The 2026 British Open (officially the 2026 Unibet British Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 August to 6 September 2026 at the Centaur in Cheltenham, England. Qualifying took place on 23 and 24 July at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. The sixth consecutive edition of the tournament since it was revived in 2021, it was the fourth ranking event of the 2026–27 snooker season, following the 2026 Wuhan Open and preceding the 2026 English Open. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £502,000.
Shaun Murphy was the defending champion, having defeated Anthony McGill 10–7 in the 2025 final, but he was beaten by David Gilbert in the last 64.
Jak Jones won the tournament, beating Mark Selby 10–6 in the final.
Overview
The tournament began in 1980 as the non-ranking British Gold Cup, won by Alex Higgins. Held as the non-ranking Yamaha Organs Trophy in 1981 and the non-ranking Yamaha International Masters from 1982 to 1984, it was renamed the British Open in 1985, when it also gained ranking status. Staged 21 times as a ranking event from 1985 until its discontinuation after the 2004 edition, the tournament was revived as a ranking event in 2021. In 2022, the tournament trophy was named the Clive Everton Trophy to honour the longtime commentator and snooker journalist.
Sponsored by Unibet, the 2026 edition of the tournament was held from 31 August to 6 September at the Centaur in Cheltenham, England. Qualifying took place on 23 and 24 July at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. The tournament was the fourth ranking event of the 2026–27 snooker season, following the 2026 Wuhan Open and preceding the 2026 English Open. Shaun Murphy was the defending champion, having defeated Anthony McGill 10–7 in the 2025 final, but he was beaten 4–2 by David Gilbert in the last 64.
Jak Jones won the event, beating Mark Selby 10–6 in the final.
There were 72 century breaks made during the tournament, with 23 during qualifying, and 49 at the main stage. The highest was a 147 made by Liam Highfield
Format There was no seeding system and the draw was randomised for every round. Matches were played as the best of 7 up to the quarter-finals, which were the best of 9 frames. The semi-finals were the best of 11 frames, and the final was the best of 19 frames, played over two .
Broadcasters The main stage was broadcast in the UK by 5 and 5Action; in mainland China by Huya.com, Migu, CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel and CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin; in Hong Kong by Now TV; in Malaysia by Astro SuperSport; in Thailand by True Sports; in Taiwan by Sportcast; in New Zealand by Sky Sport. In mainland Europe, and in territories where no other coverage was available, the tournament was streamed via WST Play.
Prize fund The winner of the event received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £502,000. The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:
Winner: £100,000 Runner-up: £45,000 Semi-final: £20,000 Quarter-final: £12,000 Last 16: £9,000 Last 32: £6,000 Last 64: £3,000
Highest break: £5,000 Total: £502,000
Summary Qualifying Liam Highfield made the first maximum break of his professional career in the first of his 4–1 victory over Stephen Maguire. It was the 245th official maximum.
Mark Allen and Ronnie O'Sullivan both withdrew from the tournament, and were replaced by amateur players Patrick Whelan and Mark Joyce respectively.
Judd Trump recovered from 0–2 down to take the next four , beating Dylan Emery 4–2. Defending champion Shaun Murphy whitewashed Reanne Evans, and David Gilbert beat Mark Williams, also by a whitewash. Wu Yize defeated Liu Hongyu 4–3, and Kyren Wilson beat Florian Nüßle 4–1.
Round two (last 64) Jack Lisowski defeated Mitchell Mann, by 4–3 on the final , Liam Davies beat Barry Hawkins 4–2, and Wilson defeated Wu 4–1. Mark Selby defeated Lei Peifan 4–3, Gilbert beat defending champion Murphy 4–2, Trump beat Ricky Walden, also by 4–2, John Higgins defeated Noppon Saengkham 4–3, and Zhao Xintong beat Daniel Wells 4–2.
Round three (last 32) Iulian Boiko beat Ding Junhui 4–1, Lisowski recovered from 1–3 down to beat Ishpreet Singh Chadha 4–3, Selby defeated Jackson Page 4–3, Jak Jones beat Chang Bingyu 4–1, and Artemijs Žižins beat He Guoqiang, also by 4–1.
Round four (last 16) Stan Moody defeated Higgins 4–2, Lisowski beat Lyu Haotian 4–1, and Selby beat Boiko 4–2. Trump whitewashed Gilbert, Jones beat Žižins 4–2, Aaron Hill whitewashed Fan Zhengyi, and Highfield beat Long Zehuang 4–1.
Round five (quarter-finals) The quarter-finals were played on 4 September as the best of nine .
In the afternoon Selby whitewashed Lisowski and Highfield beat Moody 5–2. In the evening session Trump beat Zhao 5–1, and Jones beat Hill 5–4.
Round six (semi-finals) The semi-finals were played on 5 September as the best of eleven frames.
In the afternoon session Selby beat Highfield 6–3, in a match that lasted five hours, to reach his 40th ranking final. After the match, Selby said: "It was a tough match, Liam didn't make it easy for me at all, his was incredible. I can't remember him playing a poor safety shot all the way through the match. The frames just went scrappy, if no one got in first and won it in one visit, the frames seemed to just follow the same pattern. It was hard to keep your patience and not try and push the boat out because you get frustrated. I was out there fighting. It looked like going 3–1, he probably deserved to be in front. That was probably the difference between me winning and losing the match, it was a key turning point. I won the next frame to go 3–2 up, then the momentum was on my side. Hopefully I get another victory tomorrow, but if not I'll keep on trying and keep playing the way I've played this season. It has been my best ever start to a season, I've played four tournaments and only lost two matches."
In the evening session Jones defeated Trump 6–3. After the match, Jones said: "I knew it would be very tough, Judd missed a few balls early on and I punished him, I let him back into it at 3–3 but then made a good break in the next frame. I enjoy taking on the top players because I know I have to play well. I practised hard over the summer, it has been my best start to a season and I feel good about my life on and off the table. Mark Selby is one of the alltime greats, he's big favourite but hopefully I can give him a decent game."
Final The final was played on 6 September as the best of 19 frames, played over two sessions.
Selby faced Jones. At the end of the afternoon session the score was tied at 4–4. Jones went on to win the match, and the tournament 10–6. After the match, Jones said: "The Championship League felt good, but obviously this is a completely different level, it's a major tournament, I'm over the moon. I felt I dragged Mark down a little bit throughout the day. I just kind of battled away and made a few 50 and 60 breaks. But to beat someone like Mark, who's an alltime great and has won everything in the game, is incredible. It's definitely the best day of my career. Winning a ranking event is better than coming runnerup in a World Championship. To finally win a big tournament like this – I thought it might not happen. It's an unbelievable start to the season for me, so I'm buzzing. It has been tough for 15 years, I have been battling away but haven't really achieved that much, so to start winning titles feels amazing." Selby said: "Jak played great from start to finish, he scored well and his safety was good. He was the best player on on the day. I felt it was only a matter of time before he started winning titles."
Main draw Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seeding, and an (a) indicates amateur players not on the World Snooker Tour. Winners of matches are shown in bold.
Last 64
4–2 2–4 4–0 4–1 4–0 1–4 2–4 2–4 2–4 2–4 3–4 1–4 4–1 2–4 3–4 0–4 0–4 3–4 4–2 4–2 2–4 3–4 4–1 3–4 3–4 4–3 4–2 4–2 4–1 4–2 3–4 4–2
Last 32
4–3 3–4 4–1 4–3 1–4 0–4 1–4 4–1 4–3 4–2 4–0 4–3 0–4 4–3 2–4 4–0
Last 16
1–4 2–4 4–2 2–4 2–4 0–4 0–4 1–4
Quarter-finals
5–2 5–0 4–5 5–1
Semi-finals
3–6 6–3
Final: frame scores Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Terry CamilleriThe Centaur, Cheltenham, England, 6 September 2026 Mark Selby 610 Jak Jones Afternoon: 4572, 1430 (139), 081, 715, 092, 8725, 6069, 7123Evening: 074, 1360 (100), 2470, 6672, 8147, 1371, 2571, 6171 (frame 2) 139 Highest break 65 (frame 11) 2 Century breaks 0
Qualifying draw Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seeding, and an (a) indicates amateur players not on the World Snooker Tour. Winners of matches are shown in bold.
Cheltenham The sixteen qualifying matches featuring the highest ranked players were played at the Centaur in Cheltenham on 31 August and 1 September.
4–0 0–4 4–1 4–0 4–3 4–1 1–4 4–2 4–1 4–2 4–3 4–3 4–1 4–1 4–3 1–4
Leicester The remaining qualifying matches were played at the Leicester Arena between 23 and 24 July.
3–4 3–4 4–2 0–4 1–4 3–4 2–4 4–3 1–4 2–4 1–4 4–1 2–4 1–4 4–0 3–4 1–4 3–4 2–4 4–1 1–4 4–1 3–4 4–3 2–4 4–1 1–4 4–3 3–4 0–4 2–4 0–4 0–4 4–3 2–4 4–1 3–4 w/d–w/o 4–2 1–4 4–3 4–1 1–4 4–2 0–4 1–4 4–1 4–0
Note: w/d=withdrawn; w/o=walkover
Century breaks Main stage centuries A total of 49 century breaks have been made during the main stage of the tournament in Cheltenham.
139, 132, 126, 113, 100 Mark Selby 139, 112, 107, 100, 100 Zhao Xintong 134, 100 Ali Carter 133, 117 Stan Moody 132 Ross Muir 131, 130, 118, 111 Jak Jones 129 Neil Robertson 127 Ding Junhui 125, 107 Dylan Emery 120, 112, 104 Jack Lisowski 120, 104, 102 Liam Highfield 118, 111, 105, 104, 101 Judd Trump 117, 106 David Gilbert 116 Fan Zhengyi 113, 100 Mark Joyce 113 Lyu Haotian 112, 108 Chris Wakelin 110 Aaron Hill 109 Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 106 Pang Junxu 106 Yao Pengcheng 105 Ishpreet Singh Chadha 103 Shaun Murphy 101 Chang Bingyu
Qualifying stage centuries A total of 23 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament in Leicester.
147 Liam Highfield 141 Lyu Haotian 134 Ricky Walden 133 Long Zehuang 129 Elliot Slessor 125, 101 Noppon Saengkham 124, 108 Louis Heathcote 122 Antoni Kowalski 121 Zhou Yuelong 120 Duane Jones 115 Anthony McGill 115 Liam Pullen 113 Jimmy Robertson 108 Daniel Wells 107 Alfie Burden 106 Liu Yang 105 Jamie Jones 104 Ishpreet Singh Chadha 102 Chang Bingyu 102 Jak Jones 101 Ashley Hugill
Notes
References