Being the inspiring story of Phiona Mutesi:
Phiona grew up knowing complete poverty in Kampala, Uganda. Katwe is an especially impoverished section of that city, and that's where Phiona calls home.
The area is [ravaged] by AIDS and its citizens are at constant risk of contracting the deadly disease. AIDS took Phiona's father, in fact, when she was only three years old. She, her mother, and her siblings lived in a shack, and nobody attended school because education of any kind was a luxury they couldn't begin to afford.
When Phiona was nine years old, she was introduced to Robert Katende, an ex-soccer player who had gotten the idea that teaching chess to the local children would help them. His idea caught on, amazingly, and chess was officially part of the community.
It didn't take Katende long to recognize Phiona as a shining chess star. She loved the game, and she had a great amount of talent. He began organizing small tournaments, and Phiona won them all.
Then she began traveling to chess tournaments and she won those, too. Suddenly, Phiona wasn't just the local chess wonder, she was also becoming internationally known.
(Video via.)
