John Ferguson is a member of Cavan Chess Club.

Cavan Chess Club has had a long but truncated history in Ireland. According to sources, the club did exist in the 50's but not much is known about its performances then. The club also existed in the 70's and disbanded in the early 80's but in that period of time were quite competitive, winning the BEA in their first year and culminating with promotion to the Heidenfeld league at one stage. At the time the club also ran various tournaments like the Cavan Congress which, according to more mature chess friends I've spoken too, was well ran tournament and enjoyed by all that visited. Among the players instrumental in were Jimmy Scanlon, Sean Galigan and the late Pat Ryan who was part of the club that was reformed in 2007. Pat in his role as headmaster was responsible for organising Community games teams for years and lots of people around Cavan can trace their knowledge of the game to Pat's inclussion of the game in schools.

The club was reformed again by John Ferguson following an ad in the local paper. Initially our venue was the lobby of the Kilmore Hotel but as membership grew it was decided to to move to a more suitable venue for club nights and the Orchard pub was to become our new venue and still is to this day. Following acceptance into the Leinster leagues (Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal having been in a state of chess limbo since Ulster withdrew from the ICU in 2006) we won the Bodley in 2010, gained promotion out of the BEA in 2011 and won the O Hanlon in 2012. Our second team have been doing well gaining the Bodley Cup in 2012 and promotion from the BEA in 2013. At the moment our teams are plying their trade in the Ennis Shield and the O Hanlon Cup.

We have club member Tony McMahon who has been bringing chess to the schools around the county where he has remarked that the standard is strong and hopefully some of these folks can emerge as the players who will represent Cavan in years to come.