Dave Chisnall lost a tie-break to Ricardo Pietreczko on Saturday at Alexandra Palace, but nevertheless Chizzy remains buoyant about the 2026 season. Read his exclusive thoughts on this year’s PDC World Darts Championship with kwiff.
Dave Chisnall: Bitter Pill to Swallow at Ally Pally
Another early exit, another annoying tie-break, I’m beginning to go off the darts at Alexandra Palace. I thought I played better than I ddi when losing to Ricky 12 months ago, but the result remains the same and it means home before Christmas again.
Dave Chisnall: Plenty of Positives
There were a lot of positives about the 3-0 defeat of Fallon (Sherrock) on Thursday, even though she did let me in early doors. She should have won the first set and missed plenty of doubles but that’s the name of the game and for the people who called me lucky, you can’t help whether or not the other player hits their doubles or not.
The same thing that happened to Fallon against me went in reverse with me missing easy chances early doors and then struggling as Ricardo went into a 2-0 lead. You’re asking a lot when going two sets down in a race to three but I was happy with how I fought back and levelled up.
Dave Chisnall: Keep Trying
Given how it has arguably been my poorest year in 14 years with the PDC, I can’t complain really given the fact it could have been worse. I know I haven’t played my best darts, but there were lots of positives in Saturday’s defeat to hint that next year might see it back a bit more often. You don’t see many folk go out at this stage having hit 11 x 180s and my scoring was very good again. The doubles need work, but my throw is in good nick and I know what I need to do to get better.
It’s not worth getting upset over, life is too short and that’s just darts. Don’t get me wrong, it hurts, and you’re gutted after the match – and still a bit gutted now truth be told – but nobody died and that’s just darts. There are 128 players coming to Alexandra Palace looking to be the new PDC World Darts Champion and 127 go home having not done what they came here looking to achieve. If you can’t taking losing a game of darts, this sport isn’t for you.
The bottom line is this year, I’ve given myself too much to do in big games this year – starting all the way back to the Worlds this time last year. I didn’t get ahead until the final set when missing tops for the match and Ricky Evans taking out 110 to take it to a tie break. It’s funny how I can’t remember things when going down the shops but know checkouts and finishes from old matches lol!
Dave Chisnall: World Darts Championship 2026
I probably won’t watch much of the Worlds now, except if it looks like a good game. I hope Stephen (Bunting) has a good record and thought the flak he got from the media for calling himself ‘The People’s Champion’ was bang out of order. All he was saying was that there were people cheering him on and making clips over social media.
I had the same when an interview I did was made to say I didn’t want to face women darts players – when all I was saying was that you can’t win either way because the crowd are always going to cheer for them over you. Luke (Littler) will win it again this year, and looks so comfortable up on that stage. It’s a bit cliche but if anybody beats him then they are probably collecting The Sid Waddell Trophy.
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