Slum girl to silver screen: Uganda's chess prodigy

Slum girl to silver screen: Uganda's chess prodigy

Phiona Mutesi happened upon chess as a famished nine-year-old foraging for food in the sprawling and impoverished slums of the Ugandan capital. Now a chess champion who competes internationally, her tale of triumph over adversity is being turned into a Hollywood epic with Oscar-winning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o tipped to play her mother. "You can’t just wake up and say 'today': you have to plan first." One day, Mutesi discovered a chess program held in a church in the Katwe slum districts in Kampala. - 'Incredible impact' - The young girl developed a talent for chess, which was only introduced in Uganda in the 1970s by foreign doctors and was still seen as a game played by the rich.