Canada's Gushue defeats Czech Republic, climbing to 4-2 record at men's curling worlds

Canada's Brad Gushue defeated Lukas Klima of the Czech Republic 8-3 on Tuesday afternoon at the world men's curling championship in Ottawa.

Canada stole three points in the fourth end and wrapped up the victory in eight ends.

Gushue, vice Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden and lead Geoff Walker improved to 4-2, good for a fifth-place tie with Japan's Riku Yanagisawa.

WATCH | Gushue tops Czech Republic:

"We're still in a position where we control our own fate ... that's all we can do and we'll see what happens," Gushue said.

The top six teams in the 13-team field will qualify for the weekend playoffs. Round-robin play continues through Friday night at TD Place.

In the other afternoon games, defending champion Niklas Edin of Sweden (6-0) defeated Japan 9-6 to remain unbeaten and Germany's Sixten Totzek beat Turkey's Ugurcan Karagoz 9-6.

After 10 draws, Norway and Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller were tied in second place at 5-1. Scotland's Bruce Mouat was next at 4-1 and Italy was alone in seventh place at 3-3.

Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.

WATCH | That Curling Show — Gushue prepares to face world's best on home ice:

Gushue's schedule will pick up starting Wednesday when he begins a run of three straight two-game days. He'll play in the morning and evening each day and still has some notable competition to come.

Canada will play 2018 Olympic champ John Shuster of the United States on Wednesday night after a match with Korea in the morning, Scotland on Thursday and Sweden in the round-robin finale Friday evening.

The Canadian team skipped by Kerri Einarson took bronze at last month's world women's curling championship in Sandviken, Sweden.

Canada's last world title at either event came in 2018 when Jennifer