Obituary, P. B. Dodson, 1929-2010
Peter Dodson died on the 13th December 2010, aged 81. Though proud of his Yorkshire roots, Peter came to Nottingham as a student, and proved one of the strongest players in the county in the fifties and sixties, frequently playing top board for the county team. He was top board for Nottingham Mechanics, then the top team in the League. For many years, he was also one of the leading administrators in the county, taking on most of the principal offices within the NCA, often simultaneously, sometimes shared with his wife Nancy. He was very encouraging to the crop of very strong juniors who emerged in this period, most notably to Keith Richardson, with who he had many titanic tussles in the county championship and in the Forrest Cup, the Midlands championship.
However, pressure of work -- he became managing director of a local company -- forced him to reduce his commitment to over-the-board chess, and when the Mechanics club folded he gave up for some years. I happened to bump into him in the street, and asked why he was no longer playing. "No-one has asked me!" That was soon rectified, and he played for a number of seasons for University Staff with great skill and success. In his prime, he made the National List, at grade 3A [208-215], putting him in the top 50 or so players in the UK.
But Peter's greatest success was in correspondence chess. He was British Champion in 1964, and played regularly for the British team. He led Nottingham Mechanics to the national team championship in 1968, 1969 and 1971, and continued to play, often on top board, for Notts into his old age. His skill was in analysis. In the days when we had adjudications, we could send him the most complicated position, and get back the result supported by absolutely clear reasoning, so that you felt there was no possible doubt about the correctness of his decision.
Outside chess and work, he was a devoted family man, a devotee of classical music, a skilled pianist, a regular winner of crossword competitions and a county-class bridge player. In recognition of his services, he was elected an Honorary Life Vice-President of the NCA two years ago. The NCA was represented at his funeral, and we have expressed our sympathy to Nancy, who survives him, and the rest of his family.
There is an obituary containing more about his work and family at this is Nottingham, and there are some games at chessgames.com, including this brevity, which was a Game of the Day in 2007, and is typical of Peter's simple, direct, logical style:
D. G. A. Shallcross vs P. B. Dodson, Correspondence, 1967, QGD:
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c5 8.O-O-O Qa5 9.Kb1 dxc4 10.Bxc4 cxd4 11.exd4 b5 12.Bxb5 Rb8 13.Ba4
Bb4 14.Bb3 Bb7 15.Bd2 Rfc8 16.Rhe1 Nd5 17.Rc1 N7f6 18.Qd1 Nxc3+ 19.Bxc3 Be4+ 20.Ka1 Rxc3 0-1.
A. N. Walker