Ding Liren’s world championship match with Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju remained on level terms with an uneventful 42-minute draw on Friday in the fourth game of their $2.5m meeting in Singapore.
The 32-year-old reigning champion from Zhejiang province, playing with the white pieces for the second time, caused the challenger some initial discomfort by switching to the offbeat Zukertort Opening (1 Nf3) and continuing the surprise with 5 Ba3.