The first post on this website looked at how the snooker ranking system worked. Click here to read the original post. This will look more specifically at the One-Year ranking list and Provisional Seedings (Part 2) and how they are used for upcoming tournaments.

The One-Year list looks at the ranking position of each player based on their performance in the current season only. The official world rankings incorporate the accumulation of the previous 2 years’ worth of ranking points on a rolling basis whilst the One-Year list excludes these previous amounts. Again, this is on a ranking basis, so O’Sullivan’s £200,000 win at Shanghai will contribute nothing to this list. On the other hand, Yan Bingtao’s win at the Riga Masters has positioned himself nicely at No. 3 on the One-Year rankings.

Certain tournaments, namely the Coral Cup events have a structure where those who are qualified to enter are selected based on how much ranking prize money they have earned in the 2019/20 season. Given that each of these events are positioned in the latter half of the season provide enough time and opportunity for players to build up their ranking points to qualify for these events.

Considering most ranking and invitational events use the rolling system and provisional seeding method, the Coral Cup seems to be the only set of tournaments that strictly look at a single season’s performance, without taking into account past seasons. Another unique quality that makes it among my favourite events besides Triple Crown. It brings the season’s best performers together.

For example, let’s look at the One-Year list as it stands and take John Higgins who is positioned 16th (at the time) with £13500 thanks to his Last 16 venture in the International Championship. This is the only ranking event he has competed in until the China Championship. If Higgins were to make it to the semis of the tournament, it would pretty much guarantee a Top 5 position in the One-Year list with the additional £32000 added to his tally. If he made the finals, or even won; significantly better for his One-Year position. The only person really safe in these rankings at the moment is Trump with his International Championship win.

This was the simple part. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this Short which will look at the explanation of Provisional Seedings and how they are used in the context of world rankings.

Helpful links:

One-Year Ranking List: http://www.worldsnooker.com/rankings/1-year-ranking-list/