Written and annotated by GM Alejandro Ramirez.
Aronian must have been rather pleased with Nakamura’s strange preparation. Somewhat reminiscent of yesterday’s game which Nakamura won, White came in and played quickly only to land in a somewhat dubious position. Vachier-Lagrave even commented at some point that he was baffled why anyone would willingly go into this line with White. Aronian displayed excellent judgment on where to put his pieces while Nakamura didn’t so much. A decisive mistake on move 40 gave the Armenian a perfect opportunity to break through.