Rating: 
Summary: Great collection of games
Review: Since my earlier review on this book december of 2000, my game has really improved. So I revisited this book again after nearly 2 yrs. I was really fascinated not only by the depth of annotation given by the author, but also the quality of the games. In a fascinating game against Ivanchuck, Anand doubles his pawn structure, exchanges his good bishop and plays all anti positional moves, based on an idea of obtaining connected passed pawns 12 moves later. Moves which an average player or even a master wouldn't even consider. It delves into the psycology of GM games and depth of positional and tactical understanding required to sustain mastery at such level. Highly recommend this book for anyone above 1800+ rating.
Rating: 
Summary: A must for the serious player or fan
Review: There's really not that much to say about this book: either you want a book of well-annotated, accessible games by one of the world's top players, or you don't. If you're interested in Anand's games, you won't find a better book. His notes are clear, concise, and entertaining. Yes, they take work to get through. (This should surprise no-one.) But they're also not presented as mind-numbing lists of variations. Anand has a good knack for finding the right sentence to explain what's going on, rather than simply rely on variation of chess moves. Fans of deep analysis of every variation will prefer Shirov's book, but for most players this book will be more entertaining and educational. Prospective readers should bear in mind, however, that while Anand does his best to explain his moves for the average player, this is not a book of instruction or of games annotated for the beginner. While this book is certainly one of the most enjoyable books by any top-level player in recent memory (possibly since Tal's autobiography) it's still a book of chess played at an extremely high level. It will require work to get through and understand, even if it is enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring!
Review: This book has absolutely nothing to distinguish it as an instructive chess book for intermediate players. The annotations are bland and un-informative. Comparable games collections by Kasparov, Nunn, Timman, Korchnoi, Gligoric, Karpov, and countless others far exceed this work by Anand. You can get a games collection of any player downloaded off the internet, so the only reason to buy a games collecion is for their instructive oor informational value. But this 300+ page work is full of comments like, "I figured if this move was good enough for Tal, it was good enough for me." Real enlightening, huh? This is a well-produced GAMBIT publication, but for whatever reason, Anand's writing is very bland. This is an un-inspired work. It is one of the few chess books that I have returned after purchasing. Completely unnecesary. Obviously, Anand iis an all-time great player. But he is no writer or teacher.
Rating:
Summary: Anand unleashed
Review: This book shows some of Anands best games from the year 1986-2000. They show games against some of the best players in the world such as Kasparov, Kramnik, Shirov etc. Each game teaches a concept, wheter it be positional, tactical or an endgame. I had difficulty following the lines as he gave analysis of 2-3 pages after a move. It seemed that a better job could have been done with a verbal explanation for the average player. This book is good if you are USCF 2000 or above and do not require as much hand holding. The openings played were varied with major emphasis on the Sicilian Richter Rauzer, Najdorf, and Ruy Lopez Anands specialties. Most of the games are extremely tactical and highly interesting, but very difficult to comprehend for a club player. The analysis from each game would need to be reviwed several times to be digested. Highly recommended for the expert level player and above.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent games collection, but not perfect
Review: This is a collection of excellent games by a popular player, analyzed in a style and depth that an 2160 Elo rated player such as myself would often consider optimal. The games are exciting and of very high quality. Most of them, however, are quick white middlegame wins often arising from open or half-open openings. So this is no all-round game collection, as it is short on endgames, closed positions etc. But if your preference is towards open, attacking play, this book will be very educational. Anand's prose is light and easily understandable, which is a plus. But he has usually not gone much deeper than introducing the games and giving variations: the book has rather few anecdotes and not enough insight into his career or his way of thinking. Tal and Larsen are some of the greatest masters of that kind of chess annotation. So that is why I only awarded 4 stars to this book, instead of the 5 that the quality of the games deserves.
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