Charles Henry Stanley

Charles Henry Stanley (September 2, 1819 – October 6, 1901) was the first chess champion of the United States. When the first U.S. championship match took place in 1845, Stanley defeated Eugène Rousseau of New Orleans, and claimed the title of U.S. Chess Champion.

Chess career Stanley was an Englishman who emigrated from London to New York in 1843 to work in the British Consulate, and his English ideas had a great influence on American chess. Stanley is a little-known figure who has been eclipsed by the achievements of the world famous Paul Morphy.

Stanley defeated Eugène Rousseau of New Orleans in 1845 to claim the title as the first U.S. Chess Champion.

One of his ideas was to have a regular newspaper column devoted to chess, which he started in 1845 in The Spirit of the Times. He also started the American Chess Magazine in 1846, which together with The Chess Palladium and Mathematical Sphinx were the first American chess magazines. In 1846 he published the first US book on a chess match, 31 Games of Chess and became secretary of the New York Chess Club. He married Sarah Weir in 1850, and had a daughter, Pauline.

Morphy never accepted prize money for his wins, and sent the earnings from his 1857 match directly to Stanley's wife, pregnant at the time. Stanley acknowledged the generosity by naming his daughter after Morphy, and publishing Morphy's Match Games.

Stanley and his wife both died in 1901. He battled alcoholism his entire life, and spent his last twenty years institutionalized. He died at the Home for Incurables on October 6, 1901, and was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery.