Black had to lose some time to finish development, but this is not serious since the white pieces are not in threatening positions and the center is well controlled.
1. g1f3 Historically Ding’s main move is 1.d4. In his first white game he went for 1.e4. Now he tries a third option. 1... d7d5  2. e2e3  2... g8f6  3. b2b3 Ding has never played this before. With this move he shows that he wants a position without much theory and without many risks for this game. 3... c8f5 Black has many development options: he can put the bishop on g4, play 3...e6 and then develop it with the fianchetto (b6-Bb7) or he can immediately develop the other bishop with 3...g6. The move played is also natural and good. 4. f1e2  4... h7h6 A prophylactic move, giving a square back to the bishop. After the immediate 4...e6 White can grab the bishop with 5.Nh4, which is already one of the very few benefits offered by his opening system. 5. c1a3 White, in turn, exploits Black's slight delay in playing ...e7-e6 to place the bishop on a somewhat surprising diagonal, making Black's development a bit more difficult. 5... b8d7  6. e1g1  6... e7e6  7. a3f8  7... d7f8  8. c2c4 