City – but although he has twice reached the televised stages at the Crucible, he has fallen at the first hurdle.

In 2017 he made his Crucible debut, losing 10-6 to Kyren Wilson while two years ago Grace lost in the first round to four-time world champion John Higgins 10-3.

Now the 39-year-old is hoping to make it third time lucky if he can navigate the qualifying rounds and book a Crucible return.

The world No 69 enters in the second round of qualifiers, where he will play the winner of Sunny Akani or Kreishh Gurbaxani on Thursday.

Unlike many tournaments, the qualifying and early rounds at the World Championship are a best-of-19 contest, the long format which seems to suit Grace’s game.

“This time of year, everyone wants to play best-of-19 in practice,” said Grace. “They are long games but it gets you prepared for the longer matches.

“We get used to play first to six, but this is a totally different game.

“I know it’s the same game, you still have to get over the line, but the twists and turns in a best-of-19 is different class.

“Once a year, this tournament is second to nothing.

“My season hasn’t been great. I don’t think I am playing that bad, but I have lost lost the important matches. That has cost me.

“Losing first round in Saudi Arabia, and first round at the UK Championship, they are ones where you need to do well in really, and has cost me in the rankings.”

It’s also not helped that Grace has been paired against world champion Wilson three times this season - at the Scottish Open, Northern Ireland Open and English Open - and lost them all.

Despite losing his two previous Crucible matches, Grace - who trains at Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds - has fond memories of playing at the home of snooker.

“I actually played okay that first time, I wouldn’t say I played well, I was just behind Kyren the whole way,” he recalled. “It was 5-4, then 7-6 at the last interval - I got a century - but he pulled away at the end, winning the last three.

“Against Higgins, I still loved every minute of it even though I got splattered.

“Going into it, I had won three games in the qualifiers, secured my Tour card, and I couldn’t have been in a better place really.

“But John Higgins was on another level.”

Also competing in this week’s qualifiers are fellow Leeds players Oliver Lines and Sanderson Lam.

Lines, 29, faces UAE’s Mohamed Shehab in the first round of qualifying on Tuesday morning.

Lam, 31, will play the winner of Liam Davies or Ahmed Elsayed in Thursday’s second round.

York teenager Liam Pullen plays Geo Yang on Wednesday in the opening round.

Rotherham’s Ashley Carty plays on Friday, when the 29-year-old could face Crucible legend Jimmy White, if the latter overcomes his opening hurdle against Anton Kazakov.

Halifax teenager Stan Moody also plays Friday, against the winner of Dean Young and Michael Szubarczyk.

Tickets to the qualifiers are £12 per day and can be purchased in advance or in person on the day. Visit: www.wst.tv/tickets/world-championship-qualifiers-2025-tickets x