When she was nine, Phiona Mutesi learned to play chess in the sprawling slums of Kampala for free cups of porridge. As fate would have it, the hunger she developed for the royal game has turned her into a star, first over the chess board and now in the world of movies.
Phiona's story, from her impoverished childhood in Kampala's Katwe district to Uganda's leading female chessplayer, is the inspiring stuff of the film now being shot by Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o who is also cast as her mother.
The Disney movie, entitled Queen of Katwe, captures the drama of Mutesi's personal struggle and the part the game of chess played in her eventual triumph. The movie is expected to be released next year.
Enticed more by free porridge meals than by any interest in chess, Mutesi joined a church programme in Katwe back in 2005. But the youngster soon became fascinated by the challenge of the royal game and, in a matter of months, she was among the group's best players. "True, I went there to get a meal, but then I found the game so interesting," she admitted.
With her growing enthusiasm for chess and the encouragement she received from Robert Katende who conducted the programme, Phiona began to ascend the ranks of Ugandan chess with consistent success in prestigious competitions.
In 2009, Mutesi won the International Children's Competition in South Sudan. She competed in the Olympiad at Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, the following year and was crowned Ugandan National Champion in 2011.
As the Guardian of Uganda tells it, she competed in the Olympiad as number two, the only girl in a team of university students and working women. On her return, she triumphed in the richest and most prestigious local tournament, defeating the country's top-ranked players along the way.
The newspaper added: "So unlikely and swift has been her rise – she has had little formal training and plays largely by instinct – that some of Uganda's chess officials feel she may not be unrealistic when she says in a soft voice, 'I want to be a grandmaster.' That is still a long way off. But it may not be improbable as the achievements that she and other children of the Katwe slum have already shown."
"They have caused a chess revolution here," says Godfrey Gali, general secretary of the Uganda Chess Federation.
Phiona was three when her father died. Her sister died soon afterwards. Her mother worked hard, rising at 3 am to go to the market to buy avocados, eggplants and pumpkins to sell. But money was always tight. After one year of primary school, Phiona was forced to drop out along with her brothers to sell boiled corn in the slums.
Once she realised her love for the game, Phiona was a quick and determined learner. Every night she practised against her brothers who were also coached by Katende. A kerosene lamp in their shack illuminated a board borrowed from the church group. Within a year she was regularly beating "Coach Robert."
In 2009, Phiona and two boys from Katwe travelled to Juba, South Sudan, for the regional children's tournament involving 16 countries. It was the first time she had been to an airport, had her own room and ordered meals from a menu. She won all her games and the girls title. The boys were also undefeated. Together they won the team prize.
"That alone was not groundbreaking," the Guardian observed. "After all, Uganda is rated third among the chess playing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. But the fact that Phiona and her team-mates were all from very poor backgrounds, with little or no access to theory, was unprecedented."
DR expects that The Queen of Katwe would be featured in T&T cinemas when it is released sometime next year. In any case, DR hopes that the T&T Chess Association would be able to obtain copies of the Disney film to be shown in schools and other youth organisations.
Phiona's story is an inspirational triumph of the human spirit and a tribute to the transforming ability of chess.