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I received the following from Ray Noble this morning
Apologies, but I am the bearer of sad news indeed. TAFCA President & Dundee Chess Club Stalwart, Alastair Dawson, after a short illness, died on Saturday 31st May 25. His son Euan informed me this morning and asked if I would let everybody chess related who knew him, know about his passing.
While I was aware things were not going well, the speed of his passing was a shock, but Euan informed me, his dad passed peacefully, surrounded by his family and is no longer in great pain.
Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends.
"How sad to see, what used to be, a model of decorum and tranquility become like any other sport, a battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee"
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01-06-2025, 05:32 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-06-2025, 05:49 PM by William Hulme.)
So terribly sad to hear of Alastair’s passing. Although we had known who each other was for decades; our kids even played each other at Culzean Castle about 13 years ago; we had several (non Chess playing) friends in common; we only really got to know each other relatively recently.
Cherished memories of Alastair’s company in Krakow last year where we were teammates at the board and he kept my wife and youngest daughter entertained between the rounds with his stories and general knowledge.
I’m sure others here will have memories and stories dating back decades to share. All I can say is Alastair wasn’t only a friend but a wonderful human being - who thrived on helping others. RIP.
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Dreadful news, and a huge loss for Scottish chess. Words are so inadequate at a time like this. Alastair was a wonderful friend and great company, one of the nicest guys I ever met. Whenever you saw him with a grin on his face you knew that a good, and usually hilarious, story was imminent. RIP, my friend. Chess will not be the same without you.
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totally agree Ian I was leaving this to current CS officials to comment but my own experience with Alistair was the indispensable contributions he gave to support CS, in particular with regards with his contribution to organising the Glorney in 2018 and the sage advice he always gave me. Along with Gerald and Ray, those three guys were the go to guys from the North along with Steve who has also passed. My thoughts are with Euan and Alastair's family
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Alastair's substantial chess contributions and unfailingly friendly, outgoing nature will indeed be missed sorely. On a personal, off the board note, Alastair, an emeritus professor in this field, was tickled to hear some years ago of a recent enthusiasm of mine in the Scottish Enlightenment 'geologist' (and polymath), James Hutton. Hutton's most internationally famous, spectacular and still much visited find, his so-called 'unconformity' is more or less 'local'.
Sadly, I hadn't yet got round to telling him that Hutton's most recent biographer, has just been slated to give a Hutton talk at the Dunbar History Club in a couple of months from now. He'd have been twice tickled by that. Missed in many ways. Condolences to family and many friends
