Evening all, Reggie here. Leicester had a day it will not forget in a hurry. Shaun Murphy whitewashed Ronnie O'Sullivan 4–0 in the afternoon, and within the hour the world champion was gone as well: Chang Bingyu beat Wu Yize 4–3 to set up tonight's Group Three final with Murphy. Elsewhere, India names its 22 for the snooker Worlds that open in Indore tomorrow, the pool tour signs up FargoRate in time for the Mosconi Cup, and Warsaw's parasport Euros are under way.
LEICESTER — CHANG TAKES DOWN THE WORLD CHAMPION
Chang Bingyu opened with a 109 against Wu Yize, then watched his compatriot take the next three frames to move one from victory. From 3–1 down, Chang reeled off three in a row to win 4–3, per BBC Sport. It caps a big week for Chang, who climbed into the world's top 16 for the first time after his Nanjing semi-final.
That result means there is no Crucible-final rematch tonight. Murphy, who lost this year's world final to Wu in a decider, instead meets Chang for a semi-final place. They were due at the table at 7pm UK, so the score will be in tomorrow morning's roundup.
MURPHY 4–0 O'SULLIVAN
O'Sullivan was playing for the first time since his first-round loss to Cheung Ka Wai at the Northern Ireland Open, and it showed. His highest break all afternoon was 35, according to Totally Snookered.
- Frame one: Murphy needed three visits but took it 81–43.
- Frame two: a 68 doubled the lead.
- Frame three: a 41 started from a long red sealed it 77–4.
- Frame four: a scrappy 30-minute frame. Murphy missed a blue to win, O'Sullivan then missed a yellow to middle, and Murphy cleared to the pink to take it 61–42.
It was a repeat of the 2017 final, which Murphy also won. O'Sullivan, the record four-time winner of this event, is out at the first hurdle for the second year in a row.
Champion of Champions — where it stands
- Quarter-finals: Wakelin 6–2 Selby, Robertson 6–3 Jones, Murphy v Chang (tonight)
- Thursday 1pm: Zhao Xintong v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, then Kyren Wilson v Ali Carter; the winners meet at 7pm
- Friday 7pm: semi-final, Chris Wakelin v Neil Robertson
- Sunday: best-of-19 final over two sessions, £150,000 to the winner
INDORE — INDIA NAMES 22 FOR THE IBSF WORLDS
The IBSF World Snooker Championships start tomorrow at the Yeshwant Club in Indore and run to 21 November. The Billiards and Snooker Federation of India has named 15 men and seven women, led by three-time champion Pankaj Advani and reigning women's champion Anupama Ramachandran, per the Free Press Journal.
The men's event is in two stages. Advani, Md. Hussain Khan, Brijesh Damani, Manan Chandra, Aditya Mehta, Ketan Chawla, Sourav Kothari and Malkeet Singh go straight into Stage 2. Former world six-red champions Laxman Rawat and Kamal Chawla are among the seven who must come through Stage 1 qualifying. In the women's team, Amee Kamani, Keerthana Pandian and Ishika Shah line up alongside Anupama. Ashok Shandilya is the coach.
It is the last of three big events for the federation's centenary year, after the Heyball Worlds in Pune and the Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad.
POOL — FARGORATE JOINS THE WORLD NINEBALL TOUR
FargoRate is now the World Nineball Tour's first official analytics partner. The deal starts at the Mosconi Cup at the Caribe Royale in Orlando from 27 to 30 November, which goes out on ESPN and ESPN+ in the United States and on WNT TV elsewhere. The official WNT rankings and player profiles are going into the FargoRate app, and the ratings will appear on broadcast graphics, per AZBilliards.
Team USA has also picked its base camp. Classic Billiards in Lauderhill, Florida, hosts the players from 17 to 20 November, with a free meet-and-greet on the 17th and a send-off night on the 20th. The venue sponsors Fedor Gorst, Tyler Styer and Justin Bergman, and Shane Van Boening is making his 20th Mosconi Cup appearance.
WARSAW — PARASPORT EUROS OPEN
The EPBF Parasport European Billiard Championships opened on Tuesday at the BOSS Hotel in Warsaw. Close to 40 athletes from 14 countries are playing for six titles across 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball. It is the first time the wheelchair and standing categories have shared one European Championship. Poland's Adam Wilk defends his title, and Sweden's Henrik Larsson, Finland's Jouni Tähti and Cyprus's Georgios Malekkidis are in the field. Results are on the EPBF site, with matches streamed by Poland's TVSports.
HO CHI MINH CITY — DAY TWO OVERNIGHT
The Universal Open picks up its final first-round block at 4am UK on Thursday. Dennis Orcollo, Anthony Raga, Jefrey Roda, Genesis Quano, Max Eberle and Michael Feliciano all open then. Billiard News reports that Aloysius Yapp, Carlo Biado and Johann Chua lead the winners' side after day one, and that Duong Quoc Hoang led the home charge into round two. Brackets are on DigitalPool, and the TV table is on WNT TV.
NEW YORK — VERGARA'S NINE-MATCH RUN
Mhet Vergara lost his opener at Raxx in West Hempstead to the room's owner, Holden Chin. He then won nine straight on the loss side and beat Yesid Garibello twice in the true double-elimination final, 9–3 and then hill-hill, to take Stop #8 on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour. That is his second Joss title of the season. Garibello has now gone unbeaten to the hot seat at two stops in a row and been double-dipped both times. The 2026 run ends with the 38th Ocean State 9-Ball Championships at Snooker's in Providence on 21–22 November.
Tomorrow
- Murphy v Chang result and Thursday's Leicester line-up
- Day one from Indore
- Ho Chi Minh City round two
That's me for tonight. Reggie.
Feature image: "Shaun Murphy 2026 (4)" by Andrej146, via Wikimedia Commons, released under CC0 (public domain).
