Born in Berlin, in 1895 he went to South Africa. At that time, though he knew something about chess, he was totally unacquainted with its deeper mysteries.
He joined the Johannesburg Chess Club in January of 1898, but in April he migrated to Quebec in Canada, where he lived for nine months.
While there he met Professor Isaac Rice (1850-1915), the Bavaria-born master and inventor of the Rice Gambit who had moved to the US together with his parents at the age of six. Rice introduced Siegheim, who by that time had developed into a strong player, to the Rice Gambit germ.
Seigheim's next experience was with the Manhattan
Club in New York where he worked his way up to one of their strongest players, even taking third place in a Rice Gambit tournament in 1903. In the Manhattan Chess Club Championship of 1903, David Baird took first and Seigheim finished second.
In October of 1904, Seigheim returned to South Africa and returned to the Johannesburg C.C. At that time a player named Dr. Nax Blieden was acknowledged to be the strongest player in the country.
Seigheim was strong enough that a match with Blieden was arranged.
Seigheim scored +6 -2 =2 in the first ten games, but then Blieden scored four straight wins to even the score! According to the match arrangements the match was to be continued until one of the players score 9 points which Seigheim succeeded in doing.
Seigheim won the championship of South Africa in 1906 at Capetown, scoring +5 -0 =2.
In 1910, he lost a challenge to Dr. Blieden, he defeated Harry Duhan in a challenge in 1911, then defeated Henk Meihuizen in challenge in1912. Also in 1912, he captured his second South African championship.
After World War I, he tied for 5-6th in th British Championship at Malvern (F.D. Yates won). At the annual Hastings Christmas Congress of 1922/23 he shared 2nd with Richard Réti, behind Akiba Rubinstein. He also is reported to have played a match against Mir Sultan Khan at London in 1929, but I was unable to find any details.
[Event "Offhand Game Johannesburg CC"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1910.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bruno Siegheim"]
[Black "A. Frere"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D52"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "1910.??.??"]
{D52: Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Variation} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 {The Cambridge Springs Defense has been around for over
a century and is still one of the most popular ways of meeting the Queen's
Gambit, second only to 4...Be7. It also sets what is known as the Elephant
Trap.} 5. e3 (5. cxd5 {This is quite playable.} exd5 {White should now play
either 6.Nf3 or 6.e3} 6. Nxd5 {Falling for the Elephant Trap.} Nxd5 7. Bxd8
Bb4+ 8. Qd2 Bxd2+ 9. Kxd2 Kxd8 {and black has won a piece.}) 5... c6 6. Nf3 Qa5
{At the time of this gme this move had been abandoned as insatisfactory.
However, that opinion has changed and today 6...Qa4 is the main line. Black
intends ...Bb4 and possibly ...Ne4 with pressure along the a5–e1 diagonal.}
7. Nd2 Ne4 (7... Bb4 {This is the modern way.} 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Be2 c5 {White has
a wide choice of replies.}) 8. cxd5 (8. Ndxe4 dxe4 9. Bh4 {Akso playable is 9.
Bf4} Bb4 10. Qb3 e5 11. a3 exd4 12. Qxb4 Qxb4 13. axb4 dxc3 14. bxc3 {Dobrev,N
(2179)-Hristov,A (2259) Albena BUL 2010. Chances are equal.}) 8... Nxc3 $146 (
8... Nxd2 9. Qxd2 exd5 10. Bd3 Bb4 11. O-O O-O {Marshall,F-Teichmann,R
Cambridge Springs 1904. White is slightly better.}) 9. bxc3 Qxd5 10. Bh4 f5 {
Much too weakening.} (10... e5 11. Nf3 exd4 12. exd4 (12. cxd4 {is inferior.
After} Bb4+ 13. Ke2 {Black is better.}) 12... Be7 13. Bxe7 Qe4+ 14. Be2 Qxe7
15. O-O Nf6 16. Re1 O-O 17. Bc4 Qc7 {equals.}) 11. Qh5+ g6 12. Qg5 Qa5 (12...
Nb6 {to hinder Bc4 is not any better.} 13. a4 a5 14. Be2 {and black is still
at a positional disadvantage.}) 13. Bc4 Kf7 (13... Rg8 14. Bxe6 h6 15. Qg3 Rg7
16. Bxd7+ Bxd7 17. Bf6 Rf7 18. Qxg6 {is also unfavorable for black.}) 14. O-O
Bd6 15. e4 {White already has a decisive advantage and must figure out how to
dig out black's King which Siegheim does quite efficiently.} h6 16. Bxe6+ Kg7 (
16... Kxe6 17. Qxg6+ Nf6 18. Qxf6+ Kd7 19. Qf7+ Be7 20. Qxe7#) 17. Qe3 f4 (
17... g5 {runs into} 18. Bxf5 gxh4 19. Qh3 {So that he can check on g4.
Black's K is exposed and is totally helpless. A samll line..} Nb6 20. Qg4+ Kf8
21. Bxc8 Nxc8 22. e5 Be7 23. Qh3 Qd5 24. f4 c5 25. f5 cxd4 26. f6 Bc5 27. Kh1
dxc3 28. Nf3 Nb6 29. Nxh4 Rh7 30. Ng6+ Ke8 31. e6 c2 32. f7+ Kd8 33. Rac1 Kc7
34. Rxc2 Na4 35. Qb3 Qxb3 36. axb3) 18. Qf3 g5 {This wins a piece, but further
weakens his position.} 19. Nc4 Qc7 20. e5 Be7 21. Qh5 Rf8 (21... gxh4 22. Qf7#)
22. Nd6 {The purpose of this move is to lure the B away from the defense of
the g-Pawn.} (22. Bxg5 {is also playable. Here is just a sampke of how play
could go.} hxg5 23. Nd6 Nxe5 24. Nxc8 Raxc8 25. Bxc8 Qxc8 26. dxe5 Qe6 27. Rad1
Rd8 28. Rxd8 Bxd8 29. Rd1 Be7 30. h4 gxh4 31. Rd4 Qf7 32. Qg4+ Qg6 33. Qxg6+
Kxg6 34. Rxf4) 22... Bxd6 (22... Nxe5 {would have given him a fighting chance.}
23. Bxc8 Qxd6 24. dxe5 Qg6 25. Qxg6+ Kxg6 26. Bxb7 Rab8 27. Bxc6 gxh4 28. Rfd1
Rb6 29. Be4+ Kg5 30. Rd5 Rc8 31. e6+ Kf6 32. Rf5+ Kxe6 33. Re1 Rxc3 34. Rxf4 {
White is better and should be able to win.}) 23. Bxg5 hxg5 24. Qxg5+ Kh7 25.
Bf5+ {The last words of Hamlet, "The rest is silence" is appropriate here!}
Rxf5 26. Qxf5+ Kg7 27. Qg5+ Kh7 28. exd6 Qxd6 29. Rfe1 Nf6 30. Re5 Bd7 31. Qxf4
Qf8 32. Rae1 {Black resigned. Forceful plat by Siegjeim!} 1-0
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