Now the bishop is trapped and will eventually be captured. Black won't have enough compensation for the piece. Although there's still a lot of play left, there is a major shift in the assessment of the position. Furthermore, Gukesh had a large advantage on the clock at this point.
1. d2d4 Gukesh changes his opening move after a loss in the first game when facing the French Defense. The die-hard supporters of this defense, of which there are plenty, must be really happy. 1... g8f6  2. g1f3  2... d7d5  3. c2c4  3... e7e6 The nuances of opening play in a match are very interesting. Hundreds of hours of analysis are devoted not only by the players who are currently on the board, but by many strong grandmasters, some of whom remain anonymous. New ideas are demonstrated and chess players from all over the world immediately begin to study them, leading to a great advance in opening knowledge. 4. c4d5  4... e6d5  5. b1c3  5... c7c6  6. d1c2  6... g7g6 Theoretically this is the \"problem\" with White's move order, since Black's bishop can be developed on f5. This position was previously considered harmless for Black, but new ideas have been discovered for White recently. 7. h2h3 A rare move that was played twice by Kramnik in 2023. 7... c8f5  8. c2b3  8... d8b6 The natural reply, but not forced. 9. g2g4 The bishop must be chased; otherwise White's opening play is pointless. 9... b6b3 Black has three equally good moves: 9...Qxb3, 9...Be6 and 9...Be4. 10. a2b3  10... f5c2 A critical move, but I wonder if retreating the bishop to e6 wasn't a more practical choice. 11. c1f4  11... h7h5 Black fights to give the light-squared bishop a way back. 12. h1g1 It's important to keep the pawn on g4 in order to restrict the c2-bishop. 12... h5g4  13. h3g4  13... b8d7 Ding finds a strong novelty, although it took him a long time on the clock. 14. f3d2 The bishop is stuck on c2, but Ding had foreseen this. 14... h8g8 The only way to justify 13...Nbd7. Black is right in time to save the bishop. The idea is to play …g6-g5 and bring it back. 15. g4g5 This grants the bishop the f5-square. 15... f6h5  16. f4h2 White's plan is to play f3-e4. 16... g8h8 Great efficiency from the rook. Having done its job on the g8, it's time to go back to an open file. 17. f2f3 Another innacuracy. 17... h5g7  18. h2g3 The critical moment in the game. 18... h8h5 Ding is careless with the c2-bishop. He certainly miscalculated something.