Chang Bingyu Fires 147 and Hammers Nasa 5-0 in Shenzhen Open Qualifier
The Pick
If you're looking for a player to follow — and potentially back — through the 2026 Shenzhen Open, Chang Bingyu deserves to be at the very top of your shortlist. The 23-year-old Chinese star is playing snooker of the highest order right now, and Tuesday's qualifier performance against Chatchapong Nasa was nothing short of breathtaking.
What Happened
Chang didn't just beat Nasa — he obliterated him. A 5-0 whitewash in which the Thai player managed just 24 points across the entire match. Let that sink in for a moment. In five frames of snooker, Chang's opponent could barely scrape together a single frame's worth of scoring. The headline act was Chang's third career maximum break, compiled in the fourth frame — a 147 that underlines just how clinical and consistent this young man has become at the table.
But the 147 was only part of the story. Chang also contributed breaks of 135, 134, 109, and 83 across the session. That's four contributions over 80 in a single qualifying match, with a maximum thrown in for good measure. It's the kind of display that makes seasoned snooker watchers sit up and take notice — and it should absolutely be making bookmakers nervous about his Shenzhen Open outright price.
The Analysis
This wasn't a one-off. Chang has been building towards performances like this ever since returning to the main tour at the start of last season. His contemporaries Zhao Xintong and Wu Yize have hogged much of the spotlight as the standard-bearers of Chinese snooker's new golden generation, but Chang is making a compelling case to be mentioned in the same breath.
Cast your mind back to last season's Welsh Open, where Chang defeated Shaun Murphy in a best-of-seven tie that featured four century breaks and a perfect 100% pot success rate. That performance had a similar feel to Tuesday's display — relentless, suffocating, and utterly dominant. He also reached the Scottish Open final last season, confirming he has the temperament and quality to go deep in ranking events. These aren't flukes; this is a player with a genuine ceiling at the very top of the world game.
From a punting perspective, the context matters enormously. Chang is already inside the world's top 50, but crucially, he has no ranking points to defend this season. That means every deep run he makes adds to his tally without any corresponding deductions. A sustained campaign through events like this one could realistically see him pushing for a top-16 ranking by the end of the season — and with it, seeded status that changes his draw prospects entirely. Back him now, before the markets fully price that trajectory in.
The Wider Qualifier Picture
Chang wasn't the only player of interest coming through the Shenzhen Open qualifiers on Tuesday. Among his fellow Chinese players, He Guoqiang, Xu Si, Huang Jiahao, Luo Zetao, and Lan Yuhao all advanced. Lan Yuhao's progress was particularly hard-earned — he came through a 5-4 thriller against Noppon Saengkham, who had posted three century breaks only to come up short in a dramatic decider.
In an all-Welsh affair, Jackson Page got the better of the in-form Dylan Emery 5-3, while Anthony McGill survived a deciding frame against Jordan Brown. Antoni Kowalski — the man who famously secured his tour card by qualifying for the World Snooker Championship just a few months ago — beat Daniel Wells, and the likes of Ricky Walden, Matthew Selt, Oliver Lines, Liam Highfield, and David Grace also made it through to the round of 64.
Wednesday's Key Ties
With the top-16 seeds waiting in the wings for the venue stages in Shenzhen, Wednesday brings the second batch of round-of-64 qualifiers. There are some mouth-watering ties on the card. Luca Brecel faces Pang Junxu in what should be a high-quality encounter between two attacking players, while McGill takes on Jak Jones — fresh from his Championship League Snooker triumph and carrying considerable momentum.
The tie that punters should be watching most closely, however, is Chang Bingyu versus Elliot Slessor. After Tuesday's masterclass, Chang will be brimming with confidence as he attempts to reach what would be a home tournament in Shenzhen. Given the form he's shown, it would take a brave man to oppose him.
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