In addition to his day job, in which he maintains a senior leadership role at Shell Oil, FM Michiel Abeln is a chess trainer and a chess journalist. Late this year, he and Quality Chess Publishing released his book, The Anand Files: The World Championship Story 2008-2012. It is an incredible book, which goes deep into the ups and downs, games, opening theory, and most of all, the emotions of GM Viswanathan Anand’s team during the 2008, 2010 and 2012 world championship matches. In our conversation, Michiel takes us from the nervous beginnings of this project, through to many of the interesting details he learned and decisions he made in terms of how to structure the book. You can find embedded hyperlinks on the episode webpage: 0:00- We dive right into the Anand files, as Michiel discusses why he decided to donate the proceeds of The Anand Files to charity. Michiel also tells the fascinating story of how this project came into existence.
Mentioned: Eric Van Reem, Cathy Rogers, GM Vladimir Kramik, GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Radoslaw Wojtasek
18:30- Why did Michiel decide to delve so deeply into opening analysis in his book?
Mentioned: IM Sagar Shah’s interview with Michiel Abeln, GM Veselin Topalov
24:00- How did Michiel keep up with all of the opening theory shared in the book?
Mentioned: GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, The Meran
29:30- Friend and Patreon supporter of the podcast John Hartmann wonders what sort of preparation work was done, aside from opening work, if any?
Mentioned: GM Anatoly Karpov, The Sicilian Dragon, To see IM Sagar Shah’s excellent “Anand quizzes” with various elite players, go here, The Slav, 2012 World Championship between Gm Boris Gelfand and Anand
44:00- I ask Michiel a question posed by IM Gary Lane in the Facebook Chess Book Collectors Group, “Do World Championship teams try to find out which GMs are helping the opposing teams?”
Mentioned: GM Wojtasek, GM Ganguly, GM Laurent Fressinet, GM Sergei Rublevsky, GM Danil Dubov
53:00- Will there be a Forward Chess or Chessable version of The Anand Files?
Mentioned: Hugh Jordan, Michiel Abeln’s Philidor article in the 2006 New in Chess Yearbook
58:00- A Patreon supporter asks what lessons from Anand’s team can be applied away from the chessboard?
1:08- Nicolas Noel asks, what can club players learn from this book?
Anand-Kramnik Game 6, 2008, Bonn
1:11- Where will Michiel donate the proceeds of the book sales?
Mentioned: Mark Crowther of The Week in Chess
1:15- In closing, we discuss the state of Michiel’s own chess game and have a brief discussion of chess books.
Mentioned: Mig Greengard’s chess blog, Brian Karen, Mark Dvoretsky’s books, Bent Larsen’s Best Games, My Great Predecessors, Max Euwe’s books, From London to Elista
1:26- Thanks again to Michiel Abeln for the fantastic book and interview. You can reach him via email, or keep him with him via his Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook
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