As those of you who have read my Crucible diaries this week will know, one of the boards placed outside of the venue here this week rather helpfully confirms the latest provisional calendar for next season, which has also been published here this morning.
Click the image above to see a larger version, or read below for my analysis of the second half of the season, following my previous look up until Christmas here…
- Click here to view my detailed analysis of the first half of next season’s calendar
January 2015
The start to next year takes on a familiar shape to 2014, with the Championship League, Masters and more Championship League getting the year underway.
That is where the similarities end however, as 2015 will see the fourth event of the Asian Tour staged between 20-24 January 2015, actually at the same time as that second Championship League group, while the venue stages of the Haikou World Open has been brought forward almost six months from its usual mid-March date, to start on 26th March 2015.
To accommodate this change, the Shoot Out has moved from it’s normal slot at the end of January, to early March (see below).
February 2015
With the switch of the World Open, the German Masters will be held a week later in 2015, from 4-8 February 2015, followed by potentially another round of Championship League matches at Crondon Park.
As was the case this season, the qualifiers for the China Open will follow at a venue still to be confirmed, before the start of the Welsh Open almost immediately afterwards.
Interestingly however, it looks as though there will be significant changes to the format of that event, with the duration cut from 12 days to just seven days. With no qualifying event listed on the calendar, we can only presume that there will be a lot more tables at the new venue in Cardiff.
With the extra space that has been freed up, there is another Championship League option immediately after the Welsh Open, with the final event of the European Tour, again in Gdynia, to be held at the end of the month.
March 2015
In another big change to this season’s calendar, the World Seniors Championship moves to an early March date and will immediately be followed by three days of action at the Shoot Out, also moved to a later date in the calendar.
After this, we have a slot for a potential new event between 9-15 March 2014, before the final option of dates for the 2015 Championship League.
Next up will be the Players Championship Grand Finals, which as was initially the case this season are scheduled to take place in Thailand, straight ahead of the China Open in its usual Beijing slot.
Notably, the final seedings cut-off for the World Championship will come after this tournament, not before as was the case this season.
April 2015
Effectively no changes here, as the World Championship qualifiers will take place at a venue to be confirmed immediately ahead of the venue stages of the tournament at the Crucible, between 18 April – 4 May 2015.