Parr is a famous name in Australian Chess. Peter Parr has run a chess business in Sydney for over 40 years and captained Australia’s Chess Olympiad team on six occasions, but Peter is not the only famous chess player in his family. His father, Frank Parr, was a good player also and competed in the British Championships for 55 years from 1936 to 1991.

Today I want to talk about Peter’s older brother David. David Parr was not a titled player but played internationally for England for some years and had a few notable scalps on his belt. He spent some time in Australia and in 1974 entered the Australian Championship for which he was one of the favourites. Unfortunately his ability was not reflected in his score and he withdrew from the event after a few rounds with a poor score complaining that “his opponents were so weak that he couldn’t concentrate.”

I thought it may be interesting to see David Parr in action so have a look at the position below from a Challengers Tournament in Yugoslavia in 1999. White has just played 12.Rd1+ and Parr (Black) must now chose between 12…Ke8, 12…Bd7 and 12…Kc7. Unfortunately he made the wrong choice and after White’s reply he resigned! The puzzle is what move did Black choose and what was White’s crushing reply?

Keely v D.Parr 1999

Press “more” for the solution.

ANSWER:

The finish of the game was 1.Ke8 N-b5!! 1-0.   2.Nc7+ is threatened and 2…cxb5 3.Bxb5+ Bd7 4.Bd7+ wins the N on g4.  1…Kc7 would have been fine.