The 2023 UK Championship qualifiers commence on Saturday at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
A total of 128 competitors will vie for the 16 spots that remain available for the venue stages at the Barbican Centre in York.
Defending UK champion Mark Allen, world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan, and world champion Luca Brecel are among the top 16 stars who have already guaranteed their round-of-32 berths.
Judd Trump, Neil Robertosn, John Higgins, and Mark Williams will also definitely feature at the sport’s second most prestigious ranking event.
UK Championship top 16 seeds
1. Mark Allen (defending champion)
2. Luca Brecel (world champion)
3. Ronnie O’Sullivan
4. Judd Trump
5. Mark Selby
6. Neil Robertson
7. Shaun Murphy
8. Kyren Wilson
9. Mark Williams
10. Ali Carter
11. John Higgins
12. Barry Hawkins
13. Jack Lisowski
14. Robert Milkins
15. Zhang Anda
16. Tom Ford
The first round proper gets under way next Saturday (Nov 25), but prior to that there will be six days of UK Championship qualifiers.
Following the same tiered format as the World Championship, there will be four rounds in the preliminary competition.
The players seeded from 81 to 144 meet in round one, with the winners progressing to face the players ranked from 49 to 80.
Round three will see the heavier hitters from 17 to 48 in the rankings enter the fray, including the likes of three-time UK Champion Ding Junhui who just missed out on automatic qualification.
Below is the full draw and schedule for the UK Championship qualifiers.
UK Championship qualifiers draw
Round 1 – L144 (bo11)
Saturday, Nov 18
1. Daniel Wells 6-2 Mostafa Dorgham
2. Jenson Kendrick 6-4 Oliver Briffett-Payne
3. Adam Duffy 3-6 Mink Nutcharut
4. Stuart Carrington 6-2 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
5. Mohamed Ibrahim 6-3 Victor Sarkis
6. Marco Fu 6-5 Michael Holt
7. Anton Kazakov 1-6 Ryan Davies
8. Xing Zihao 6-2 Jimmy White
9. Ross Muir 6-1 Andrew Pagett
10. Stan Moody 6-3 Filips Kalnins
11. Peng Yisong 6-0 Umut Dikme
12. Alfie Burden 1-6 Oliver Sykes
13. Ma Hailong 6-4 Sydney Wilson
14. Fergal O’Brien 2-6 Robbie McGuigan
15. Jiang Jun 6-0 Rebecca Kenna
16. Allan Taylor 6-5 Liam Davies
17. Rod Lawler 6-2 Liam Graham
18. Ryan Thomerson 6-5 Reanne Evans
19. Andy Lee 6-2 Joel Connolly
20. Liam Pullen 1-6 Iulian Boiko
21. Long Zehuang 6-5 Haydon Pinhey
22. Oliver Brown 1-6 Dean Young
23. Andrew Higginson 4-6 Alexander Ursenbacher
24. Muhammad Asif 1-6 Duane Jones
Sunday, Nov 19
25. Sean O’Sullivan 6-5 Baipat Siripaporn (Sat)
26. Louis Heathcote 6-0 Ahmed Aly Elsayed (Sat)
27. Hammad Miah 6-3 Bulcsu Revesz
28. Ian Burns 6-0 Amaan Iqbal
29. Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3-6 Gao Yang
30. Andres Petrov 3-6 Craig Steadman
31. Rory Thor 6-0 Riley Powell
32. Martin O’Donnell 6-4 Jack Borwick
Round 2 – L112 (bo11)
33. Ashley Carty 2-6 Daniel Wells
34. Robbie Williams 6-1 Jenson Kendrick
35. Michael White 6-5 Mink Nutcharut
36. Martin Gould 6-0 Stuart Carrington
37. Andy Hicks 6-4 Mohamed Ibrahim
38. Ben Mertens 4-6 Marco Fu
39. David Grace 6-5 Ryan Davies
40. James Cahill 6-2 Xing Zihao
41. He Guoqiang 6-4 Ross Muir
42. Dominic Dale 6-5 Stan Moody
43. Julien Leclercq 6-5 Peng Yisong
44. Jamie Clarke 6-4 Oliver Sykes
45. Xu Si 6-1 Ma Hailong
46. Dylan Emery 6-2 Robbie McGuigan
47. Jackson Page 4-6 Jiang Jun
48. Zak Surety 6-3 Allan Taylor
Monday, Nov 20
49. Lukas Kleckers 6-3 Rod Lawler
50. Ben Woollaston 6-1 Ryan Thomerson
51. Sanderson Lam 5-6 Andy Lee
52. Mark Joyce 6-5 Iulian Boiko
53. Oliver Lines 6-3 Long Zehuang
54. Ashley Hugill 6-3 Dean Young
55. Tian Pengfei 3-6 Alexander Ursenbacher
56. Ken Doherty 6-3 Duane Jones
57. David Lilley 6-3 Sean O’Sullivan
58. Elliot Slessor 6-1 Louis Heathcote
59. John Astley 1-6 Hammad Miah
60. Liam Highfield 0-6 Ian Burns
61. Mark Davis 6-4 Gao Yang
62. Aaron Hill 2-6 Craig Steadman
63. Scott Donaldson 6-2 Rory Thor
64. Liu Hongyu 5-6 Martin O’Donnell
Round 3 – L80 (bo11)
65. Ding Junhui 6-4 Daniel Wells
66. Matthew Stevens 5-6 Robbie Williams
67. Si Jiahui 5-6 Michael White
68. Fan Zhengyi 6-3 Martin Gould
69. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-2 Andy Hicks
70. Ricky Walden 6-5 Marco Fu
71. Wu Yize 6-2 David Grace
72. Noppon Saengkham 6-5 James Cahill
Tuesday, Nov 21
73. Anthony McGill 6-3 He Guoqiang
74. Anthony Hamilton 6-3 Dominic Dale
75. David Gilbert 6-1 Julien Leclercq
76. Jordan Brown 4-6 Jamie Clarke
77. Lyu Haotian 6-2 Xu Si
78. Matthew Selt 6-4 Dylan Emery
79. Jamie Jones 6-4 Jiang Jun
80. Gary Wilson 3-6 Zak Surety
81. Ryan Day 2-6 Lukas Kleckers
82. Cao Yupeng 4-6 Ben Woollaston
83. Joe Perry 6-2 Andy Lee
84. Xiao Guodong 2-6 Mark Joyce
85. Joe O’Connor 6-5 Oliver Lines
86. Stephen Maguire 6-4 Ashley Hugill
87. Yuan Sijun 6-5 Alexander Ursenbacher
88. Chris Wakelin 4-6 Ken Doherty
89. Stuart Bingham 2-6 David Lilley
90. Graeme Dott 3-6 Elliot Slessor
91. Zhou Yuelong 6-4 Hammad Miah
92. Jak Jones 2-6 Ian Burns
93. Pang Junxu 6-4 Mark Davis
94. Jimmy Robertson 5-6 Craig Steadman
95. Sam Craigie 1-6 Scott Donaldson
96. Hossein Vafaei 6-0 Martin O’Donnell
Round 4 – L48 (bo11)
Wednesday, Nov 22
Ding Junhui 6-3 Robbie Williams
Michael White 5-6 Fan Zhengyi
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3 Ricky Walden
Wu Yize 4-6 Noppon Saengkham
Anthony McGill 6-2 Anthony Hamilton
David Gilbert 5-6 Jamie Clarke
Lyu Haotian 3-6 Matthew Selt
Jamie Jones 6-4 Zak Surety
Thursday, Nov 23
Lucas Kleckers 1-6 Ben Woollaston
Joe Perry 4-6 Mark Joyce
Joe O’Connor 6-3 Stephen Maguire
Yuan Sijun 6-3 Ken Doherty
7pm UTC
David Lilley 3-6 Elliot Slessor
Zhou Yuelong 6-5 Ian Burns
Pang Junxu 6-2 Craig Steadman
Scott Donaldson 4-6 Hossein Vafaei
How to watch the UK Championship qualifiers
There will be coverage of all six days on discovery+ and the Eurosport app across Europe.
Viewers in other territories (other than China) can watch via a Matchroom.Live subscription.
Matches during the last four days will also be available worldwide on the World Snooker Tour Facebook and YouTube channels.
The last two days are known as Judgement Day, where the final round will determine the 16 qualifiers in the UK Championship draw.
There will be roving coverage of all four tables plus interviews with the winning players throughout each Judgement Day.
Featured photo credit: WST
Another win for Marco Fu in the second qualifying round and almost an unprecedented second round win for Mink! 6-5 defeat to Michael White is quite a performance!
Dominic Dale and Anthony Hamilton ate meeting for only the 7th time today. A little surprising given they’ve both been on tour for over 30 years
It’s their first meeting in 12 years. Their first was back in 1992. Hamilton leads 5-1, but Dale’s only win was a 9-2 victory in the 2000 UK Championship.
Hamilton last six matches on tour have been games where either he or his opponent has been whitewashed.
Love to watch the woman having a go Gud luck