In 1802, at the age of 21, he went to live in Bordeaux in the SW of France where he he worked as a clerk for ten years and by frugal living saved up fifteen hundred francs and resolved to come to the United States.
On June 18th, The War of 1812 began between the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom and its allies. Even though the Atlantic was swarmed with British warships, Vezin booked passage on an American vessel and subsequently found himself a prisoner at sea and suffered three weeks' confinement in an English ship's brig. He was then exchanged and finally landed in Baltimore, Maryland penniless.
From there he went to Philadelphia to make a new start in life, and gradually accumulated enough money to enable him to engage in the importation of German, Belgian and French goods. He continued in this import business until his death im 1853.
Vezin's arrival in Philadelphia would eventually lead to the popularization of chess in the city. He found players there of about his own strength. He played a lot, but didn’t improve much.
In 1835, an exhibition in Boston under the showman Johann Nepomuk Maelzel included the Juvenile Artist automaton, a chessplayine machine. The Juvenile Artist automaton also traveled to Philadelphia in an exhibition at the American Museum.
The announcement for the event mentioned the success of Maelzel's exhibition in Boston and its arrival generated a large interest in chess. As a result of the visit Verzin played a lot of games with a Mr. Schlumberger, the director of the automaton and because of those games that he soon improved to become the best player in Philadelphia.
He was described as a player of great native talent, combined with cool, steady nerve and judgment. His play was equally excellent in all phases of the game and though a cautious player, he could, when occasion required, launch brilliant sacrificial attacks.
In the following game Vezin wipes Charles Stanley (1819-1901) off the board with a fierce attack. Stavley was born in Middlesex, England. In 1841, he played Howard Staunton, receiving odds of Pawn and two moves.on by a score of +3 -2 =1.
Stanley emigrated to New York in 1842 and eventually worked at the British Consulate.
He was regarded as the best player in New York from 1842 to 1857. In 1845, he started America's first chess column in the New York Spirit of the Times; the column contained the first chess problem published in the country. The chess column ran until October, 1848. An an alcoholic he spent his last 20 years in institutions in New York on Ward's Island and in the Bronx.
Charles Vezin (Philadelphhia)–Charles H. Stanley (New York)1–0C34Correspondence MatchPhiladelphia, PA / New York, N03.1845Stockfish 16
C39: King's Gambit Accepted 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.f3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.e5 e7 A poor move that allows white a successful attack in f7 5...f6 6.c4 d5 This is not possible after 5...Be7 7.exd5 d6 with a good
game. 6.c4 6.xg4 favors black after d6 7.g7 xh4+ 8.d1 dxe5 9.xh8 g4+ 10.e2 g5 6.xg4 is also unsatisfactory. xh4+ 7.f2 g3 8.d4 c6 with the slightly better position. 6...h6 7.d4 Wisely ignoring
the P on g4. 7.xg4 xg4 8.xg4 d5 with a decisive advantage. 7...d6 8.d3 xh4+ 9.f1 Even though this game was played 180 years ago, this
position has been reached in recent years. f5 But the move played was bo
better! 9...0-0 10.g3 fxg3 11.xh6 f6+ 12.f4 xd4 13.xh4 xc4 14.h6 g2+ 15.xg2 xe4+ 16.g3 e8 17.c3 g6 18.f4 f5 19.h5 d7 20.cd5 e6 21.g5+ h8 22.d4+ Black resigned because it's mate in 4. Manescu,
T-Tronenkovs,V St Lorenzo 1995 9...c6 is black's best. After 10.c3 a5 11.b5+ c6 12.xf4 white still stands better, but at ;east black's position
us not lost. 10.e5 This blow is already decisive as it opens up lines to
black's K. dxe5 11.xe5 g5 12.e1 This looks scary, but
developing with 12.Nc3 was even stronger. f8 12...xd4 loses quickly. 13.f3+ e4 14.xg5 xe1+ 15.xe1 13.c3 This is not necessary and should
have allowed black to equalize. 13.c3 brings another piece into play and
keeps the upper hand. Black shpu;d npw develop with 13...Nc5, but he must not
play xd4 14.b5 e4 15.xe4 fxe4 16.h5 f6 17.xf4 f7 18.xf7
and wins. 13...f6 13...b5 Black's move is not bad, but this clever move
is aimed at deflecting the B frpm attacking f7/ 14.b3 14.xb5 f7
is equal. 14...a5 15.a3 a4 16.a2 d7 The idea of this is to fprce the N
away from the attack on f7. White is better, but there is no forced win. 14.h5 d7 A much better defense was 14...Nd7 forcing the N to abandon its
outpost on e5 15.xd7+ Voluntarily eliminating his N and bring out black's
N to help defend his K is the wrpng choice. As a result black has an equal
position. 15.g3 keeps up the pressure. g8 16.g1 16.f7 is not as
good as it looks! h6 17.xh8 e8 18.xg5 18.h1 c6 18...hxg5 and
white's advantage has disappeared. 16...h6 17.f7 c6 18.xh6 e8 19.f2 xh6 20.xf4 White is better, but here, too, there is no forced win and
black has chances of defending himself. 15...xd7+- 16.e6 This
position is tricky...black has only one good move! g6 And this
is not it. 16...xe6 Surprisingly, trading Qs should not help. That said,
the resulting positions feature positions with unbalanced material that
theoretically favor white. Practice might ne another matter. 17.xe6 f6 18.xg5 e4 19.xf4 19.h5 g3+ wins for black. 19...xg5 20.xg5 f7 21.f6 g8 22.xf5 Engines say white isd winning, but can he do it OTB?! 16...b5 A brilliant resource. 17.xd7 bxc4 18.xc7 g6 19.xg5 Best. 19.h1 f7 20.xf4 e8 21.e5 xe5 22.dxe5 f4 Suddenly it's black ho is
on the attack. 19...xg5 20.xf4 h4 with equal chances. 17.xg5
The only way to keep his attacl going. xg5 18.xd7 h5 19.xf4 h1+ 20.f2 g3+ A crafty trap which Vezin avoids. 21.f3 21.xg3 e1+ 22.h3 h1+ draws 21.xg3 e8 Threatening ...Qe1 and ...Qe3#,
so 22.d2 g4+ 23.f3 e3+ 24.f4 h6+ 25.xf5 g6+ 26.f4 h6+ draws. 21...h5+ 22.e3 e8+ 23.d2 f7 24.xf7+ xf7 25.xf7 xf7 26.xc7
The tactics are over and white is left with a theoretical win, but can he pull
it off? e7 27.e5 xe5 One assumes that Stanley realized he was lost and
so decided to placve his hopes on his K-side Ps, but his chances were probably
better if he had simply moved the R on h8. 28.dxe5 Endgame
KRN-KR e6 29.e2 h5 30.d2 xe5 31.f3+ f4 32.h1 Now it's clear that
with the Ps held up white will have no problems scoring the point. e8+ 33.f1 h8 34.h4+ e3 35.d4 White threatens Ne1 and Nc2 and mate. e8 35...f4 36.e1 h4 37.c2# 36.e1 e4 37.c2+ f4 38.d7 h4 39.xb7 g5 40.d4 h3 41.gxh3 Black resigned 41.gxh3 A continuation might be... f4
The Ps are not a threat at all. 42.xa7 e3 43.a5+ g6 44.f5 etc. 1–0
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