The China Open gets underway on Monday with players looking to find their form ahead of the World Championship.

This year’s China Open is the most lucrative ever with a total of £1million in prize money being given out.

The winner will win a massive £225,000 – only the winner of the World Champion will receive a higher pay cheque this season.

And there are top players who doing well in China is of utter importance – that’s because their automatic places in the upcoming World Championship is under threat.

Arguably the biggest name under threat is this year’s Masters winner Mark Allen who needs a good run in Beijing to ensure he gets a secured spot at the Crucible in a few weeks time.

An early loss could mean Allen would have to win THREE qualifying matches to guarantee his spot at the World Championship.

And it’s not just Mark Allen in need of wins.

The likes of former world champions Stuart Bingham and Neil Robertson will hope to avoid early setbacks in China so they can seal a spot at the Crucible once again.

And promising talent Anthony McGill will also look nervously behind his shoulder should he be knocked out of the prestigious tournament in the early stages.

Also defending champion Mark Selby will hope to get back into some form. Selby has struggled this season and will hope to get back winning ways this week with the long term ambition of winning a third World Championship title in a row.

Here is the draw for the Last 64 stage:

Mark Selby/Wang Yuchen vs Scott Donaldson

Ben Woollaston vs Lee Walker

Lyu Haotian vs Liam Highfield

Stephen Maguire vs Fergal O’Brien

Mark Davis vs Michael Holt

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Mark Williams

Kurt Maflin vs Yan Bingtao

Noppon Saengkham vs Mark Allen

John Higgins vs Martin O’Donnell

Anthony Hamilton vs Jack Lisowski

Ali Carter vs Gary Wilson

Joe Perry vs Chris Totten

Peter Ebdon/Zhang Yong or Chang Bingyu  vs Mark King

Andrew Higginson/Chen Feilong or Fan Zhengyi vs Kyren Wilson

Jimmy Robertson vs Xiao Guodong

Craig Steadman vs Ding Junhui/Michael Georgiou

Jak Jones vs Nigel Bond

Zhou Yuelong vs Chen Zhe

Neil Robertson vs Robbie Williams

Martin Gould vs Sam Craigie

Hamza Akbar vs Ricky Walden

Matthew Stevens vs Stuart Bingham

Mark Joyce vs Graeme Dott

Chris Wakelin vs Shaun Murphy

Barry Hawkins vs Sam Baird

Michael White vs Paul Davison

Luca Brecel vs Cao Yupeng

David Gilbert vs Mike Dunn

Duane Jones vs Liang Wenbo/Rhys Clark

Stuart Carrington/Basem Eltahhan or Luo Honghao vs Anthony McGill

Tom Ford vs Yuan Sijun

Elliott Slessor vs Ronnie O’Sullivan/Ross Muir