The World Snooker Championship is the highlight of the snooker calendar. Held since 1977 at the legendary Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, the event draws the best players from around the world to compete, in front of sell-out crowds, for the most coveted prize in the sport. The world's top 16 seeded players are joined by 16 more that have battled through the qualifying rounds.

Ronnie O'Sullivan made everyone happy with his late entry, or will the on-form Mark Selby take the crown, or is it to be John Higgin's year?

This year the tournament runs from April 20 - May 6 2013. Check back here from the start of this year's tournament for photographs.

Check out Pro Snooker Blog for a daily update on all the happenings.

All pictures are available to buy as a digital version without watermarks. The file size varies from 4-11Mb, mostly around the 6Mb size. The pictures were taken on a Nikon full-frame digital camera - the pictures on this site are much reduced from those that would be supplied. Pictures are priced at £25 each. If you require copies of these for commercial work, please contact me for pricing.