Gukesh, Liren draw fourth round game; remain level on points in WC

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren played out a mostly riskfree draw in the fourth round to remain level on points in the World Chess Championship battle on FridayThe two players signed peace after 42 moves vide repetition and are tied on two points each after four games of the 14round showdown The first to reach 75 points will be crowned the championThe 18yearold Gukesh who was playing with black on Friday is the youngestever challenger for the title and had won the third game on WednesdayTowards the end I had some chances to press better but with black this is all you can expect Gukesh said after the gameI am just trying to make good moves he added when asked about the prospect of becoming the youngest world championThe 32yearold Liren had won the opening game before the two played out a draw in the second gameThis round I tried to play safe It turns out I got a little bit of an advantage The score is still balanced There are more games to come Liren saidI had a rest day to recover from the tough loss I am in a very good mood It worked well not so bad he addedWith just 10 games remaining under the classical time control Gukesh will have the advantage of playing white in the fifth gameOn Friday Liren started with the birds opening trying to take out on the queens bishop early in the opening which was a clear indication that the Chinese wanted to fight the Indian on the skill rather than preparationAlso Read lsquoAll about doing right thingsrsquoGukesh was up to the task in responding as he matched Liren move for move and the pieces traded hands leading to equalityThe players eventually reached rook and pawns endgame which was theoretically drawn and the split of a point was a just resultViswanathan Anand is so far the only Indian to have won the title having claimed it five times in his career The semiretired legend made the ceremonial first move for Gukesh on FridayIf Liren thought he was surprising Gukesh with his opening choice the Indian was unperturbed exchanging the dark square Bishop early in the openingThe game took shape sans the darksquared Bishops right from the early stages and Gukesh had no problems in maintaining the balanceSince I cannot see my reactions during the game because I am the one who is playing I dont know if I am able to maintain this kind of poker face if my opponent makes some mistakes Liren saidThe two players will have their second rest day on MondayThe Moves Nf3 d5 2 e3N f6 3 b3 Bf5 4 Be2 h6 5 Ba3 Nbd7 6 OO e6 7 Bxf8 Nxf8 c4 N8d7 9 Nc3 OO 10 cxd5 exd5 11 b4 c6 12 Nd4 Bh7 13 Qb3 Ne5 14 a4 Rc8 15 a5 b6 16 Nf3 Nxf3 17 Bxf3 d4 18 Ne2 dxe3 19 dxe3 Be4 20 Rfd1 Qe7 Bxe4 Nxe4 22 axb6 axb6 23 Nc3 Rfd8 24 Nxe4 Qxe4 25 h3 c5 26 Rxd8 Rxd8 27 bxc5 bxc5 28 Rc1 Qe5 29 Qc2 Rd5 30 g3 f5 31 Kg2 Kh7 32 Qc4 Qd6 e4 Re5 34 exf5 Rxf5 35 Qe4 Qd5 36 Qxd5 Rxd5 37 Kf3 Kg6 38 Ke4 Rd4 39 Ke3 Rd5 40 Ke4 Rd4 41 Ke3 Rd5 42 Ke4Rd4 Game drawnThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever