Gukesh fends off surprise, draws Game 4 with Black

Ding Liren arrived for Game 4 of the World Championship on Friday with a simple plan - play a solid, positional game with White and wait for errors and overeagerness from his teenaged opponent.

- Susan Ninan

The errors never came, Gukesh played solidly, White's positional advantage was miniscule and the game eventually petered out into a draw.

The match in Singapore stands at 2-2 with 10 classical games to go. The player who reaches 7.5 points first will be declared champion.

Gukesh will be glad with how he's handled the match and its attendant pressures so far with calm and spades of pragmatism.

Ding's seconds, Hungary's Richard Rapport and fellow Chinese Ni Hua, rode down the elevator with him and were spotted alongside the world champion publicly before a game in this match for the first time. Rapport, in his bright floral-printed shorts, held up a double-fisted thumbs up at Ding as the reigning world champion disappeared behind a door, towards the playing arena.