Michael van Gerwen began his bid for a third World Championship title by easing into the third round.

The Dutchman has not won the biggest tournament in darts since 2019 and is ready to end that drought, opening his campaign with a 3-0 win over Keane Barry.

The highlight was an impressive 167 checkout, finishing with an average of 98.17 at Alexandra Palace.

Van Gerwen knows there is room for improvement but is happy to be in the next round.

James Wade became the first seed to crash out of the World Championship after losing to world number 57 Matt Campbell.

The Canadian produced the biggest win of his career as he came from 2-1 down to beat the four-time semi-finalist 3-2.

Wade, seeded 13th, was in good form, having reached a final, semi-final and quarter-final in the last three major tournaments, but is out of the main event of the year before Christmas.

It’s 8pm on the opening night of the World Darts Championship and Michael van Gerwen is sinking a pint to raucous roars at Alexandra Palace. It’s not the Michael van Gerwen, admittedly, although from a distance there is the same pink bald head, the same iconic lime green shirt, and if you discount the slightly smaller, rather rounder frame it makes for a convincing double.

Van Gerwen, the three-time world champion and last year’s beaten finalist, does not play here until Tuesday but as the man wearing his costume finishes his beer and the room erupts to chants of “Oooooh, Michael van Gerwen!”, the party at Ally Pally is underway. It is utter carnage already.

Later, Michael Smith, the world No 1 and conqueror of Van Gerwen in last year’s final, will take to the stage at the front of the packed hall and begin his title defence. Smith is returning to Ally Pally for the first time since his victory over Van Gerwen, a match that changed his life and produced the greatest leg of darts the sport has ever seen.

Smith’s historic nine-darter in the World Championship final, which came just seconds after Van Gerwen had his own shot at immortality, became the leg that was heard around the world: Wayne Mardle’s iconic commentary – “I CAN’T SPAKE, I CAN’T SPAKE” – helped create the sport’s first genuinely global viral moment, racking up over 30m views on social media.

Afternoon Session (12:30pm)

Round One: Radek Szaganski vs Marko Kantele

Round One: Steve Lennon vs Owen Bates

Round One: William O’Connor vs Bhav Patel

Round Two: Ross Smith vs Niels Zonneveld

Evening Session (7pm)

Round One: Ryan Joyce vs Alex Spellman

Round One: Richard Veenstra vs Ben Robb

Round One: Christian Kist vs Luke Littler

Round Two: Peter Wright vs Jim Williams

The Scot, who won back-to-back crowns at Alexandra Palace in 2015 and 2016, has been looking back to his best this year after a lull and eased through to the third round with a 3-0 success over the Australian.

He set the tone with a 180 with his opening throw of the match and won the first five legs to take command.

Anderson, who averaged 98.29, saw it out in style, taking out 116 for the highest checkout of the match.

The 2021 world champion opened his campaign with a swift 3-0 victory over Conor Scutt on Monday night before thanking the “brilliant crowd” after deciding to play.

Evening Session (7pm)

Round One: Steve Beaton vs Wessel Nijman

Round One: Mike De Decker vs Dragutin Horvat

Round One: Ricardo Pietreczko vs Mikuru Suzuki

Round Two: Michael van Gerwen vs Keane Barry

The World Darts Championship will be held from 15 December 2023 to 3 January 2024 at Alexandra Palace in London.

The tournament will air on Sky Sports’ dedicated Darts channel with coverage beginning on December 15 and running through to the final in January. Sky Sports customers can stream the action online via the app and website.

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Matt Campbell has never reached the third round of the World Championship before and is set to pocket at least £25,000 for defeating James Wade.

Here’s the prize money breakdown:

There is £2.5m in prize money on offer for the World Darts Championship with the champion netting £500,000.

The runner-up earns a cool £200,000 while semi-finalists will pocket £100,000 each and those that reach the quarter-finals winning £50,000.

Fourth-round and third-round losers earn themselves £35,000 and £25,000 respectively while there is £15,000 on offer for the 32 players knocked out in the second round and the 32 first-round losers will take away £7,500.

That won’t be an easy task as 96 players take part in the prestigious championship hoping for their shot at glory. As runner-up back in January, Van Gerwen is seeded second – behind Smith – for this competition with Luke Humphries third and two-time world champion Peter Wright the fourth seed.

Other big names to compete are 2021 winner Gerwyn Price and World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall who will enter the tournament in the second round due to their protected rankings.