Professional Billiards

Grand Slam: First Series, Third Leg

Aldershot Snooker Lodge 1st-2nd April, 1994

First for Foldvari

This event should have been completed in India two years ago. It was discovered that most of the qualifiers were still in reasonable health and so the event was finally laid to rest at the Aldershot Snooker Lodge the weekend before the UK.

There were no surprises in the quarter finals. The favourites lost only four games between them. Nalin Patel had the satisfaction of both making a century break and taking one game from Mike Russell.

It was expected that Russell and Sethi would get through but neither of them did. Foldvari made it very hard for Russell in a match in which the players had only one century each. It was all on the last and it was the Australian, who with 58 and 88 unfinished, claimed a place in the final.

Peter Gilchrist can hardly have expected to have beaten Sethi in four straight games - but he did. This match raised an interesting talking point which is fully discussed on page 11.

This was a ding-dong struggle with neither player ever having more than one game advantage. Foldvari took the first with a 150 run-out, a feat he repeated in the third after Gilchrist had taken the second. The Middlesbrough man then followed the Australian's run out with one of his own to level at two all. Games five and six were rather scrappy affairs but the players resumed their century making ways in the sixth and seventh, for Gilchrist to lead four games to three. Foldvari then had breaks of 121 and 105 to take the lead only to see Gilchrist level with a 147. It was all to play for. Neither player had yet won a Grand Slam, both seemed apprehensive and missed easy strokes at the beginning of the last game. The Australian failed at couple of long losers whilst the Middlesbrough player made an awful mess of a very easy cannon. Gilchrist was the first to get going but the fluency of the earlier games had gone and his break ended at 42. Foldvari scraped along just getting his nose in front with a 57, and by keeping his opponent out and gathering points where he could, finished a winner to take the match by 6 games to 5.

Considering the Australians tenacity, concentration, and sheer ability, it seems strange that this should be his first Grand Slam success.

Strachan UK Professional Championship

Aldershot Snooker Lodge

3rd - 5th April, Final - Plymouth Pavilions 7th April

Sky High Russell Regains UK Title

Mike Russell regained the UK Title with a big win over fellow ex-Teesside Boys League player Peter Gilchrist in a final televised by "Sky." This was Russell's fourth UK Title, a total surpassed only by the legendary Joe Davis who won the UK five times between 1934 and 1938. The quality of those wins by Davis may be gauged by the fact that his opponent in all five finals was the great Tom Newman. This fact is mentioned out of interest and in no way to devalue Russell's achievement. A man can only beat the best of his day, Russell has done this and it is a fairly safe bet that he will go on to break Davis's record. Peter Gilchrist must look back on the week's billiards with mixed feelings. To reach two finals and lose them both is disappointing at any level. Gilchrist should perhaps have won the Radiant, but could not complain about the UK. After playing fine billiards all week the genial Teessider seemed to have gone off the boil by the time he was due to play in the UK final. All matches comprised one session of two hours duration.

Low Scoring. Good win for Hardcastle. Exit Williams

Scores were in general very low for this class of player. Ferreira topped the thousand but had almost no opposition from Derby player David Rees. Rees has a distressing neuro-physical problem of the cue arm which causes him to snatch on almost every shot. He is unable to produce anything approaching his true form and is seriously considering giving the game up altogether. Steve Hardcastle did well to beat Mark Wildman even though the 1984 world champion is not the player he was. Another ex world champion, Rex Williams, was not at his best, but new Indian professional Alok Kumar, though losing, put up a good show against Eddie Charlton. The highest break of the round was a 170 by Devendra Joshi.

The Fatal run-through - Dagley by One

Great Effort by Hardcastle

Steve Hardcastle put up a fine show against Peter Gilchrist a timely 90 odd giving the Middlesbrough man victory by a mere 78. The match of the round was that between Norman Dagley and Roxton Chapman. The veteran Dagley claimed the victory over his young opponent by a single point. There was a remarkable ending to the game. With eight or nine minutes left for play Chapman - trailing by 95 - worked the balls to the spot end and looked set to pull the match out of the fire. And he would have done but for a slightly misjudged positional stroke which left the balls covered. Instead of a simple cannon to leave both balls in position, Chapman had to play a fairly strong run-through to leave an in-off the white. The shot was successful enough but the strength caused the red ball to run rather more than twice across the table. The Peterborough man was down cueing for the in-off white - but with his head turned anxiously waiting for the red to stop running. Those vital seconds, seconds in which he would have had time to play the one extra stroke necessary, cost him the game. His break stood at 94 unfinished at the bell - one point short of victory. Bob Close had a break of 214 and Ian Williamson one of 215 unfinished, but the best of the round was a 252 by Russell.

Seven seeded players had come into the competition at this stage and all reached the quarter-finals.

Russell Shows Great Form

Foldvari's Curious Score

Michael Ferreira was on reasonable form, indeed on better form than for some time and he made a good century break. He was beaten by 1068! After the Indian had broken off, Russell scored a lovely two-cushion cannon and made 92. A visit or two later he made a great break of 427 which was immediately followed by a 388 which ended with an explosive kick causing a pot to be missed with the red ball only inches from the pocket. At this stage Ferreira must have wondered if he would score at all as Russell was straight in again. Ferreira eventually got a leave or two and made a century but not before Russell had added a 174.

Bob Close was on fine form against Foldvari. A few points behind with about twenty minutes left, the Hartlepool man played out time with 171 for a great victory. Foldvari's score was rather odd to say the least. The Australian had a break of 310 and another of 114 in a total of only 449. His other visits to the table thus brought him a mere 25 points -remarkable for such a great player. Foldvari later took the BQR Editor to task for describing his break-making as, "Painstaking," (Snooker Scene. April.94. P26.) The Australian pointed out that plenty of players had scored less than he had and cited the Dagley - Chapman encounter. The BQR Editor pointed out that spectators do get the impression that Robby is rather a slow player. It was also pointed out that Foldvari has often been praised in the pages of this magazine as technically as good as anyone, and that the sobriquet, "Australian Steamroller," is meant as a compliment. However, looking at some of the scores, maybe he has a point - sorry Robby. Peter Gilchrist had a lovely 361 against Ian Williamson.

Russell beats Sethi in Great Match

Bob Close was unable to find the form that ousted Foldvari and went down to Peter Gilchrist but not without a fight and against a player who was playing very well indeed.

Russell - Sethi was the one that attracted the spectators. Both players started cautiously and both missed quite easy shots. It was the Indian who made the early running to build up a lead of over 200. Russell closed the gap with a 117, and took command with efforts of 232 and 197 which gave him a lead of over 300 with nine minutes remaining for play. It would have taken a Lindrum to score that many points in such short time, but Sethi made a wonderful effort reaching 207 before declaring a foul on himself as, with the balls in nursery-cannon position, he made a push stroke in his haste to score.

Russell the Master

The final was played at the Plymouth Pavilions on the table that was to be used for the British Open Snooker. There was much speculation as to how the players would perform on the type of cloth (shaven) prepared for professional snooker championships. Commentators Wildman and Everton reckoned that the players would have a deal of trouble and that there might not even be a double century. They, however, had not been watching Russell all week as had the BQR Editor who forecast the Mighty Mike for at least a triple - a small wager to this effect remaining unpaid! (It has now been paid - Thanks Mark.) Peter Gilchrist scored a 93 at his second visit but did not score again until his eighth when he made a cannon and his tenth when he reached 38. Russell, in the meantime, missed a shot or two that he would normally get with his eyes closed and did not score significantly until his 10th when he knocked up a 73. But it was quite evident that he had, "found," the angle and at his 12th visit he produced a run of 185. Peter Gilchrist was clearly not in the form he had showed at Aldershot and breaks of 79 and 68 were the best he could manage. On the other hand it is very difficult to do anything at all when one's opponent is at the table and making the game look like child's play. To the delight of the spectators Russell scored consecutive breaks of 227,126, and 328, as if he had been playing under the prevailing conditions all his life. Russell looks the most complete player in the world today. His all-round game is as sound as a bell, his spot-end play a delight to watch, and his recovery strokes as brilliant as ever. It would be no great surprise if Russell regained the World Title this year though there is no doubt that Geet Sethi in particular will have something to say about that.

The Yorkshire Bank Challenge

Williamson beats Dagley

Norman Dagley played Ian Williamson at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds, in a match sponsored by The Yorkshire Bank. They played a best of 13 x 150 on Saturday, June 11th, and a time match of 2 x two-and-a-half hour sessions on the following day.

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