Greatest darts tournaments ever: Paul Nicholson selects three of his favourites in history

World Championship 2021

We only had fans at Ally Pally for the opening night and the rest was sadly behind closed doors for obvious reasons. This was initially deflating because we’d been looking forward to hearing and seeing a darts atmosphere for the first time since before the pandemic began.

It was like walking around a ghost ship and while working for Talksport 2, we were put right at the back of a cold hall, wearing our coats and facing the bins. However, even though it was freezing I never actually felt ‘cold’ because of all the adrenaline pumping through my veins from all the drama and excitement of the darts.

Darts presenter Abigail Davies is joined by major winner, commentator and Sporting Life columnist Paul Nicholson as well as our very own resident darts expert Chris Hammer to guide you through each quarter the 96-player draw and, hopefully, predict the eventual champion.

Leading pundit and former major winner Paul Nicholson joins host Dom Newton and Sporting Life's darts expert Chris Hammer to discuss the 'darting pyramid', the importance of averages, how to crack Q School and other factors such as choosing sponsors, nicknames and walk-on music.

For a start there were no fewer than 15 matches that went all the way to a sudden death leg in the deciding set – thanks largely to the decision to get rid of the tie-breaker due to the curfews and time restrictions – and that made for thrilling entertainment.

The first round had 10 matches going to deciding sets, including incredible wins for Paul Lim, Ryan Searle, Scott Waites, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Adam Hunt over Lisa Ashton – so that really set the tone for what lay ahead.

Gerwyn Price had to come through two of those 15 last-leg deciders against Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney on his route to the final – which also included a second-round scare against Jamie Lewis – while his clash against Stephen Bunting had an insane amount of 100+ checkouts. There we so many the graphics on our statistics screen had to be made smaller!

That said, the only time Price ever looked nervous was when he was trying to get over the finishing line against Gary Anderson in the final – but eventually he did it to become a very worthy world champion.

Anderson’s angry interview after his victory over Mensur Suljovic due to ‘table-gate’ was a journalist’s dream while the moment John Part’s voice broke when Joe Cullen agonisingly missed the bullseye to beat Michael van Gerwen was another iconic moment!

Cullen had previously hit two double tops in a last-leg decider to beat Jonny Clayton in another match of the tournament contender; it was almost too much to handle.

Dave Chisnall’s finest hour unforgettably arrived in this tournament when obliterating Michael van Gerwen 5-0 with an 107.34 average – he showed everyone what he’s still capable of and there’s nothing MVG could have done. Although wasn’t it phenomenal how he took out 141 after Chizzy failed in his nine-darter attempt!

I hope it never gets labelled as ‘the one that was behind closed doors’ because it should be remembered for how incredible it was. I was so grateful to be there and I’d have to use many pages of my book talking about it.

There may have been no fans, but that didn’t stop a couple of walk-ons earning iconic status; China’s Chengan Liu coming out to Westlife and Russia’s Dmitriy Gorbunov pumping up an empty room with his dance moves!

The actual presentation of the walk-ons, where the players name was lit up on the long walkway was very eye-catching and helped remove the potential of a soulless vibe coming through your TV screens.

Grand Slam of Darts 2015

The hype for this tournament was huge due to the debut of BDO loyalist Martin Adams, who had previously either never attempted to qualify or snubbed invites.

Wolfie being part of this tournament got everyone excited and on top of that – Andy Fordham was in it too! In his first game against Adrian Lewis, he started with a maximum and the crowd went wild.

As for Martin’s first walk-on, we didn’t know how he’d be greeted by the PDC fans but he was embraced by every one of them – and there’s no doubt he owned the group stage because of it, even though Dave Chisnall managed a nine-darter against Peter Wright in their clash.

He won all three of his matches against Ian White, Jelle Klaasen and Steve Beaton to stir up the excitement of a possible meeting with Phil Taylor later down the line so it was a shame he was pipped 10-9 by Kim Huybrechts in the knockout phase.

The standard as a whole was phenomenal and we should talk about this event more. There were 20 100+ averages in the group stage – including a magical 113.86 from Geert De Vos against Jonny Clayton - while there were another 13 in the knockout stages.

Michael van Gerwen achieved it in all seven of his matches, including an 111 in a 16-4 demolition of Huybrechts in the quarter-finals.

Phil Taylor was as imperious as ever throughout, averaging over 100 in his knockout stage victories over Robert Thornton and Raymond van Barneveld as he reached yet another final against his blossoming arch rival.

MVG edged it 16-13 to lift the trophy for the first time in his career to complete a full set of majors, while the pair averaged 100.94 and 102.53 respectively. It really was a fitting way for the tournament to end.

World Matchplay 2018

If anyone has a suggestion for a better World Matchplay, then I’d be arguing with them!

The shock of Michael van Gerwen bowing out to Jeffrey de Zwaan 10-6 in the very first round set the tone for the drama that was to come.

MVG didn’t play particularly badly but the unheralded De Zwaan was so cool on his finishing, you’d have never known it was his debut on such an iconic stage against one of the greatest players ever seen.

Next thing you know, De Zwaan is in the semi-finals after beating two more legendary names in Adrian Lewis and Dave Chisnall with fantastic performances.

He defied Adrian’s 104 average to pip him 11-9 but then produced a 103 of his own in his 16-8 demolition of Chizzy, who had so much more experience in longer format matches and had all the home support.

Although he’d won a ranking event earlier in the season, not even darts hipsters and those in the know would have expected something like this from him so soon and even in his 17-12 defeat to Gary Anderson, he averaged a highly creditable 99. He just caught Gary on one of his special days when he averaged 106!

Before that, Gary’s journey to the final included a thrilling 11-9 victory over Raymond van Barneveld in which he averaged 104 but there was even more drama in his breath-taking quarter-final with Joe Cullen in which he fired ‘that’ nine-darter in the early stages of the match.

Joe played like a future major winner as he bounced back from that to earn match darts – only to be thwarted by a fly on his second one – and eventually bowed out 19-17.

Gary was then the overwhelming favourite to win his first World Matchplay title against Mensur Suljovic, who had battled past Steve Beaton, Ian White and Darren Webster before a scrappy 17-13 triumph over Peter Wright.

It was a weird tournament for Snakebite, who was fiddling with his darts more than ever. Against Simon Whitlock in the quarters he didn’t miss a double in the last 10 legs! He was using small barrels, long stems and a small flight. He didn’t believe those darts would miss a double – and neither did we. He didn’t carry on using those because he’s Peter Wright and against Suljovic he only averaged 88 compared to his opponent’s 90.

However, there was almost disaster for the tournament when Suljovic nearly pulled out of the final due to illness. He wanted to go home and by the middle of the afternoon he was still going to pull out.

However, he somehow got himself together and played an incredible part in an unforgettable final, averaging 104 compared to Anderson’s 101! It went one way and then the other as the match entered extra legs before Gary eventually won it 21-19 – albeit after a match dart at the bullseye fell out - to finally get his hands on the trophy for the first time.

Darts: Related content

• 2023 PDC Darts Calendar
• 2024 World Darts draw, schedule & results
• 2024 PDC Darts Calendar
• 2024 Premier League Season
• How legends would fare today
• Troubles and triumphs
• Tournament ideas for darts
• 'What If' moments in darts
• Agony of missed match darts
• Good, Bad, Ugly: Nicholson on darts shirts
• Referees in darts
• Calling the shots in darts
• Weird actions in darts
• Hidden talents in darts
• Superstitions in darts
• Routes to glory
• Paul Nicholson's five darts drills
• Paul Nicholson's five mental tips
• Paul Nicholson's five practice games
• Worst losers in darts
• World number ones in darts
• Best players never to be number one
• Do averages lie?
• Paul Nicholson's Ally Pally tales
• Watch all the Ally Pally nine-darters
• Players everyone hates to face
• Players everyone loves to face
• How to make it as a pro?
• How much money do players earn?
• Greatest darts rivalries
• Rivalries to cherish
• Be canny with counting
• Phil Taylor's greatest display
• World Cup of Great Darts performances