Phiona Mutesi: Teen Ugandan Chess Prodigy

She was nine years old when she stumbled upon the game ... dirty, smelly, hungry and transformed ... mesmerized by the tiny smooth pieces - the Knight, the Rook, the Pawn. And so a girl from one of the most destitute places on the planet became a chess champion and found something few kids in the Ugandan slum of Katwe can even recognize ... A Dream. Today we bring you the story of how a 16-year-old girl from one of the worst slums in all of East Africa changed her life by mastering a game that doesn't even have a name in her native language.

---

Author of The Queen of Katwe, Tim Crothers

Phiona Mutesi is playing chess with her coach, Robert Katende. There are several things you can't see that make this remarkable. For one, they are playing in Katwe, a sprawling slum in Kampala, Uganda ... one of the worst slums in all of East Africa.

At 16-years-old, Phiona Mutesi is already one of the best chess players in the world. American sports writer Tim Crothers tells her story in his new book, The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster.

Tim Crothers was in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

This segment was produced by The Current's Hassan Santur.

Other segments from today's show:

Canada's Economic Action Plan ad campaign: Prosperity or propaganda?

Why did 'Michelangelo Models' cost Canadians millions in tax credits?