<P> The World Snooker Championship is an annual ranking snooker tournament founded in 1927 and since 1977 played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England . The tournament is played over seventeen days in late April and early May, and is chronologically the third of the three Triple Crown events of the season since 1977 / 1978, when the UK Championship was first held . The event was not held from 1941 to 1945 because of World War II or between 1958 and 1963 due to declining interest . </P> <P> The governing body that currently organises this event is the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . Prior to the WPBSA assuming control of the professional game in 1968, the world championship was organised by the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC), except for a few years when the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) staged their own event, the World Professional Match - play Championship, following a dispute with the BACC . </P> <P> The most successful player at the World Snooker Championship was Joe Davis, who won fifteen consecutive titles between 1927 and 1946 . The record in the modern era, usually dated from the reintroduction in 1969 of a knock - out tournament format, rather than a challenge format, is held by Stephen Hendry, who won the title seven times between 1990 and 1999 . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Format </Th> <Th> Organiser </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Knockout tournament </Td> <Td> BACC </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Challenge event with defending champion receiving a bye to the final † </Td> <Td> BACC </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> World Professional Match - play Championship ◊ </Td> <Td> PBPA </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Challenge matches ‡ </Td> <Td> BACC </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Knockout tournament (modern era) </Td> <Td> WPBSA </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Who's won the snooker world championship the most