Interesting. As always.
Ding killing it with the French.
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I don't think it's really that surprising. Ding playing the French is mostly a sign of Rapport's influence as his second. Rapport has played the French many times and caused Ding to play it in his match against Nepo as well. Sure Ding lost that game against Nepo, but that wasn't really due to the opening.
It's also not really surprising that Ding manages to challenge Gukesh in the French Defense. It's a perfectly sound opening. It may not be as risk free as 1. ...e5, but I don't really see why so many people are convinced that computers killed the French. I think we shouldn't forget that certain openings tend to go in and out of fashion among Super-GMs. Lately the French definitely has had its fans. Arjun Erigaisi and Richard Rapport come to mind; even Carlsen has gone for the French in some more recent Rapid/Blitz games (World Rapid/Blitz 2022 for example).
To be honest, I‘m not that thrilled with with the outcome seen from the black side. In the 1st Gukesh‘s loss was certainly not due to the opening. In the second he chickened out and in the third he won the opening a got a winning position later. Ding took a huge gamble in the third and it almost cost him.
I know with the influence of computers and many lines having been played out super gm games are no longer the theoretical battlegrounds they were in the past. I also know the French has been intermittently played successfully.
However isn't it interesting that Ding has chosen the French for all three games Gukesh played against him, and won the first game with it?
I'm not sure the French has ever faced such a test before, at least not in the computer age.