Starr is an eight-time Canadian ladies' champion and has represented Canada 13 times in the Women's Chess Olympiad.

She favours sharp and unusual openings, such as the Grand Prix Attack (Sicilian), b2-b3 against the French, ...f7-f5 variations in the Ruy Lopez, and the Philidor Defence.

She received the WIM title by winning her first Ladies' Canadian Chess Championship in 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia.

Starr wrote an article in En Passant magazine titled "Why men are superior to women in chess".

Totals in Olympiad play for Canada: 147 games (all-time Canadian record, for women and men), +73 =42 −29, for 63.9 per cent.