More on Larry Parr (1946-2011)

I was given to understand that this may well be one of the last few photographs taken of Larry Parr at his apartment home at the Nomad SuCasa in Kuala Lumpur. I've cropped the picture to maintain privacy for the rest of his family.I was a little shocked when I first saw this picture. It's Larry alright, but so unlike him too. I could really feel that he was making an effort to maintain normalcy and enjoy himself at this family gathering.

It was Christmas 2010 and two days later, he admitted himself to the hospital for observation. According to friends, he had not been feeling well for quite some time. Unfortunately, the hospital's diagnosis wasn't encouraging and it forced him to prolong his stay. Family and friends had hoped that his constitution would be strong enough to fight the illness but it was not to be. He himself recognised the seriousness and he even wrote his final Will about two days before he died.

I have written more about Larry here and here. The second story is, of course, reproduced from my column in The Star today.

It's actually pretty sad that there are vicious people around the world who tried to make light of Larry's demise. I was pretty upset to see an unidentified person in the rec.games.chess.* Usenet who masqueraded as Larry's email address to post a message. I did not find that funny. Larry might have been a vocal and opinionated contributor to chess literature but he deserves better in the Usenet and other chess forums. It's deceitful and the undentified person who tried to spread lies should realise his own shame and folly. Anybody who has experienced a similar loss in their family should know better than to play this type of sad joke.