Chapel Hill author chronicles story of illiterate Ugandan teen, a world chess phenom
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Phiona Mutesi struggles to find food everyday. But her goal of becoming a “grandmaster” could lead her to a better life. (Courtesy of Simon and Schuster)
Tim Crothers, a former Sports Illustrated
senior writer who also occasionally writes for The News & Observer
and Charlotte Observer, is the author of the recently released “The
Queen of Katwe.” The story, which Crothers first wrote about for ESPN
The Magazine, tells of an illiterate teenager from the slums of Uganda
who became an chess champion. It was a National Magazine Award finalist
and has been optioned by Disney films. Crothers answered questions
supplied by Senior Sports Editor Gary Schwab.
Q. The Queen of Katwe developed out of an article you wrote for ESPN The Magazine. Where did the original idea come from?
After a speaking engagement in March of 2010, a man in the audience approached me and said he had a good story idea for me. As a journalist, it’s my job to hear him out. I know that 999 times out of 1,000 that situation leads to a story about his Uncle Ned catching a big fish. But the other time it becomes a book.
Q. What intrigued you about the story of Phiona Mutesi?
What writer doesn’t enjoy writing about the underdog? Phiona is the ultimate underdog. An illiterate Ugandan girl from the slums who dreams of becoming a chess “grandmaster.” You can’t make that up. You don’t have to have a natural passion for Africa or chess to be inspired by what this courageous young girl is accomplishing.
Q. Give us a brief description of the world in which Phiona lives.
The Katwe slum where Phiona lives is one of the most impoverished and dangerous places on earth. She is surrounded by crime, famine and disease. Her home is a decrepit one-room shack. There is no electricity or sewer system. She scrounges to eat one meal a day, which usually consists of rice or porridge. Frankly, her biggest challenge each day in Katwe is just trying to survive to live the next one.
Q. What brought her to chess?
When Phiona was 9 years old, she met a man named Robert Katende, another product of the Ugandan slums, who taught her the game as part of a small chess program that he runs in Katwe. Phiona had never heard of chess, but when she saw other children playing the game and how it made them happy, she desperately wanted a chance to be that happy.
Q. You’ve done books on coaches before – Anson Dorrance (North Carolina women’s soccer) and Roy Williams (North Carolina basketball). How does Katende’s approach to teaching and motivating compare?
All three coaches like to use their unique life stories as inspiration to their players and all are wonderful storytellers. While Dorrance and Williams have used the power of their personalities to motivate, Katende is more of a nurturer. The children he mentors would not react well to a show of temper because many of them have been abused by their families. All three coaches have been father figures at times as well.
Q. You have written about world-class athletes for many years. What did you see in Phiona that was similar to others, and what was unique?
Like every elite athlete I’ve ever interviewed, Phiona is a powerfully driven individual. She routinely walks 10 kilometers a day to play chess and will often practice for six hours or more. She is different from many American athletes in that she has no ego. No swagger. A Ugandan girl wouldn’t understand the concept of psyching out an opponent.
Are you a chess player/enthusiast, but haven’t heard of Phiona Mutesi? If you don’t already know the name, it’s time you learned about this amazing person and how she achieved lofty chess goals in the face of near impossibility.
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 rampaged 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.
Tim Crothers got wind of the story and showcased Phiona’s journey in an article for ESPN. That article gained massive amounts of interest within the chess community, and Phiona’s story went worldwide.
She was the chess champion of Uganda at only ten years old, and today she is a candidate for the women’s master title. She says she wants one day to attain the elite chess title of Grandmaster, and I don’t think there are many chess lovers in the world who don’t want that for her, as well.
Just this past weekend she visited ASAP (After School Activities Partnerships) in Philadelphia for the 9Queens Chess Academy and spoke to approximately fifty young chess-playing girls and their coaches/parents. She even had the opportunity to give her first simultaneous exhibition (one person plays against multiple people at the same time). Among those in attendance was renowned women’s chess master and author Jennifer Shahade, who went over some of Phiona’s games for the group.
She will also make an appearance this Thursday, December 6th, at Chess in the Schools in New York, followed by an engagement at Gompers Preparatory Academy in San Diego on Saturday the 10th. Finally, Phiona will be meeting kids from Jay Stallings chess program at Trinity Classical Academy in Santa Clarita on Wednesday, December 12th.
Below are some links for chess fans to find out more about Phiona Mutesi and related venues.
Q. The Queen of Katwe developed out of an article you wrote for ESPN The Magazine. Where did the original idea come from?
After a speaking engagement in March of 2010, a man in the audience approached me and said he had a good story idea for me. As a journalist, it’s my job to hear him out. I know that 999 times out of 1,000 that situation leads to a story about his Uncle Ned catching a big fish. But the other time it becomes a book.
Q. What intrigued you about the story of Phiona Mutesi?
What writer doesn’t enjoy writing about the underdog? Phiona is the ultimate underdog. An illiterate Ugandan girl from the slums who dreams of becoming a chess “grandmaster.” You can’t make that up. You don’t have to have a natural passion for Africa or chess to be inspired by what this courageous young girl is accomplishing.
Q. Give us a brief description of the world in which Phiona lives.
The Katwe slum where Phiona lives is one of the most impoverished and dangerous places on earth. She is surrounded by crime, famine and disease. Her home is a decrepit one-room shack. There is no electricity or sewer system. She scrounges to eat one meal a day, which usually consists of rice or porridge. Frankly, her biggest challenge each day in Katwe is just trying to survive to live the next one.
Q. What brought her to chess?
When Phiona was 9 years old, she met a man named Robert Katende, another product of the Ugandan slums, who taught her the game as part of a small chess program that he runs in Katwe. Phiona had never heard of chess, but when she saw other children playing the game and how it made them happy, she desperately wanted a chance to be that happy.
Q. You’ve done books on coaches before – Anson Dorrance (North Carolina women’s soccer) and Roy Williams (North Carolina basketball). How does Katende’s approach to teaching and motivating compare?
All three coaches like to use their unique life stories as inspiration to their players and all are wonderful storytellers. While Dorrance and Williams have used the power of their personalities to motivate, Katende is more of a nurturer. The children he mentors would not react well to a show of temper because many of them have been abused by their families. All three coaches have been father figures at times as well.
Q. You have written about world-class athletes for many years. What did you see in Phiona that was similar to others, and what was unique?
Like every elite athlete I’ve ever interviewed, Phiona is a powerfully driven individual. She routinely walks 10 kilometers a day to play chess and will often practice for six hours or more. She is different from many American athletes in that she has no ego. No swagger. A Ugandan girl wouldn’t understand the concept of psyching out an opponent.
Are you a chess player/enthusiast, but haven’t heard of Phiona Mutesi? If you don’t already know the name, it’s time you learned about this amazing person and how she achieved lofty chess goals in the face of near impossibility.
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 rampaged 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.
Tim Crothers got wind of the story and showcased Phiona’s journey in an article for ESPN. That article gained massive amounts of interest within the chess community, and Phiona’s story went worldwide.
She was the chess champion of Uganda at only ten years old, and today she is a candidate for the women’s master title. She says she wants one day to attain the elite chess title of Grandmaster, and I don’t think there are many chess lovers in the world who don’t want that for her, as well.
Just this past weekend she visited ASAP (After School Activities Partnerships) in Philadelphia for the 9Queens Chess Academy and spoke to approximately fifty young chess-playing girls and their coaches/parents. She even had the opportunity to give her first simultaneous exhibition (one person plays against multiple people at the same time). Among those in attendance was renowned women’s chess master and author Jennifer Shahade, who went over some of Phiona’s games for the group.
She will also make an appearance this Thursday, December 6th, at Chess in the Schools in New York, followed by an engagement at Gompers Preparatory Academy in San Diego on Saturday the 10th. Finally, Phiona will be meeting kids from Jay Stallings chess program at Trinity Classical Academy in Santa Clarita on Wednesday, December 12th.
Below are some links for chess fans to find out more about Phiona Mutesi and related venues.
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