Bruno Siegheim

    Bruno Edgar Siegheim (May 24, 1875 – November 5, 1952) was born in Berlin and in 1895 he moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. At that time, though he knew something of chess, but he was totally unacquainted with its deeper mysteries. He joined the Johannesburg Chess Club in January, 1898, but in April of the same year he moved to to Quebec in Canada, where he lived for nine months. 

    While in Quebec he met Professor Isaac L. Rice (1850-1915), who inoculated him with the Rice Gambit gambit. Rice was a German-born American businessman, investor, musicologist, author and chess patron. Evidently during the previous year developed into a fairly strong player otherwise Rice would not have taken the trouble to introduce him to Rice’s pet gambit. 

    Siegheim's next experience, which was with the powerful Manhattan Chess Club in New York where he managed to finish third in the Rice Gambit Tournament of 1903. After that Siegheim finished second in the club championship. 

    In October of 1904, Seigheim returned to Johannesburg and rejoined the chess club. At that time Dr. Max Blieden was acknowledged to be the strongest player in the South Africa. 

    A match with Blieden was arranged and in a tough encounter, Seigheim scored +6 -2 =2, but then Blieden roared back and scored four straight wins to even the score. Siegheim then scored two wins andm as the first to reach 9 points, was the winner. 

    Siegheim won the South African Championship twice, in 1906 and 1912. In 1910 he lost to Blieden in a challenge match, but won challenge matches against two other South African players in 1911 ab 1912. 

    In the 1920s he seems to have been in England as he is listed as participating in a number of tournaments there, including Hastings in 1923 where he tied for 2nd with Reti behind Rubinstein. 

    In April of 1929, the great Indian player, Mir Sultan Khan, arrived in England and was introduced at the National Liberal Club, and played four friendly games with Siegheim who was the captain of the club’s team. Khan scored +2 -0 =4. At some point he returned to South Africa, passing away in Johannesburg on November 5, 1952.
 

    The following game played in the 1912 South African Championship in Johannesburg has a nice tactical finish. His opponent, Dr. Max Blieden (1879-1964, 93 years old) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1894 and then moved to South Africa as a surgeon and later head of the E.P. Bauman Children's Hospital in Johannesburg. He was South African champion in 1926 and 1928. 

[Event "South African Champ, Johannesburg"] [Site "Johannesburg"] [Date "1912.10.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Max Blieden"] [Black "Bruno Siegheim"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A84"] [Annotator "Stockfidh 16"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "1912.??.??"] {A84: Dutch Defense} 1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 {Although never very popular, the fighting Dutch has given blacvk good practical results and few games are drawn. It's neen used by Morpgy, Alekhine, Larsen, Najdorf, and Nakamura, but its most notable use was in 1951, when both Botvinnik and his Bronstein played it in their World Championship match.} 3. Nc3 {White most often plays 3.g3, nut the text is also good.} Bb4 {This seldom seen move does not enjoy an especially high success rate. Better was 3...Nf6} 4. e3 (4. g4 {This speculative move looks interesting.} Nf6 5. gxf5 O-O 6. Nf3 d5 7. Rg1 Kh8 8. Qd3 c5 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 exf5 11. dxc5 Nc6 12. cxd5 Qxd5 13. Qxd5 Nxd5 14. c4 {Brunello,S (2591)-Bellini,F (2492) Turin ITA 2012. White stands slightly better.}) 4... Qe7 {The usual alternative is 4...Nf6} 5. Nf3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 d6 7. Ba3 c5 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. Qc2 b6 10. e4 {This move is quite natural, but it turns out that all it does is open lines for black. White's best strategy would have been to keep the tension up by playing 10.O-O followed by Nd2 and then centralizing his Rs.} fxe4 11. Bxe4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 Bb7 13. Qg4 O-O 14. Ng5 {In the end white doesn't get any attack and he loses time retreating so his best strategy would have been to play 14.Nd2 giving the Q a line of retreat.} Rf6 15. Bc1 Nd7 16. O-O Nf8 {Engines like 16...Rg6, but then things get pretty murky (for a human)!} (16... Rg6 17. h4 h6 18. f4 {Black's best is 18...cxd4 and 19...Rc8, but if} hxg5 19. fxg5 Nf6 20. Qe2 Ne4 21. h5 Rxg5 22. Bxg5 Nxg5 { Black is supposedly better, but in reality things are unclear.}) 17. f3 Rg6 18. Qf4 e5 19. Re1 {[%mdl 8192] ...and loses...or should have! He should hve retreated to e3} Re8 {Not bad, but not the best.} (19... Ne6 {snags the N.} 20. Qf7+ Qxf7 21. Nxf7 Kxf7) 20. Qe3 h6 21. Nh3 {Better would have been 21.Ne4, but it would hardly save the game.} Qf7 {Again, black misses the best move.} ( 21... Qe6 22. Nf2 exd4 23. Qxe6+ Rexe6 24. Bf4 Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1 dxc3 {Black is winning; the immediate threat is ...Bxf3}) 22. d5 (22. Nf4 {is a better defense.} Rf6 23. Nd5 Bxd5 24. cxd5) 22... Bc8 23. Nf2 Bf5 24. a4 Qd7 25. Ra2 Nh7 26. Kh1 Rf6 {[%mdl 32]} 27. Qe2 Qd8 28. Qd1 Ref8 29. a5 bxa5 30. Qa4 R6f7 31. Qxa5 Qh4 32. Qa4 Bg4 33. Qd1 {[%mdl 8192] Here is where the game gets interesting. Siegheim finishes the game with several sledgehammer blows.} Rxf3 $1 {[%mdl 512] Black is clearly winning.} 34. g3 (34. gxf3 Bxf3+) 34... Rxg3 35. Nxg4 Rxg4 36. Ree2 Nf6 37. Rg2 Rxg2 38. Rxg2 Ne4 39. Be3 Qh3 40. Qe1 { Has white succeeded in defending himself?} Rf1+ {[%mdl 512] A nice finish.} 41. Bg1 (41. Qxf1 {is met by} Ng3+ 42. Rxg3 Qxf1+) 41... Qxg2+ {[%mdl 512] Even nicer! White resigned} 0-1