Gukesh Dommaraju meant business. For the first time, he arrived at the playing hall for the FIDE World Championship match before his opponent Ding Liren. There was a purposeful swagger to his entry for game 13, one of a man who knew this was a big opportunity that he had to capture.
Follow LIVE: Gukesh vs Ding, game 14 of World Championship
He clearly wanted to make his last game with white pieces count. There was solid reasoning behind it, too. He's had a look-in in only one of Ding's white games so far, and he definitely is the inferior player in the faster time controls, which will be used for the tie-breaks. This was his chance to make a decisive move on that World Championship crown. His team had prepared what he later termed a "really cool idea".
Sure enough, from very early on it seemed like there was only one player who could've won this game. Around move 30, it was looking like a real possibility that Gukesh would go into the final game leading by a point.
He pushed and pushed, eking out an advantage out of the opening and then really finding a tangible advantage towards the end game. The issue for the young Indian challenger, however, was that his opponent managed to defend expertly to the position of neutrality.
Gukesh had made a slight inaccuracy, choosing to move his knight to the center, instead of trading rooks. Even then, Ding wasn't out of danger. He had to find one move - 31.Rf8, and of course, he did. The advantage that Gukesh had so methodically built was all gone. Right there, the two players could have shaken hands and gone back to the comfort of their hotel rooms.
That's not what Gukesh does, though. He just kept playing, kept trying to make gold from absolutely nothing. Eventually, that's what it was, nothing. After 38 moves of this nothingness, the two shook hands and decided to come back for one final battle on Thursday evening.
When the teenager looks back on this match in hindsight, he will regret a number of missed opportunities. He had those in games 7 and 8 too, but this was perhaps the one that got away the most. He out-prepared his opponent, displayed terrific control in the middle game, didn't overreach or get overexcited, and then one slight misjudgment made it all go poof.
That move 31.Rf8? Gukesh called it an unpleasant surprise. He's a genius at calculating moves on the board, and yet he didn't see that as a viable option for Ding. To be fair, neither did the Chinese. Ding said that he stumbled on the move as a pleasant surprise, as he found an additional resource to defend against Gukesh's marauding pieces.
It was a throwback to the best of Ding, who was a master at finding resources to defend, and based on the evidence of 13 games so far, he has been close to his defensive best. He needed to be, against an opponent who has kept pushing and prodding him to find openings.
The two players have one more tough fight remaining in classical chess before potential tie-breaks. Gukesh will certainly bring the fight. He might have the slight disadvantage having the black pieces, but will once again have to rely on his preparation, which has been outstanding from him and his team so far. The Indian said it's only fair that the match is going into its last game with everything tied, such has been the fighting spirit and the quality of the chess on show.
There will be nerves ahead of game 14, he said, and there will be excitement as well ahead of what is the biggest game of his life. Before that though, he will have to find a way to bounce back from this massive missed opportunity.
The pacy swagger at the start of the evening gave way to dejection at the end of the match, even as the relief on Ding's face was palpable. Gukesh knew that this was a golden opportunity he had just let slip. The good news is that he's still alive in this match, and as long as that's the case, Gukesh knows only one way.
All of 18, he will once again bring the fight on the biggest day of his life so far.