The Anand Files offers a detailed insight into the strategies Viswanathan Anand used to win three World Championship matches in a row. It takes the reader behind the scenes to show the inner workings of Team Anand, including pre-game planning and preparing opening novelties, some of which have yet to be used.

Meticulously researched over several years, during which the author conducted numerous interviews with members of Team Anand, this book follows Anand and his team of seconds for his dramatic matches against Kramnik, Topalov and Gelfand. The reader will gain a deep understanding of how top chess players work on their game and deal with the stress of elite competition. Over a hundred colour photographs illustrate the story.

Michiel Abeln is a FIDE Master from the Netherlands with extensive experience as a chess trainer and as a leadership coach in the corporate world.

From the Foreword by Viswanathan Anand:

“I love this book. The level of detail is fabulous, and as I read it I felt I was reliving the entire five-year period during which these three matches happened... This is the definitive book on those three matches.”

This book describes three World Championship matches won by Viswanathan Anand: in 2008 against Vladimir Kramnik, in 2010 against Veselin Topalov, and in 2012 against Boris Gelfand. It is written from the point of view of a spectator who was in the room with Anand and his team: Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Surya Ganguly and Radek Wojtaszek, though other big names outside the core team also helped Team Anand.The coverage begins at Anand’s training camp before each match and includes an overview of the match strategy, specific opening choices and the seconds’ responsibilities.

For each match all the games are annotated, with many references to other grandmaster games that were relevant for that particular opening.Why have I written this book?Books describing the inner workings of a world title match are rare, though of course I have a copy of Team Kramnik’s From London to Elista – which is undoubtedly a great book, but is rather different to the one you have in your hands; in particular I will put more emphasis on chess content and opening strategy.