Judd Trump, at age 17, plays snooker pretty well. He’s one of the new generation players to make their way in the ranks at the snooker temple, the Crucible Theater in Sheffield.

On 13 March 2004, as a fourteen year old, Judd Trump hit a maximum during an Under 16 tournament at Coalville, Leicester, and became the youngest player in history to compile a 147 in an official tournament.

–Wikipedia

Judd Trump is giving former world champion Shaun Murphy a hard time in the firs round, the score is tied. After a slow start that gave Shaun a 3-0 lead Judd managed to get his game back on track.

The kid is a pleasure to watch, the shots he pulls are unbelivable, both hands shots, too.

UPDATE: Shaun Murphy finds himself trailing behind the young player and he must be feeling the pressure…

UPDATE: The match is still tense, Shaun Murphy is now in the lead by 1. Do not forget, the winner of this match is going to face in the next round the living legend, John Parrott.

And here we are, another beautiful snooker day at the Crucible. Barry Hawkins faces Fergal O’Brian in a pretty tight game. Later on Mark Allen will face Ken Doherty, the Irishman who drew the crouds onto the streets on more than one occasion, winner of the Malta Cup in 2006.

Actually I can’t wait for the Allen - Doherty match, because this match will probably decide who’s going to fight John Parrott in the quarters, Ken Doherty does have greatest chances at this but in snooker you never know. There’s a new generation this year, the old icons of the green do not show the same results as they have in the past, so surprises may arise at this championship.

Today’s matches

10am
T1 Barry Hawkins v Fergal O’Brien*. Ref: Alan Chamberlain
T2 Shaun Murphy v Judd Trump. Ref: Johan Oomen

2.30pm
T1 Ronnie O’Sullivan v Ding Junhui*. Ref: Jan Verhaas
T2 Ken Doherty v Mark Allen. Ref: Terry Camilleri

7pm
T1 Stephen Maguire v Joe Perry. Ref: Eirian Williams
T2 Shaun Murphy v Judd Trump*. Ref: Johan Oomen

Ronnie takes a crushing lead over young snooker player, Ding Junhui. Ding did win 3 out of five of the finals he ever played, against Steve Davis, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry. Ronnie won a dramatic match against Ding at the Masters last year, ending it with a crushing 10-3 victory… It is said Ding never recovered from that match.

Either Neil Robertson or Rian Day will face Ronnie in the second round but nobody know which one of them, neither do the bookkeepers giving Neil 51% chances but that’s not a difference that would make me put my money on him.

Matthew Stevens finds an easy game against world championship debutant Joe Delaney, in the first round. Beautiful Michaela Tabb is the ref. of this game so it must be a pleasure whatching, although the breaks are not breathtaking and the drama isn’t exactly A-grade either…

Matthew Stevens has great chances in facing Ken Doherty in the second round. That’s where he’ll have a chance of proving himself against a great player.

A good night’s sleep seems to give results for peter Ebdon, yesterday’s session ended at the right time as he was caught up and surpassed by Nigel Bond 5-4 after leading 4-0. In today’s session Ebdon got the lead again 6-5. If the two are going to play a decisive frame and Nigel Bond wins Ebdon won’t be able to forgive himself for loosing a decisive lead in he first day.

In the meantime Barry Hawkins gained a 2 frame lead over the Irishman Fergal O’Brian and is gaining points in the third frame.

UPDATE: Nigel Bond and Ebdon are tied again while Hawkins loses the 3’rd frame, his score is now 2-1 over Fergal O’Brian but winning this 4′th frame won’t be easy and the match has great chances to become tied.

UPDATE: Peter Ebdon still holds the lead 7-6 against Nigel Bond with good chances of winning the 14′th frame and gaining a two-frame lead.

The defending champion, Graeme Dott, is running against Ian McCulloch as we speak… It’s the third frame and we had no significant breaks… it’s a slow start this time.

Will the World Championship curse send Dott home without this crown, or will he break the curse forever. It is known that no first-time winner of the championship ever successfully defended his title the following year at Sheffield. It’s the 31′th edition here and we are in for a long fight.

UPDATE: The third frame just ended with Ian’s resignation… it’s 2-1 for Graeme Dott.

UPDATE: Ian McCulloch has gained the lead, the score is now 5-4 in his favor.