1. e2e4 A surprise. Matlakov is mainly a 1.d4 player. He rarely pushes his  king's pawn this early. 1... e7e5  2. g1f3  2... b8c6  3. f1c4  3... g8f6  4. d2d3  4... f8c5  5. c2c3  5... e8g8  6. e1g1  6... d7d5 Aronian likes this move against the Ruy Lopes as well. 7. e4d5  7... f6d5  8. f1e1  8... c8g4  9. b1d2  9... d5b6  10. h2h3  10... g4h5  11. c4b3  11... g8h8 A question of  style. Aronian likes initiative and therefore prefers to keep queens on  the board. 12. d2e4  12... c5e7  13. e4g3  13... h5f3  14. d1f3  14... f7f5  15. a2a4  15... a7a5 The pawn should not be let run all the way to a6. This will  weaken the light squares too much. 16. d3d4  16... f5f4  17. g3h5 Risky, but good. 17... g7g6  18. d4e5 Except that the follow-up is not the optimal one. 18... g6h5  19. f3h5  19... d8d3 This blocks the bishop's diagonal and prepares  a counterattack. 20. b3f7  20... f8f7 At the first possible moment. Aronian  never hesitates whenever the word initiative is on the board. 21. h5f7  21... a8f8  22. f7h5  22... e7c5  23. h5f3 The best defense. 23... d3f3  24. g2f3  24... f8f5 The minor pieces are better in the arising  endgame as they have nice outposts around the white king. 25. e1e4  25... c6e5  26. c1f4  26... c5d6  27. g1g2  27... b6d5  28. f4g3  28... e5g6  29. a1d1  29... h8g7  30. h3h4  30... g7f7  31. d1d2  31... d5f6  32. e4d4  32... g6f4  33. g2h2  33... f4e6  34. d4c4  34... d6g3 Concrete and strong, especially in  timetrouble. 35. f2g3  35... f5f3  36. h2g2  36... f3e3  37. g3g4  37... f7e7 The final preparation. 38. d2f2  38... f6e4 A rook is trapped no matter what!