Chang Bingyu produced a perfect performance to beat Shaun Murphy 4-0 at the Welsh Open, not missing a single pot as he knocked in four centuries.
Murphy potted a lone ball in the match, which saw Chang rack up 524 points to the Englishman’s one, making breaks of 130, 136, 119 and 130.
Four centuries in a best of seven game has been done before, but finishing with 100 per cent pot success left Murphy feeling he witnessed the 23-year-old produce the greatest ever performance in a match of that distance.
‘That’s the best performance in a best of seven match I’ve ever seen,’ he told the BBC. ‘If that was Ronnie O’Sullivan or Judd Trump it would be on the news. It was quite literally the best performance I’ve ever witnessed in a match of that length.
‘I’ve got nothing but good things to say. What a performance. What a player.
‘Did I have 10 shots in the match? I’m not sure. Two of them were break-offs, one long red. I only potted one ball. It was a good shot! I love coming to Llandudno, but it has been a very short trip.
‘A defeat like today, I wouldn’t say it’s easy to take, but it’s easier because there was only one man playing.’
Chang admitted he didn’t even expect to beat the former world champion, never mind produce an unplayable performance.
‘Today it’s really incredible, I’ve never played so well in a match. It’s a performance that exceeded my expectations,’ he said.
‘I really didn’t expect to beat him, but after a few shots in the first frame I calmed down a bit and found my form.
‘I think I’ve exceeded my expectations today, but it’s just one performance, there’s still a gap between me and the top players.’
Reanne Evans, 12-time women’s world champion, felt it was the best display in a match of any length.
‘That has got to be the best performance ever on a snooker table,’ she said on BBC Wales. ‘He was never in trouble.
‘Not only did he make the centuries, his touch play, his long potting, his positional play, his cannons, his ability to see the shots straight away. He never double-checked any shot, he just got down and hit the ball. It was fantastic.
‘That was absolutely sublime. I think maybe one ball hit a jaw, the rest were in the centre of the pocket. Best performance ever.’
Who is Chang Bingyu?
Chang Bingyu’s early promise
Chang was a wildly talented junior player, winning the 2018 IBSF World Snooker Championship at just 16 years old, having made a maximum in tournament play at just 14.
He joined the professional tour in 2019 as a teenager, moving to Sheffield as a result, and he picked up some encouraging wins, but the global pandemic disrupted his progress as he returned to China and missed some events.
A run to the 2020 UK Championship last 32 was probably the highlight of his early pro career, before he was suspended in December 2022 as part of the match-fixing scandal.
Why was Chang Bingyu banned?
Chang admitted to fixing a match against Jamie Jones at the 2022 British Open, losing 4-1, but did so as a result of pressure and influence from Liang Wenbo, who subsequently received a lifetime ban.
The Disciplinary Commission’s findings read that Chang ‘accepted that he on 28th September 2022 had fixed a snooker match that he was playing in.’
He gave evidence to the commission that he was called by Liang Wenbo on the morning of the match ‘with a threatening tone’ and told that Liang ‘had placed a lot of money on his bet without my knowledge, for my match with Jamie Jones that evening.’
Chang ‘reluctantly agreed’ but said he never received the money he was told he would be given for the fix.
The independent tribunal’s findings on Chang read: ‘We have found that Chang fixed or contrived, or was a party to an effort to fix or contrive, the result or score of a snooker match on one occasion.
‘We note that, at the time that his match fixing took place, Chang was aged 20. He was young and impressionable and under the influence of Liang, of whom he was scared. Chang has given evidence that he thought Liang would take action against him if he did not comply with Liang’s demands. We accept that, in all probability, Chang would not have offended absent that element of threat. He was also suffering financial difficulties at the time, he has shown genuine remorse for his actions and he admitted his office at the earliest opportunity. There is no suggestion that Chang committed any betting offence.’
Chang was given a three-year ban in June 2023 for fixing a match, reduced to two years following early admissions and his plea of guilty, which kept him out of snooker until December 2024 – backdated to his original suspension.
A rapid rise on return
Chang quickly won his place back on tour after being able to compete again, winning the Asia-Pacific Snooker Championship by beating Ryan Thomerson 6-1 in the final in April last year.
He has been very impressive since regaining his place on the professional circuit, with his best run so far this season coming at the Scottish Open in December were he reached the final.
He beat Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby and Mark Allen before losing to Chris Wakelin in his first final.
Speaking to World Snooker Tour about his return to the game, Chang explained the huge amount of practice he was putting in with his coach Li Jianbing back in China, before a move back to Sheffield.
‘I was based at Coach Li’s academy and the schedule was very structured, I would practise from 9am to around 8:30pm every day,’ he said. ‘Everything was very disciplined, and he really helped me get into good form. I’m now based at Ding Junhui’s academy in Sheffield and I still have long, focused practice sessions daily, around six to seven hours.’
He added that two of the brightest young talents in the game, Si Jiahui and Wu Yize, have been his rivals through their young careers and he intends to reach their level as quickly as possible.
‘Over the past two years, I have gained perspective,’ he said. ‘Now I approach matches with a much calmer mindset. My goal is to catch up with players like Wu Yize and Si Jiahui. We grew up playing each other together, and they’ve both made great strides so I’d like to follow their lead.
‘We’ve been close since we were kids. Seeing them succeed definitely motivates me to push harder.’