CM
07
Gm 1
Elista

Carlsen -
Aronian

Chessbase was praising a rook sacrifice by Aronian on move 26, but it wasn't accepted anyway. Don't get me wrong. It was a great move, a move that is surprising even at the GM level. Here is where, I feel, Carlsen's position came apart. You can already hear it creak, timbers at their maximum tolerance, just a little nudge will make the ship keel over. Carlsen moved 34. Ra2. He's the one making defensive moves while Aronian was turning the screw. Now, Aronian hits the weak E pawn with 34... Ra4. It can't be defended by the F pawn, and so Carlsen had to move his already stretched resources over to defend it with 35. Re2. Aronian, of course, pushed through with 35... Ra3 36. Qd1 Ra8 to defend against any counterplay on the eight rank. 0-1.