Phiona Mutesi

Phiona Mutesi (born 28 March 1996) is a Ugandan chess player. She has represented Uganda at four Women's Chess Olympiads, and is one of the first titled female players in Ugandan chess history. Mutesi is the subject of a 2012 book and a 2016 film called Queen of Katwe. Background Mutesi was born and grew up in the neighbourhood of Katwe, the largest of Kampala's eight slums. When she was roughly three years old, her father died of AIDS. Her older sister, Julia, subsequently died of unknown causes. At age nine, Mutesi dropped out of school because her family could no longer afford to send her. Mutesi sold maize in a street market. One day she followed her brother and discovered a project run by Sports Outreach Institute, a Christian-led sports mission. In this after-school program run by Robert Katende, Mutesi began playing chess. During a trip to the US, Mutesi visited Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. She was offered a scholarship and began attending Northwest University in 2017. She plans to major in sociology. After college, Mutesi said she wants to "come back home and serve my community," and work with children who live in the slums of Uganda.