Prize fund

The winner of the event received £120,000 from a total prize fund of £620,000.The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[12]

First round

• 1957 World finalist Jackie Rea Lost in the 2nd Qualifying round and announced his retirement from professional snooker.
• There where 4 debutants at the crucible this year, but all lost in the opening round. Tony Chappel (In his only crucible appearance) and Nigel Gilbert who both lost 10–4 to Tony Knowles and Terry Griffiths respectively. They were joined by two Canadians Alain Robidoux (lost 10–7 to Hendry) and Brady Gollan who won 5 matches just to qualify and led veteran Doug Mountjoy 8-7 before losing the last 3 frames.
• Fan favorite, attacking player Cliff Wilson made his 8th and final crucible appearance at the age of 55. He never got past the world championship 1st round in his career and that run was not to change as he was edged out 10-6 by "the grinder" Cliff Thorburn.
• Stephen Hendry and Alain Robidoux were level at 7–7 in their first round match when the referee announced that Robidoux had committed a foul by making a push shot. Hendry compiled a break of 58 to win that frame, and added the following two frames to progress 10–7.^[13]
• John Parrott trailed Mark Bennett 7–9, but took the next two to force a deciding frame that he won on the pink ball after a break of 69 after being 59 points behind.^[13]
• Two time world champion (1972, 1982) Alex Higgins returned to the Crucible after missing out the previous year.^[14] He lost 5–10 to Steve James in the first round.^[12] After the match, Higgins punched an official in the stomach at the post-match press conference;^[15][16] this, alongside a threat to have Dennis Taylor shot at the 1990 World Cup a month earlier, led to Higgins being banned for the entire 1990/1991 season.^[15]
• In the first round match between James and Higgins, James was awarded a free ball in a frame before any reds had been potted. In taking a baulk colour as an extra red ball and compiling a total clearance of 135 the break became the only 16-red clearance at the Crucible.^[17][18][19]

Semi-finals

• For the only time since seeding began, the four semi-finalists were also the top four seeds.
• For the first time since 1982, Davis failed to reach the final,^[20] losing 14–16 to Jimmy White in the semi-final. It was the first time White had defeated Davis at the Crucible after Davis had eliminated White in four previous encounters.^[12] From 6–8 at the close of the second session, White won seven of the eight frames in the third session to lead 13–9. After winning the 27th frame on the black ball after needing a snooker, Davis moved to within one frame of White at 13–14, and led by 40 points in the 28th frame before White won that to go two frames clear with three to play, conceding one further frame before clinching victory.^[13]
• In beating John Parrott at the semi-final stage, Hendry replaced Steve Davis as snooker's world number 1.^[21] Parrott had led 4–0, and was 5–3 ahead at the end of their first session. Hendry won the next six frames to lead 9–5, followed by Parrott winning six consecutive frames leaving Hendry 9–11 behind. Hendry won the last two frames of the third session to equalise at 11–11, and added the first five frames of the fourth session to complete a 16–11 victory/^[13]

Final

Hendry led 9–7 after the first day. On the second day, he won the first four frames, making a break of 104 in the second, with White failing to pot a ball in three of them. From 7–13, White took the 21st frame with a break of 82, and added the following frame to reduce his deficit to 9–13. In the 23rd frame, White led by 63 points before Hendry produced a clearance of 72 to win on the black ball. The session finished with Hendry 14–10 ahead after White won the session's last frame with breaks of 51 and 45. The first three frames of the fourth session were completed in 27 minutes, and included a 108 clearance by Hendry. White took the following frame, before breaks of 71 and 81 secured a first world championship title for Hendry.^[22][23] He became the youngest-ever world champion at the age of 21 years and 106 days,^[24] overtaking Alex Higgins, who had won the 1972 World Snooker Championship a few days before his 23rd birthday.^[22]

Hendry commented after his win that "I was determined to win and confident that I could do it. I was glad I was able to keep my concentration and cope with the pressure. All through the match I was nervous. My stomach was churning tonight." White said that he was disappointed with the standard of his own safety play during the match, and added "I'm a little bit sick but I can honestly say I enjoyed the game. In a way I'm pleased for Stephen. He's a great kid and he puts in enough work to be world champion. He played tremendous snooker. You could count his misses on one hand."^[25] Hendry went on to win six more world titles, including further victories over White in the 1992, 1993 and 1994 finals.^[26]

Qualifying stages

There were 22 century breaks in the qualifying stages; the highest, 135, was made by Nigel Gilbert in his fifth round defeat of David Roe.^[35][36]