Stanley can be considered the first US Champion because in 1845 he defeated Eugene Rousseau (1805-1870), a French player living in New Orleans in a match. Rousseau's second was Ernest Morphy, Paul Morphy's uncle. Six year old Paul was present at the match also.
Stanley won the match easily and decisively with a +15-8 score.
Though the match was considered unofficial, it was no secret it was to determine the best player in America. Stanley was considered the best player in the country until 1857 when he was defeated by Paul Morphy.
Stanley had considerable influence on US chess by starting a chess column in the newspaper The Spirit of the Times. He also started the short lived American Chess Magazine in 1846 but it soon folded.
In 1846 he published the first US book on a chess match, 31 Games of Chess and in 1855 he organized the first World Problem Tournament. He was also the secretary of the New York Chess Club.
Against Staunton, Stanley was able to hold his own at "Pawn and 2" odds, beating him in such a match in +3-1 =3 in 1841. In 1850 Stanley drew a match on even terms with Lowenthal (+3 -3) and in 1852 he drew a match, also on even terms, with Saint-Amant (+4 -4).
Stanley might have fared much better in those matches, but for one problem: he was an alcoholic.
Through this chess column, Stanley met a penniless Hungarian refugee from Hungary named Johann J. Lowenthal (1810-1876) who was known to be a strong player.
Lowenthal came to the United States hoping to become a western pioneer, but the elegant and cultured, Lowenthal was hardly the pioneer type. Stanley and others set him up as chess professional in a cigar divan in Cincinnati, Ohio. Later Lowenthal moved to England and became a British citizen. Before he left, he also managed to lose to 12 year old Morphy in New Orleans.
By 1857, the year of the First American Chess Congress, Stanley was considered the U . Champion, but by that time he was also quite destitute as a result of his drinking problem. Paul Morphy won the tournament and after the tournament beat Stanley +4-1 in a casual match while giving Stanley the odds of Pawn and move.
Morphy, knowing the Stanley family's dire straits, gave his winnings to Mrs. Stanley, claiming he couldn't give it to Charles because "he would have drunk it all up." Mrs. Stanley named her next child Pauline after Paul Morphy.
By way of saying thank you, Stanley wrote and published Morphy's Match Games in 1859.
In 1859, he also wrote The Chess Player's Instructor which was popular enough to go into a second printing the same year. Then, it was published again in 1880 but under a different title, De Witt's American Chess Manual.
In 1860 Stanley returned to England where he edited a chess column in the Manchester Weekly Express and Guardian for two years. He tried to establish a reputation as a player in England, but failed to make any impression in either match or tournament play.
Consequently, he returned to America in 1862 and after losing a match to George Mackenzie (+1-2), he retired from chess.
From 1880 until he died in 1901, Stanley lived in institutions in the Bronx and on Ward's Island State Emigrant Refuge and Hospital.
Ward's Island is located in the East River in New York City. During the Revolutionary War the island served as a military post for the British.
In the 1840’s the island had turned into a dumping ground for everything unwanted in New York City.
Between 1840 and 1930 the island was used for the burial of hundreds of thousands of bodies relocated from a couple of large city graveyards.
It was also used as a hospital for sick and destitute immigrants and was the location of the largest psychiatric institution in the world when it housed 4,400 patients. Today the island serves as home to, among other facilities, a maximum-security facility for the mentally ill.
The following game from the match against Rousseau, the second game, is amusing. The players engage in a series of captures where each side seems to ignore what the other side is doing.
One writer of the times described the game by saying, "Both these gentlemen placed pieces thus gratuitously en prise several times during the match.”
[Event "Match, New Orleans"]
[Site "New Orleans, LA USA"]
[Date "1845.12.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Charles H. Stanley"]
[Black "Eugene Rousseau"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C26"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "1845.??.??"]
{Giuoco Piano} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bc5 4. Nf3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. d3 Be6 7.
Bb3 Nc6 8. Ne2 {White has two other moves that have been played here: 8.Nd5
and 8.Bg5 neither of which offer him any advantage, The text move, the idea of
which is to relocate the N in hopes of establishing a K-side attack also seems
pretty benign.} Qe7 9. Ng3 {[%mdl 32]} Nd4 10. Nxd4 Bxd4 11. c3 Bb6 12. O-O d5
{This turns out to loosen up black's position. 12...c6 was solid.} (12... c6
13. Bg5 h6 {is completely equal.}) 13. Bg5 c6 {It's way too late for this.} (
13... h6 {is less effective now that his P is on d5 because after} 14. exd5 Bd7
(14... hxg5 15. dxe6 fxe6 16. Qe2 {and black's position is not looking so good.
}) 15. Be3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 {White has a favorable position.}) (13... dxe4 {
This is the best move because it keeps white's advantage to a minimum.} 14.
Nxe4 Bxb3 15. axb3 Qe6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Qg4+ Qxg4 18. Nxf6+ Kg7 19. Nxg4 f6 {
has has a favorable position.}) 14. Nh5 {This is the key move. It was not
possible in other variations previously mentioned, but here it is the move
that gives white a decisive advantage.} dxe4 15. dxe4 Bxb3 16. Qf3 {[%cal
Rg5f6] Capturing the B also leaves white with a winning position, but the text
is a much more handsome move.} (16. axb3 Qe6 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Qg4+ {as
mentioned above.}) 16... Bc4 {Losing outright.} (16... Kh8 {allows black to
hold out longer.} 17. axb3 Qe6 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Qxf6+ Qxf6 20. Nxf6) 17. Bxf6
{Of course the B can't be taken.} Qe6 (17... gxf6 18. Qg4+ Kh8 19. Qg7#) (17...
Qxf6 18. Nxf6+ gxf6 19. Rfd1 {is hopless for black.}) 18. Nxg7 {White is
clearly winning.} Be2 19. Nxe6 {This is a much harder punch than taking the B.}
(19. Qxe2 Qxf6 20. Nf5 {also wins.}) 19... Bxf3 20. Nxf8 {Rousseau resigned.
Stanley's execution in the maze of captures was flawless.} 1-0
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