["Delayed Tarasch" with white Catalan fianchetto, this is not very often to see on top level. However this is suitable for aggressive style of Aronian.]

8. Nc2?!

[Strange move from Li Chao. His setup is not very ambitious which is not a surprise but it is also not a good idea against Aronian.]

The opening quickly leads to a middlegame with black unchallenged clearly having solid position with some pawn weaknesses that cannot be attacked as white is tied to defend his b-pawn.

9. Be3

[More akward positioning of white pieces does not allow anything else than defence. Li Chao is playing for a draw.]

9. ...Qe7

[Natural move underlining akward placements of white knights obstructing white queen.]

12. ...Nc6?!

[Aronian decides to complete development with knight rather than trying 12. ...Rd8. His judgement is correct as even though white played bizzare opening it seems that after 13. Nb5 Nc6, 14. N1a3! a6, 15. Nc3 Na5, 16. Na4 and white can complete his development without weakness.]

13. Rd1?

[White misses unique opportunity to play equal game with 13. Bxc6 bxc6, 14. Nxc6 Bb7, 15. Ne5. Black will be able to defend the pawn or to exchange it on c3 after which the game would likely be a draw.]

Now black is better although it is hard to see how to exploit that. Li Chao makes it easier on Aronian.

19. e4?

[Yet another surprising anti-positional move closing bishop's diagonal and creating long-term pawn weakness. White plans to remove black knight from f6 while the black rooks are away from d-file and thus to assume control of central files (c and d). However black is faster.]

19. ...Rb4!

[Aronian does not miss such an active move. The rook will now control 4th rank with deadly effect.]

20. ...Rcb8

[Forces white into defence.]

21. ...g5!?

[Typical move but 21. ...c3 was probably better. This move allows white to block c-pawn with 22. Rc3.]

22. e5?

[Li Chao follows his plan but this is not the time. 22. Rc3 was absolutely necessary.]

23. f4

[Yet another move creating more weaknesses (square e3) which is actually a pawn sacrifice. Sadly, there was nothing else:

23. a3?! c3!
24. Nxc3 Rd4
25. Rcd1 Rbd8

and black will get d-pawn since 26. f4? gxf4, 27. gxf4 Ne3, 28. Rd2 dxc3!! 29. Rxd8 Ke7 loses a piece due to the threat of promotion. There is little doubt that Aronian would miss that.]

Li Chao balances on the edge.

23. ...c3!

[Expected move but powerful nevertheless. Black now controls 4th rank and breaches into defence of white king.]

31. Rxa7?!

[31. h3 suggests itself to release pressure on white king and although it is not making defence easy: 31. ...Rf5, 32. Bxg4 hxg4, 33. hxg4 Rf1+ , it is surely more resilient.]

32. Rg3?

[Finally a losing move. However white is already about to lose exchange and the game does not look promising for him at all.]

32. ...Nxh2!

[Aronian is not missing anything. The threat is 32. Kxh2 Rh4+, 33. Kg1 Rxg3+, 34. Kf2 Rgh3 with decisive material advantage including a passer on h-file.]

33. ...Rxg5
34. Nxf3

and with a multitude of mate threats Li Chao resigns in two moves. For example: 34. Rxh5 Rg4 and white is completely defenceless against Rg1.

===============

Bizzare opening of Li Chao and even though he was not objectively worse after 12 moves his middlegame play produced enough weaknesses for Aronian to prove his class.

I don't see anybody else qualifying, besides maybe Topalov, if he plays at his very peak.

I don't think Kramnik has the game anymore. His quality has dropped significantly after his World Cup victory.

Aronian was dangerously close already in 2013, just half a point behind Carlsen and Kramnik. If he hadn't blundered the drawn endgame against Kramnik, and hadn't lost to Gelfand, we might be hailing him as the new World Champion!

And incase anyone is wondering like i was what the contiuation after 31.h3 was, i repeat the comment above by csmath

<csmath: [31. h3 suggests itself to release pressure on white king and although it is not making defence easy: 31. ...Rf5, 32. Bxg4 hxg4, 33. hxg4 Rf1+ , it is surely more resilient.]>

Can someone think of a reason why Li Chao(white) didn't play this and instead went for Rxa7, which seems to lead to a loss/mate for sure? Surely he saw that was a straight loss? The other line above seems to just be down the exchange and a loss position, but at least Aronian can still go wrong?

Tremendous endgame play by Aronian. Continuing to gain small positional advantages. Gotta love that mating net sac exchange.

Black to move after 32. Rg3, will be in puzzle books.

<PaulBl: Very nice indeed! After seeing this game and the one against Nakamura, I think a match Aronian - Carlsen would be wonderful.>

Today's Pun reminded me of an episode in the famous restaurant <Mr Chow> in Knightsbridge in London. I was with Michael Winner, the film director, and with Marlon Brando (among others).

Michael was telling a very funny story about <Death Wish III>, and he used the word <integral>. "Charlie loves his guns and his Wildey Pistol was integral to the plot..."

Marlon Brando said immediately, "Integral. INtegral."
"In England, Marlon, we say <inTEGral>."
"It doesn't matter where you are speaking, the stress is on the first syllable."
Mr Winner asked me!
Unfortunately I chose poorly: I said I thought it was "inTEGral".

Marlon Brando said that we were both wrong, he said that he word was INtegral, like in integer. No one says inTEGer, unless they were lunatics.

Anyway, Winner told me to go into Harrods and buy a copy of Chambers Dictionary.

When I came back Winner and Brando were having a stand-up bare-knuckle fist-fight about the word "INTEGRAL".

Today's Pun reminded me of an episode in the famous restaurant <Mr Chow> in Knightsbridge in London. I was with Michael Winner, the film director, and with Marlon Brando (among others).>