Round 4: It’s advantage Gukesh for now v Ding Liren

India’s Grandmaster D Gukesh. PIC/PTI

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.

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"It's always nice to win a game, also for the first against such a strong opponent. I think it means more that I got a win in the World Championship, and a very important win," a visibly pleased Gukesh had said after Wednesday's game. The wyoungster lost the opener playing badly in a complicated middle game but could take heart from the fact that his preparation had come good.

In the second game, which was his first white, Liren chose a solid variation in the Italian opening and Gukesh had no troubles whatsoever in equalising easily out of the opening itself. The game ended in a mere 23 moves vide repetition earning Gukesh a lot of respect for his flawless play with a slightly unfavourable colour. Coming in to the third game ahead of the first rest day, Gukesh decided to put all his energy and his opening choice yet again made Liren spend more than half of the allotted time on the first 14 moves itself.

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