The rook occupies a central position. This is an active square, but it also leaves the rook open to an attack by the f-pawn.
1. c2c4 Continuing the match trend of a new opening per game, this time Ding Liren plays the English Opening. It certainly didn't come as a surprise to Gukesh's team. 1... e7e5  2. b1c3  2... f8b4 The third most popular move, but not worse than 2...Nf6 or 2...Nc6. 3. c3d5 The natural reply, forcing Black to defend the bishop. 3... b4e7 3...Bc5 and 3...a5 are also popular options. 4. g1f3 This move has been the favorite of strong GMs recently. 4... d7d6  5. g2g3  5... c7c6  6. d5e7  6... g8e7 This is the point of Black's previous move. The knight is developed to e7. 7. f1g2  7... f7f6 Already a new move. Instead of castling (the most natural move), Gukesh immediately prepares d6-d5. 8. e1g1  8... c8e6  9. b2b3  9... d6d5  10. c1a3 This is not the first game in which Ding has made a surprising development of the bishop to this diagonal. 10... e8g8  11. a1c1  11... a7a5 Preparing Na6-b4 or maybe a5-a4. This highlights a small problem with the bishop on a3. 12. f3e1 Ding chooses an interesting plan, more or less typical of the English Opening, although it looks a bit funny: to play f2-f4 without moving any of the central pawns. 12... f8e8  13. f2f4  13... e5f4 The sharpest continuation. 14. f1f4 This is the point of White's plan. The rook becomes active, the knight can go to d3, and we have a strange position on the board with White's central pawns still on their initial squares. 14... d5c4  15. b3c4  15... e7g6 