Belgian Classic

Belgian Classic 1986 BCE Belgian Classic 1986
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	8th
Venue:	Oostende Casino , Ostend , Belgium
Opening:	January 14, 1986
Endgame:	17th January 1986
Winner:	Terry Griffiths
Finalist:	Kirk Stevens
Highest Break:	121 ( Terry Griffiths )

The BCE Belgian Classic was a one-off invitation- only snooker tournament in the 1985/86 season . It took place between January 14th and 17th, 1986 in the Oostende Casino in Ostend , Belgium . As part of the tournament, a professional tournament with top players took place on the European mainland for the first time, before there was only the Costa Del Sol Classic, which was also held once, in 1984, but only a few top players took part. The winner was the Welsh ex-world champion Terry Griffits , who defeated the Canadian Kirk Stevens 9: 7 in the final. Griffiths also played the tournament's highest break with a 121 break.

Prize money

The table maker BCE sponsored the tournament. The total prize pool was £ 40,000 , about a third of which went to the winner.

	Prize money
winner	£ 12,000
finalist	£ 7,000
Semi-finalist	£ 4,000
Quarter finalist	£ 3,000
Highest break	£ 1,000
All in all	£ 40,000

Tournament course

Eight of the top 9 players were invited to the tournament, of the top 8 only the Canadian Cliff Thorburn , the top 2 in the world, was missing (for the other ranking positions see the tournament schedule). While the game was played in the best of 9 frames mode from the quarter-finals, the first round, the winner of the tournament was determined in the best of 17 frames .

	Quarter finals					Semifinals					final
	1	Steve Davis	2
	8th	Terry Griffiths	5
						8th	Terry Griffiths	8th
						3	Tony Knowles	2
	3	Tony Knowles	5
	7th	Jimmy White	3
											8th	Terry Griffiths	9
											5	Kirk Stevens	7th
	4th	Dennis Taylor	1
	9	Alex Higgins	5
						9	Alex Higgins	4th
						5	Kirk Stevens	5
	5	Kirk Stevens	5
	6th	Ray Reardon	1

final

The Welshman Terry Griffiths was according to his world ranking position both the second worst player in the field and the worse of the two finalists, although he had won numerous non-ranking and invitation tournaments in addition to the World Snooker Championship in 1979 . His opponent Kirk Stevens , on the other hand, had only managed to win the Canadian Professional Championship in 1983 , and he had also admitted to being addicted to cocaine in the context of the first snooker drug scandal in 1985. For Stevens it was the first final participation since the final of the British Open 1985 , in which his opponent had confronted him with the accusation of the consumption of stimulants and in the course of which there was the first drug scandal in snooker history, for Griffiths it was after the Final participation at the Hong Kong Masters in September 1985 the first final participation, whereby Griffiths had accordingly a shorter distance to his last final participation than Stevens.

Griffiths also started the match better when he took a 2-0 lead. But then Stevens managed to equalize and take the lead with two breaks over 50 points, before Griffiths in turn equalized. This went on so long (sometimes Griffiths only managed to equalize with the last black) until Griffiths prevented Stevens from taking the lead again at 6: 6 and took the lead 7: 6 himself. Stevens managed to equalize again to 7: 7, but Griffiths won the last two frames needed to win the title with 86: 0 and 67:39.

Final: Best of 17 Frames Oostende Casino ,  Ostend , Belgium , January 17, 1986
Terry Griffiths	9 : 7	Kirk Stevens
81:20 ; 77 : 8; 20: 70 (59); 40: 97 (56); 18: 84 ; 67 : 53; 4: 85 (72); 71 : 38; 26: 69 ; 61:50 ; 49:48 ; 22: 77 (53); 69:47 ; 40: 84 (51); 86 : 0; 67 : 39
-	Highest break	72
-	Century breaks	-
-	50+ breaks	5

Century Breaks

During the tournament, only the two finalists played breaks of 100 or more points, so-called century breaks , but both played two each.

• Terry Griffiths : 121 , 105
• Kirk Stevens : 120, 111

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Rom Florax: 1986 Belgian Classic. CueTracker.net, accessed March 13, 2019 .  
2. ^ ^{A b c} Chris Turner: Other Non-Ranking and Invition Events - First held 1980-1989. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on October 22, 2013 ; accessed on March 13, 2019 (English).  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Rankings - 1985-1986. CueTracker.net, accessed March 13, 2019 .  
4. ^ Ron Florax: Rankings - 1985-1986. CueTracker.net, accessed March 13, 2019 .