I believe Aronian's preparation caught Anish. This type of position can also come out if you play the Stonewall Attack. White was shackled on both side of the board. Nice execution by Levon.                                                                           Wesley So could have been invited in this tournament and maybe fared better than Anish and Navara.  Wesley has a nice feel for 2700+ players but not against Caruana and Giri.

it's amazing how deep these games actually are!

1. 13...c6 is a silly move, if Black wants to play something else then 13...Bc6 is the one. White may be slightly better.

2. 16.Qg6 is sort-of-blunder: Black is fine after 16...Bf6. But 16.Bxg7+ wins easily instead. You could briefly check your variations before posting, I guess.

13...Rxf3 is not a positional sacrifice at all - it is a forced move. 13...c6, 14.Be4 h6, 15.Bh7+ Kh8, 16.Qg6 does not bear thinking about. Black has to snap off the bishop to protect his kingside.

yeh i saw this move watching live. never in a million years would i have thought that a good move. ok it opened  up the king a bit. but there was no certainty it would eventually lead to a win. but listening to Aronian analyse the game he more or less thought it a forced win. admittedly he had seen the position in his preparation so i suppose that makes it slightly less impressive.

Nice game. I love positional chess.