It’s the second edition of the campaign and the fourth overall in a year.
Championship League Snooker is back on the calendar once more as snooker in 2021 gets under way on Monday in Milton Keynes.
The familiar setting of Stadium MK will stage the competition, as it has done for every event on this term’s schedule so far.
While the previous Championship League in September and October was held as a ranking event, this tournament reverts back to its original invitational guise.
World number five Kyren Wilson is the reigning champion, although Scott Donaldson triumphed the last time it was played under this format.
There will be seven preliminary round-robin groups contested between now and March, with each match played over the best of five frames.
The top four after each round-robin stage progress to the play-off semi-finals before a group winner is determined.
Each of those seven competitors will subsequently participate in the Winners’ Group to decide the overall champion at the beginning of April, who will subsequently receive an invitation into next season’s Champion of Champions.
Group 1 takes place on Monday and Tuesday, with Groups 2 and 3 to follow later this week.
Former champions John Higgins and Stuart Bingham are among those entering the fray from the outset, with a pair of recent runners-up also in action in Zhou Yuelong and Graeme Dott.
Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh completes the line-up alongside English pair Michael Holt and Gary Wilson.
As the Championship League was always staged behind closed doors anyway, it is one of the few tournaments that will be somewhat less impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
There are various monetary bonuses on offer, including prize money for frames won, the highest break achieved, and by reaching at least the semi-final stage of a group.
Live coverage of Championship League Snooker is available throughout this week via several platforms, which you can check here.
Click here to view the 2021 Championship League Snooker draw.
Featured photo credit: CLSnooker
