I'd say Ding had the slightly better OTB chances when drawn. The important
thing was he steadied the ship and stopped spending his time away from the
board hiding in his rest room. Saving his energy for today's game with white.
It's obvious the online 2 dimensional boards are causing trouble when people set up the board and play. Many great players are spending more time with the 2 dimensional board.
I'm weak but I am a lot stronger looking at a diagram than a board set up.
I'm the reverse. I prefer a board, I can do screens (usually) if I flip the board but
a normal diagram with Black to play and it's upside down and not a simple
two move trap but a toughie. I have put it on a board if I really want to dig it out.
I know that is because I started out with only a board. I never really started looking
at chess on a computer screen till I was in my late 40's.
The top guys do a lot of prep by screen. You can see them looking off board with
a screen in their head trying to recall it. But they will also do a fair bit of 3D work,
they have to.