The tournament will be held at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, on the weekend of November 5 and 6 and will feature a field of 16 players, with 12 invited and four more to come through a qualifying event.

Last year's event in Bradford was won by Jimmy White, who beat Steve Davis in the final. Many of snooker's great players and characters of the past three decades will feature again.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW, for details see www.worldsnooker.com/tickets or call 0871 620 7052.

The random draw for the first round took place tonight and the line up is:

Defending champion JIMMY WHITE v Former World No 2 TONY KNOWLES
1991 World Champion JOHN PARROTT v 1986 World Champion JOE JOHNSON
The fastest cue in snooker TONY DRAGO v Six times World Champion STEVE DAVIS
New Zealand's best ever player DENE O'KANE v Former World No 3 NEAL FOULDS
1980 World Champion CLIFF THORBURN v Canadian snooker legend DOUG MOUNTJOY
Current Sky Shoot-Out champion NIGEL BOND v 1985 World Champion DENNIS TAYLOR
Karl Townsend x Steve Ventham
Gary Wilkinson x Darren Morgan

Total prize money on offer is £53,000, with the winner to pocket a cheque for £18,000.

All players will be aged over 45, a change from last year's event which was over-40. All matches will be the best of three frames, with a 30-second shot clock. The last 16 will take place on Saturday November 5, and the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on Sunday November 6. There will be further random draws for the quarter finals and semi finals at the venue.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: "We introduced the World Seniors Championship last year and it was a great success so we're delighted to keep it on the calendar this season. And we're particularly thrilled that Sky Sports have decided to televise the whole event live, as well as showing highlights over the Christmas period.

"This tournament is about celebrating the great names of the past 30 years. Last year I was particularly impressed by the way the players interacted with the crowd and enjoyed the fun and banter. The atmosphere was a joy for anyone who was lucky enough to have a seat. And make no mistake - the players are still extremely competitive and there was some very high quality snooker played, particularly by the champion Jimmy White.

"We've moved the event to an excellent venue in Peterborough with 430 seats. I would strongly recommend fans to get their seats booked for what is a unique event on the calendar."

Qualifiers

South West Snooker Academy, Gloucester
10 October, 2011

10,00
1 - John Welsh 0-2 Ian Brumby
2 - Andrew Milliard 2-1 Steve Newbury
3 - Dean Reynolds 1-3 Steve Ventham
4 - David Roe 2-0 Patsy Fagan
5 - Led Dodd 2-0 Tony Brown
6 - Kevin Uzzell 1-2 Mike Hallett

11,30
7 - Karl Townsend 2-1 David Singh
8 - Stephen Meakin 2-0 Wayne Jones
9 - Dessie Sheehan 1-2 Ali Bassiri
10 - David Taylor 2-0 Christopher Flight
11 - Jimmy O'Shea 1-2 Tony Cahppel
12 - Gary Miller  0-2 Gary Wilkinson 

1pm
Barry Stark 2-0 Ian Brumby
Andrew Millard 0-2 Steve Ventham
David Roe 2-0 Les Dodd
Daren Morgan 2-0 Mike Hallett

2,30pm
John McBride 0-2 Karl Townsend
Steve Meakin 2-0 Ali Bassini
David Taylor 0-2 Tony Chappel
Gary Wilkinson BYE

4,30pm
QF1 - Steve Ventham 2-1 Barry Stark
QF2 - Darren Morgan 2-0 David Roe

7pm
QF3 - Karl Townsend 2-0 Steve Meakin
QF4 - Gary Wilkinson 2-1 Tony Chappel

All matches will be the best of 3 frames.