D Gukesh Vs Ding Liren, World Chess Championship Highlights: Both GMs Share Spoils In Game 4, Scores Tied At 2-2

Welcome to the live coverage of the FIDE World Championship 2024 where D Gukesh is aiming to dethrone reigning champion Ding Liren. It is the fourth game today.

CLICK HERE to know how you can watch the Gukesh vs Liren Game 4 of World Chess Championship.

Check out what happened in Game three where Gukesh registered his first win to level scores.

The series is currently level with both Gukesh and Liren having 1.5 points each after three rounds. Gukesh lost the first game and then held Liren in the second before bouncing back to win the third. In the fourth game, the Indian will again take black.

The match will commence at 2:30pm IST. Remember, the first among the two to get to 7.5 points will be the world champion. Both currently at 1.5.

The champion and the challenger are seated. We are ready to begin with round four in three minutes.

China's legendary Xie Jun playes the first ceremonial move for Ding and Viswanathan Anand plays the ceremonial first step for Gukesh. Te game begins now.

Liren starts with Knight to F3. Gukesh pushes pawn to D5 to begin. The Chinese even went away from the seat to get a bottle of water. He has now put his coat off. Looking very relaxed the Chinese champion.

Liren's second move is pawn to E3 and Gukesh replies with Knight to F6. Liren then pushes pawn to B3.

Gukesh takes some time and brings his bishop out to F5. Liren does not take much time to reply and brings his own bishop to E2. Gukesh replies with pawn to H6. Liren has his bishop to A3 now.

Liren has surprised Gukesh here. Perhaps this was not what the Indian was expecting his Chinese rival to start with.

Liren is off the chair and gone to eat banana and some nuts. Looks like he is hungry for win. Gukesh on the other hand is seated with hands on cheek and thinking hard for his next move.

Gukesh brings his knight to d4 and Ding is back on his seat to brainstorm. The Chinese has not taken much time with his moves so far in the game. But this time he thinks.

Here are the first five moves of the game:

1 Nf3 d5
2 e3 Nf6
3 b3 Bf5
4 Be2 h6
5 Ba3 Nbd7

Liren captures dark-squared bishop of Gukesh by taking his own to F8. The Indian replies with capturing the black-squared bishop of his rival by dragging his knight back to F8. Liren now puts pawn to C4. Gukesh brings his knight back to D7. This opens up the castle on the king side for the Indian.

Moves So Far

1. Nf3 - d5

2. e3 - Nf6

3. b3 - Bf5

4. Be2 - h6

5. Ba3 - Nbd7

6. O-O - e6

7. BxBf8 - Nxf8

8. c4 - N8d7

Gukesh is playing with black, while Ding has white.

Indian GM Gukesh plays it safe and castles his king, just as most GMs predicted. Ding, sticking to his usual cautious white-game style, moves his knight to c3. It’s a solid move, nothing too flashy. So far, Ding’s pattern is clear: bold and unpredictable with black, but a bit more reserved when playing white, even with his quirky opening.

Here's how the board stands after 12 moves.

Gukesh takes his time. He’s been pondering his response to Qb3 for 15 minutes now, leaving him with less time on the clock than Ding. The pressure is starting to build.

Moves So Far

1. Nf3 (white) - d5 (black)

2. e3 - Nf6

3. b3 - Bf5

4. Be2 - h6

5. Ba3 - Nbd7

6. O-O - e6

7. BxBf8 - Nxf8

8. c4 - N8d7

9. Nc3 - O-O

10. cxd5 - exd5

11. b4 - c6

12. Nd4 - Bh7

13. Qb3 - Ne5

Gukesh spent almost 30 minutes deciding on his 13th move before finally jumping his knight to e5. Despite all that thinking, he’s still neck-and-neck with Ding on the clock. Now that’s some cool under pressure.

Oh, This Doesn’t Look Good for the Indian GM. Gukesh’s pawn to b6 has tilted the game in Ding’s favor, with the computer now showing 29% for the Chinese champion and just 18.4% for the Indian star. This is the strongest position Ding has had all game! Gukesh is taking his time planning his next move, but thankfully, there’s no time crunch, both players still have an hour to handle the next 26 moves.

Moves So Far

1. Nf3 (white) - d5 (black)

2. e3 - Nf6

3. b3 - Bf5

4. Be2 - h6

5. Ba3 - Nbd7

6. O-O - e6

7. BxBf8 - Nxf8

8. c4 - N8d7

9. Nc3 - O-O

10. cxd5 - exd5

11. b4 - c6

12. Nd4 - Bh7

13. Qb3 - Ne5

14. a4 - Rc8

15. a5 - b6

16. Nf3 - Ncf3+

17. Bxf3 - d4

18. Ne2 - dxe3

19. dxe3 - Be4

20. Rfd1 - Qe7

21. Bxe4 - Nxe4

It is evident that things are moving much quicker today compared to the first few days. Both players have made 21 moves and have 19 more to go. Gukesh has 51:23 left, while Ding’s clock is down to 45:15 and counting.On the board, Gukesh and Ding trade pawns on the b-file, and Ding takes charge of the open a-file with his rook.

It’s looking like a draw is the most likely outcome here, unless someone slips up. The pieces are flying off the board quickly, and Ding is speeding through his moves, but it’s not enough to rattle Gukesh. Right now, it's less about the moves and more about keeping your cool.

Moves So Far

1. Nf3 (white) - d5 (black)

2. e3 - Nf6

3. b3 - Bf5

4. Be2 - h6

5. Ba3 - Nbd7

6. O-O - e6

7. BxBf8 - Nxf8

8. c4 - N8d7

9. Nc3 - O-O

10. cxd5 - exd5

11. b4 - c6

12. Nd4 - Bh7

13. Qb3 - Ne5

14. a4 - Rc8

15. a5 - b6

16. Nf3 - Ncf3+

17. Bxf3 - d4

18. Ne2 - dxe3

19. dxe3 - Be4

20. Rfd1 - Qe7

21. Bxe4 - Nxe4

22. Nc3 - Rfd8

23. Nxe4 - Qxe4

24. h3 - c5

25. Rxd8+ - Rxd8

26. bxc5 - bxc5

27. Rc1 - Qe5

Here's how the board stands after 30 moves.

Moves So Far

1. Nf3 (white) - d5 (black)

2. e3 - Nf6

3. b3 - Bf5

4. Be2 - h6

5. Ba3 - Nbd7

6. O-O - e6

7. BxBf8 - Nxf8

8. c4 - N8d7

9. Nc3 - O-O

10. cxd5 - exd5

11. b4 - c6

12. Nd4 - Bh7

13. Qb3 - Ne5

14. a4 - Rc8

15. a5 - b6

16. Nf3 - Ncf3+

17. Bxf3 - d4

18. Ne2 - dxe3

19. dxe3 - Be4

20. Rfd1 - Qe7

21. Bxe4 - Nxe4

22. Nc3 - Rfd8

23. Nxe4 - Qxe4

24. h3 - c5

25. Rxd8+ - Rxd8

26. bxc5 - bxc5

27. Rc1 - Qe5

28. Rc1 - Qe5

29. Qc2 - Rd5

30. g3 - f5

31. Kg2 - Kh7

32. Qc4 - Qd6

33. e4 - Re5

34. exf5 - Rxf5

35. Qe4 - Qd5

36. Qxd5 - Rxd5

37. Kf3 - Kg6

A major shift on the board as Gukesh decides to trade Queens, allowing Ding’s Black Queen to be captured by White.

36. Qxd5 - Rxd5

After a series of moves involving the White King and Black Rook, the game finally ended in a draw following move 42. With this result, the scores are now tied at 2-2 in the World Chess Championship 2024.

Last Few Moves:
39. Ke3 - Rd5
40. Ke4 - Rd4+
41. Ke3 - Rd5
42. Ke4 - Rd4+

When asked if he was surprised by Ding's opening, Gukesh replied, “It wasn’t a completely new line. I had seen it somewhere before, but it was still a bit of a surprise when I saw it on the board. At one point, I felt Ding had a slight edge, but I managed to neutralize it.”

All The Moves

1. Nf3 (white) - d5 (black)

2. e3 - Nf6

3. b3 - Bf5

4. Be2 - h6

5. Ba3 - Nbd7

6. O-O - e6

7. BxBf8 - Nxf8

8. c4 - N8d7

9. Nc3 - O-O

10. cxd5 - exd5

11. b4 - c6

12. Nd4 - Bh7

13. Qb3 - Ne5

14. a4 - Rc8

15. a5 - b6

16. Nf3 - Ncf3+

17. Bxf3 - d4

18. Ne2 - dxe3

19. dxe3 - Be4

20. Rfd1 - Qe7

21. Bxe4 - Nxe4

22. Nc3 - Rfd8

23. Nxe4 - Qxe4

24. h3 - c5

25. Rxd8+ - Rxd8

26. bxc5 - bxc5

27. Rc1 - Qe5

28. Rc1 - Qe5

29. Qc2 - Rd5

30. g3 - f5

31. Kg2 - Kh7

32. Qc4 - Qd6

33. 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. Ke4 - Rd4+

That’s all from game four, as the World Chess Championship stays tied at 2-2. We’ll be back on Saturday with coverage of game five. Until then, goodbye.