Michiel Abeln’s account of the three world championship matches Viswanathan Anand won: against Kramnik at Bonn in 2008, Topalov at Sofia in 2010 and Gelfand at Moscow in 2012. Published by Quality Chess in 2019, hardcover, 512 pages, with a foreword by Anand.
The book is built on interviews with the seconds who did the preparation: Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Surya Ganguly and Radek Wojtaszek. Chapters alternate between the training camps, where the match strategy, the opening choices and each second’s responsibilities are set out, and the matches themselves, where every game is annotated. An appendix reflects on Moscow, and indexes cover full games, photographs, openings and names.
Best for: anyone curious about how elite preparation actually works. Club level and up.