With nerves no longer a concern for him, teenaged Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh will hold the psychological edge against a slightly shaken defending champion Ding Liren when the two resume their intriguing battle for the World Championship crown in the fourth round here on Friday. Having demonstrated better preparation and claimed his first victory in the third round, Gukesh, 18, is expectedly upbeat and would be looking to just relax on the first rest today (Thursday). 

With a maximum of 11 games remaining under classical time control, the scores are tied at 1.5-1.5. This was after Liren won the opener and the second game ended in a draw. Gukesh has clearly shown better preparation, while Liren’s calculation let him down in the third game. The match had started with Gukesh facing the Chinese in a French defense game with white pieces and his initial progress gave the Indian a huge time advantage, which he held till the end.