The delayed World Snooker Championship will begin on Friday and will run through until Sunday 16th August.
The event, which is normally held in April will once again be contested at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
This will be the 43rd year that snookers major event will be contested at the Crucible.
The top 16 players in the World rankings will automatically play in the tournament and will be seeded 1-16. The remaining sixteen spots are up for grabs in a qualifying tournament currently being played this week.
Once the 32 players are known the sixteen qualifiers are drawn at random to face the top sixteen seeds.
Scot Higgins looking to go one better
Jude Trump will start favourite for the event and is also the current holder. In last seasons final he defeated John Higgins 18-9. Veteran Higgins has made it to the last three finals and on each occasion has been beaten. The Scot will be looking to go one better this year after eight occasions being in the final.
Can the Rocket regain his form?
The Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan will be looking to win his sixth World Championship. If so, he will equal the winning record of Steve Davis and Ray Reardon. However, the magician hasn’t been successful in Sheffield since 2013 and is overdue another world title triumph.
Only two qualifiers have ever won the World Championship- Terry Griffiths 1979 and Shaun Murphy in 2005.
The top half of the draw appears to favour the top seeds as they look to have the easier route to the final. A tough bottom half of the draw features O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui.
Throughout the season Trump has been the most successful having already won six titles.
The Australian Robertson has won three so far including the European Masters and the World Grand Prix.
Selby enjoys playing at the Crucible
But when it comes to the form at the Crucible aside from Higgins, the Jester from Leicester Selby is impressive.
Despite not getting past the second round for the past two years, he has won the event three times.
Allen looking to get back to winning ways
Former Masters Champion Mark Allen will be looking to improve on a poor record in Sheffield. The Northern Irishman made it to the semi-finals in 2009 on his third visit to the Crucible. However, he has only made it past the second round once in the last eight years.
For the first time in its long history the event will not be played in front of sold out crowds. There will be a limited amount of people allowed into the iconic venue. The lucky few with tickets will no doubt witness plenty of late-night drama over the coming fortnight and possibly a surprise or two.