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CHECK, MATE: MLB star Joey Votto checks out competition at local chess club

Joey Votto playing chess at Toronto's Annex Chess Club.
Joey Votto playing chess at Toronto's Annex Chess Club. Photo by Joey Votto /Instagram

King’s gambit?

Toronto-born Joey Votto ended the 2021-22 season with the Cincinnati Reds plagued by injuries and underwent surgery in August to repair a torn rotator cuff.

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But that hasn’t stopped him from playing his other favourite game: chess.

As the 39-year-old rehabs his shoulder, he has been spotted frequenting Toronto’s Annex Chess Club at 918 Bathurst St., between Bloor and Dupont Sts.

His interest in the game apparently increased during the pandemic, according to a media report, but he really developed a love for it, and played against someone in person for the first time in November 2022.

“First over the board chess tournament,” he wrote. “Wish me luck.”

Earlier this month, Votto shared an intense, mid-match shot, though, it is unclear if it was his move or his opponent’s. Nevertheless, the first baseman added a notch to his win column.

“Big, big win yesterday,” he wrote in the caption, crediting a barley soup he had for lunch as a catalyst for the victory.

“I think the soup I had for lunch helped carry me to my first chess win,” he joked, adding to all you aspiring chess masters that “it was barley.”

Last April, Votto met with former chess world champion Garry Kasparov and he was admittedly starstruck – even while he was playing an online game.

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“Shaking hands with the greatest chess player of all time, he looks at my phone and asks, ‘Oh, you’re playing a match? Let me see!’ Then proceeds to immediately sacrifice my queen,” Votto recalled in his caption.

“’Yo, whatcha doing bud?’ I think to myself. Then… magic! Bing, bing, bing, game over.”

Votto also shared all his moves in that game the way any chess nerd would.

Votto also revealed that another favourite hobby of his is visiting art museums.

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