Setting the bar

With a 1.5-0.5 lead, Ding had every reason to smile heading into Game 3! | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Everyone wondered... could Gukesh level the score before the rest day? | Photo: Eng Chin An

The fight began... | Photo: Maria Emelianova

d4 it was! Gukesh played his opponent’s favorite opening | Photo: Eng Chin An

Ding spent a lot of time in the opening | Photo: Eng Chin An

Both the players were locked in a mental tug-of-war | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Bc2... a move that trapped Ding! | Photo: Eng Chin An

A move that made him think for 33 minutes! | Photo: Eng Chin An

One was lost in finding solution while the other was lost in setting the trap | Photo: Eng Chin An

Ding made another blunder… Rh5?? | Photo: Eng Chin An

Gukesh had to find the only winning move… Ne2 | Photo: Maria Emelianova

At this point, it was interesting to see the audience’s reaction | Photo: Eng Chin An

Things were getting serious | Photo: Eng Chin An

Gukesh’s fans: “Please, Ne2… please!!!” | Photo: Eng Chin An

And he played it!!!

Ding realized he was almost losing… both positionally and on time | Photo: Eng Chin An

Gukesh was calmly calculating the winning moves | Photo: Maria Emelianova

With no escape, the Champion lost on time | Photo: Maria Emelianova

You can guess the result just by their faces | Photo: Eng Chin An

The calculator finally won his first game in the World Championship! | Photo: Eng Chin An

As Ding had predicted earlier, "It was indeed a big fight!" | Photo: Maria Emelianova