Vlastimil Fiala has embarked upon a great and demanding project; writing THE biography of Capablanca, which has not yet been written. A major reason why this is undoubtely a daunting task is the fact that there are close to 14,000 Capablanca games known! (Mostly from simultaneous displays, of course). Instead of writing one grande book Fiala has chosen for the method of thematic selection. Thus, while this (first) volume covers Capablanca in the UK (1911-1920), the next volume, scheduled for 2007, deals with Capablanca in the UK (1922-1939). As the authors writes, "although the research for the second volume is not yet complete yet, even now it is possible to promise more than 100 unknown Capablancas games."
The present book mainly pays attention to four visits of Capablanca to the UK (1911, 1913, 1919 and 1920). It consists of five parts, each describing one particular visit (and especially the simuls) with extra attention to the international tournament at Hastings in 1919. The monograph is based on a detailed study of British chess magazines and, especially, the chess columns and reports in the British newspapers. In due course Fiala discovered tens of unknown games.
