The Queen of Katwe

A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster

Tim Crothers

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781451659214
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Now a major motion picture starring Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong ' o and David Oyelowo, directed by Mira Nair. The "astonishing" ( The New York Times Book Review ) and "inspirational" ( Shelf Awareness ) true story of Phiona Mutesi—a teenage chess prodigy from the slums of Uganda. One day in 2005 while searching for food, nine-year-old Ugandan Phiona Mutesi followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende.Katende, a war refugee turned missionary, had an improbable dream: to empower kids in the Katwe slum through chess—a game so foreign there is no word for it in their native language. Laying a chess­board in the dirt, Robert began to teach. At first children came for a free bowl of porridge, but many grew to love the game that—like their daily lives—requires persevering against great obstacles. Of these kids, one girl stood out as an immense talent: Phiona.By the age of eleven Phiona was her country's junior champion, and at fifteen, the national champion. Now a Woman Candidate Master—the first female titled player in her country's history—Phiona dreams of becoming a Grandmaster, the most elite level in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world's most unstable countries. The Queen of Katwe is a "remarkable" (NPR) and "riveting" ( New York Post ) book that shows how "Phiona's story transcends the limitations of the chessboard" (Robert Hess, US Grandmaster).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Prologue
• Opening
• Middlegame
• Endgame
• Acknowledgments
• About Tim Crothers
• Copyright