From London to Elista - review coming soon

I just finished the New in Chess book From London to Elista - it's quite an interesting read. It covers all three (so far) of Vladimir Kramnik's world championship matches - against Kasparov in 2000, against Leko in 2004, and the infamous "toiletgate" match with Topalov in 2006.

It's written by insiders from Kramnik's teams and provides a wonderful view into the preparation that goes into a top-level match. It's not just opening strategy they work on, either. There's often intense attention paid to physical conditioning and psychological issues.

Every game of each of these matches is extensively annotated, and a few nice photos are provided as well. My review should appear at ChessCafe within the next few weeks. If you've ever wanted to be a fly on the wall observing what takes place "backstage" with world championship contenders, this is your book.