The list of winners also contains the name of Frank Parr who won the 1939-40 tournament. It was the last tournament to be played at Hastings until after the war and it wasn’t very strong because most of the strongest British players were stranded in Buenos Aires after the Olympiad. The result was that the annual Hastings tournament ended up being a national event. Parr was drafted in 1939 and was playing in uniform. This was his only Hastings Premier appearance although he played in many Challengers' sections up to 2002/3.
Parr was the British correspondence chess champion in 1948 (with Gabriel Wood), 1949 (with H. Israel) and won it outright in 1950 and 1956. Parr played in 25 British Chess Championships from 1936 to 1991 with his best result being in 1956 when he scored a draw and a loss in the first two rounds then won eight games in a row before drawing in the last round to finish with a 9-3 score. Unfortunately, that was only good enough to finish in second place a half point behind C.H.O’D. Alexander even though he beat Alexander in their individual game.
Before retirement he worked as a messenger at the London Stock Exchange and beside chess his main hobby was gardening, football (soccer) and cricket. After a long illness Parr died on the opening day of the Hastings International Congress. In Parr’s memory the British Federation for Correspondence Chess introduced a Frank Parr Memorial Tournament in 2005. Held alongside it was the David Parr Memorial, dedicated to Frank's eldest son, another fine chess player who also died in 2003.
Known for his aggressive style and alertness to tactical possibilities, the below game captured the attention of the chess world and he annotated it for an issue of British Chess Magazine. He even had a tapestry made up of one of the game's key positions, which he hung on the wall of his living room. Reinfeld and Chernev, in their Fireside Book of Chess, stated that in their opinion the game could considered the finest attacking game of all time.
Parr’s play in the game was, as far as I can tell, above reproach. After gaining an advantage out of the opening he whips up an attack seemingly out of nowhere. This was Parr’s immortal game.
His opponent was George Wheatcroft (October 9, 1905 – December 2, 1987). Wheatcroft was British Correspondence Champion in 1935 and a strong blindfold player. He was President of the BCF from 1953 to 1956. Educated at New College, Oxford, he was Professor of English Law and acknowledged as a standard authority on tax law.
"Parr’s memory the British Federation for Correspondence Chess introduced a Frank Parr Memorial Tournament in 2005. Held alongside it was the David Parr Memorial, dedicated to Frank's eldest son, another fine chess player who also died in 2003."
ReplyDeleteFrank's other son, David (1946-2013) emigrated to Australia in the mid 1960's - he became an arbiter, tournament organizer, journalist and ran the Chess Discount Sales shop at various locations around the Sydney CBD for many years.