Last night, Joey Votto came to the Club to see us on his way down to the Raptors game. Michael Sutton, fellow ACC Board member, and I presented Joey, a registered ACC member, with a couple of our red hats as a gift from the Club. Outside of our Board members, ACC red hats have, until now, only been given to chess Grandmasters who visit the Club.

One of the two hats Joey received has ACC’s normal motto (“Chess for Everyone!“) engraved on the back of it. The other hat’s custom engraving says “Chess for Joey Votto!“

We also gave Joey a chess book from our library, “100 Chess Master Trade Secrets,” written by GM Andrew Soltis, and published by Batsford Books in 2013. This book will no doubt help Joey further develop his chess technique, so watch out fellow chess players—Joey’s got focus!

Joey leaves us for a while as he begins his journey back to active Major League Baseball, starting with spring training. We wish you continued great success Joey, and we thank you for recently shining your light on Annex Chess Club.

Joey Votto and George Supol