World Chess Championship Match - Game 13 annotated

In his last game with White, Gukesh came prepared to face the French Defence. 5.Nce2 was indeed a deviation from the main line (I have seen Magnus using it in rapid and blitz with success) but Gukesh avoided the critical setup with Nf3, Bd3(e2), Nf4, h4. 

Ding responded well to the deviation, consumng as usually a lot of time. 7.a3 was a small positional trap, which didn't fall in. He was under some pressure and he managed to develop his light squared bishop on move 38!