Suddenly won the game: Gukesh

He was fighting back after wasting the advantage of his opening only to see Ding blunder and resign on move 29

- Susan Ninan

The calm of the past couple of games was building toward a storm.

The tipping point finally arrived in Game II. In a game which oscillated in momentum and could have gone either way, it came down to nerves. Reigning world champion, Ding Liren, cracked and blundered. He now trails in the World Championship match with just three classical games to go. Gukesh not only takes a whole point and the lead in the match but also $200,000 for his Game II win.

"This is a very, very important win," said Gukesh. "You think you're just losing and then you get some chance. I mean, you get out of danger and then you suddenly see that you can actually take over the game. It's such a very pleasant feeling. Basically, I was just making moves and it quickly went completely out of control for him. We were going head-to-head for like the last seven games. I missed a couple of chances earlier. Especially, since this game could have easily gone the other way as well, this is a very important win. There are three more important games to go." Of the remaining three games, Ding will have the White pieces in two of them.

Ding described it as a "difficult" game for himself. This loss must feel like a huge blow to the champion, coming so close to the finish.