The Queen of Katwe

One Girl's Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion

by Tim Crothers

Scribner · 2016

In the slums of Kampala, Uganda, Phiona Mutesi sleeps in a decrepit shack with her mother and three siblings and struggles to find a single meal each day. Phiona is also one of the world's best chess players. One day in 2005 while searching for food, nine-year-old Phiona met Robert Katende, a war refugee turned missionary. Katende had an improbable dream: to empower slum kids through chess - a game for which there is no word in their language.