Masters 2025: Ronnie O'Sullivan compares Mark Selby to chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov – 'This is chess with balls'

Ronnie O'Sullivan watched two of his fiercest rivals in the sport do battle in the first round of the 51st Masters on Monday evening. It proved a comfortable night for Mark Selby, who thumped Ali Carter 6-1 with a series of brilliant scoring visits. It prompted some serious praise from O'Sullivan, who compared Selby to Ray Reardon, Steve Davis and even chess great Garry Kasparov.

‘Chess with balls!’ - O’Sullivan, McManus and Selby in must-watch mental health discussion

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Ronnie O'Sullivan was quick to heap praise on Mark Selby following his ruthless 6-1 demolition of Ali Carter in the first round of the Masters at London's Alexandra Palace on Monday night.

After watching Selby ease into the quarter-finals of the sport's greatest invitational event for the 12th time with breaks of 62, 108, 93, 126 and 53, O'Sullivan compared his old rival to six-time world champions Ray Reardon and Steve Davis, who were famed for their tactical supremacy.

Selby will face Mark Allen or Si Jiahui for a semi-final spot on Thursday night.

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"He’s probably like Reardon style play," O'Sullivan told Eurosport. "Reardon was an amazing safety player, great break-builder, amazing potter, and had everything. He was the ultimate player, like Davis.

"Not so much [seven-time world champion Stephen] Hendry. He was more of a potter like Judd [Trump].

"But as the complete player, with Davis and Reardon as all-time greats, you would put him in the same bracket."

During a chat with 1994 Masters champion Alan McManus and Selby – winner of the event in 2008, 2010 and 2013 – the record eight-time Masters holder compared Selby's strategic skills in snooker to Russia's celebrated chess icon Garry Kasparov.

Like Kasparov analysing a chess board, O'Sullivan, who withdrew from his title defence due to exhaustion, feels Selby has all the moves covered on a snooker table and is a step ahead of his opponents.

"You look at all these chess players," said the seven-time world champion. "They're all nuts, and they get away with it. This is chess with balls.

"It is a mental sport. You've got to be so clever, thinking so many moves ahead. Well, this is no different. This is Kasparov sitting here."

Garry Kasparov studies a chess board in 1990.

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Baku-born Kasaprov is a professional chess grandmaster, who famously became the youngest undisputed world champion in 1985, a title he held until 2000, at the age of 22 with victory over compatriot Anatoly Karpov.

India's 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest world champion in 2024, but former world No. 1 Kasparov still holds several records, including 15 consecutive tournament victories.

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"Chess is mental torture," he is famously quoted as saying.

This chimes with O'Sullivan's previous views on Selby after describing him in his autobiography as 'The Torturer' for his ability to suffocate his opponents with his uncompromising style of matchplay.

Warming to the theme of the three-time Masters champion Selby's ability to lace superior safety play with heavy scoring, O'Sullivan feels only world No. 1 Judd Trump can handle the Leicester professional in peak condition.

"I don’t think I’ve seen Mark play this well for six or seven years, maybe," said O’Sullivan.

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"He looks really, really sharp, his safety is always great and he’s scoring really well. You look at the reaction he’s getting out of the cue ball. He’s got all the shots at the moment.

‘"It’s impossible to play against, really. You’d have to play like Judd Trump, really top class snooker, to put Selby under a little bit of pressure.

"But you don’t half have to play some serious snooker to do that."

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