Friday April 8, 2011
Parr’s passing
Chess
BY QUAH SENG SUN
Larry Parr had made himself such a familiar face on the local chess circuit that he will be missed by his friends in Malaysia.
IN the week that I want to share with you a few games from the recent national closed and national women’s closed championships, I received word that a familiar face in our chess circle had passed away on April 2.
Larry Parr, aged 64, was a rather enigmatic person. He guarded his privacy jealously and only a privy few were let in to meet his close-knit family of wife, daughter and son.
Many chess players worldwide would associate Parr with that well-known American institutional chess magazine, Chess Life, of which he was the editor from 1985 till 1988. He was also the author of a few books on the chess game.
However, many people locally would probably remember him better as the co-author of Never Say I Assume! which was the memoir of Datuk Tan Chin Nam. Tan is one of the pioneers of property development in Malaysia and the honorary life president of the Malaysian Chess Federation.
Full article here.
RIP Larry.
I have more about him here –> http://ssquah.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-on-larry-parr-1946-2011.html and http://activeknights.org/ssquah/2011/04/larry-parr-a-reflection/
I knew Larry in RGCP. He was a laugh riot.
Here is a comment from a woman who at one time knew Larry well: & realize that women do not write about Larry in any of the comments. All the comments are from men who enjoyed the chess like intellectual sparring.
Larry’s other side: Larry was a libertine who had no respect whatever for women or for most people, whose gluttony for all things sensual food etc. and megalomania contributed to his self-inflicted early passing.
I am sorry that he died so young, perhaps he did accrue some wisdom, as I haven’t seen him in about 20 years. However, if you start asking the women who knew him to tell what they are willing to impart, you may come up with a far different view of Larry and his supposed altruism.