The 1971 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 28 September and 7 November 1970 in Australia. The tournament was the 1971 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927 but was held in 1970. It was the first time the event had been held outside England outside of two challenge matches in 1965, with matches held at various locations in New South Wales and Brisbane. The event featured nine participants, with a round-robin round producing four qualifiers, who then competed in a single-elimination tournament. Ray Reardon was the defending champion, having defeated John Pulman in the 1970 final, however Reardon lost to John Spencer in the semi-final. Spencer won the event for the second time by defeating Warren Simpson 37–29 in the final held in the Chevron Hotel in Sydney. Eddie Charlton made the highest of the tournament with a 129 in the final session of his round-robin match against Gary Owen. Overview The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India, the sport was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand. This championship featured nine professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a round-robin format, from which four players qualified to a single elimination format. Each match is played over a predetermined number of and . Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, the final match being held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England. Format The championship was held from 28 September to 7 November 1970 at several locations across Australia. This was the first time the championship was held outside the United Kingdom aside from two challenge matches in 1965, and it would be later hosted in Australia again in 1975. The initial stage was a round robin in which the matches were of 37 frames, played across three days, and each competitor played four of the other eight competitors. The number of frames needed to win a match increased at the semi-finals stage. The semi-finals were scheduled to be the best-of-49 and the final as the best-of-73 frames. Tournament summary Round-robin The first match was held from 28 to 30 September between