Think of a decade, and pick your great Liberal Club chessplayer.
The 1890s? Mister Herbert William Trenchard led from the front.
The 1930s? Sir John Simon turning out on board 1 between his Cabinet duties.
The 1940s? You’ll find Messers Mieses and Schwarzchild holding court.
The 2010s? The dazzling chess virtuosity of Messers Kirby and Chamberlain, and cutting edge opening theory from Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon).
But what of the 1920s, I hear you ask? The 1920s does not disappoint. We need only look to NLC Captain Bruno Edgar Siegheim.
Mister Siegheim took a circuitous route to Whitehall Place. Born Berlin in 1875, but a South African citizen, he had by the turn of the century found himself in the United States and playing at the famous Marshall Chess Club of New York, taking third in their Club championship of 1903, before returning to South Africa to win the South African championships of 1906 and 1912.
Here’s a taste of what he got up to in New York:
After the First World War Mister Siegheim arrived in England and there was of course only one place he wanted to play chess: The National Liberal Club.
Between shouldering competitive board 1 duties he was able to find time to play in the British Championship of 1921, coming in tied 5-6th.
He met with even greater success at Hastings in 1922/23, when he held the eventual winner Rubinstein to a draw and shared overall second with Richard Reti.
Here’s Seigheim holding the Polish master:
The games Mister Siegheim is perhaps most famous for came toward the end of his chess playing career. The chess prodigy Mister Sultan Khan had just arrived in England at the beginning of what would be an astonishing ascent in world chess (before an equally astonishing disappearance from it). As ever, the first stop for chess players arriving on these shores is the NLC Clubhouse.
The Manchester Guardian of 29 April 1929 reported:
Here’s one of the games, in which our Liberal hero throws everything at the Kingside, only to take his eye off the pesky queenside pawns:
Another decade: another great NLC chess player of yesteryear.