comment: An opening novelty that was played instantly. The idea is to hold the pawn on d4 firmly, as it's the important stronghold in White's position. Development can be completed by moving the knight to f4, also preparing an attack on the kingside. White has a space advantage, a characteristic of this pawn structure, so if he manages to finish development the attack can be very dangerous.
context: 1. e2e4 Gukesh is finally ready to face the French Defense again. 1... e7e6  2. d2d4  2... d7d5  3. b1c3  3... g8f6  4. e4e5  4... f6d7  5. c3e2 The challenger plays the same plan he tried in the first game of the match, albeit with a different move order (there he played 5.f4 first). 5... c7c5  6. c2c3  6... b8c6  7. a2a3 A rare move. 7.f4 transposes to the position discussed in the first game of the match. 7... f8e7 