{"product_id":"the-queen-of-katwe-one-girls-triumphant-path-to-becoming-a-chess-champion","title":"The Queen of Katwe: One Girl's Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion","description":"Book Description\n\nThe 'astonishing' (New York Times Book Review) and 'riveting' (New York Post) true story of Phiona Mutesi - a teenage chess prodigy from the slums of Uganda.\n\nProduct Description\n\nOne day in 2005 while searching for food, nine-year-old Ugandan Phiona Mutesi followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende.\n\nKatende, a war refugee turned missionary, had an improbable dream: to empower kids in the Katwe slum through chess - a game so foreign there is no word for it in their native language. Laying a chessboard in the dirt, Robert began to teach. At first children came for a free bowl of porridge, but many grew to love the game that - like their daily lives - requires persevering against great obstacles. Of these kids, one girl stood out as an immense talent: Phiona.\n\nBy the age of eleven Phiona was her country's junior champion, and at fifteen, the national champion. Now a Woman Candidate Master - the first female titled player in her country's history - Phiona dreams of becoming a Grandmaster, the most elite level in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world's most unstable countries. The Queen of Katwe is a remarkable and inspirational book that shows how 'Phiona's story transcends the limitations of the chessboard' (Robert Hess, US Grandmaster).\n\nFrom the Back Cover\n\nOne day in 2005 while searching for food, nine-year-old Ugandan Phiona Mutesi followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende.\n\nKatende, a war refugee turned missionary, had an improbable dream: to empower kids in the Katwe slum through chess - a game so foreign there is no word for it in their native language. Laying a chess board in the dirt, Robert began to teach. At first children came for a free bowl of porridge, but many grew to love the game that - like their daily lives - requires persevering against great obstacles. Of these kids, one girl stood out as an immense talent: Phiona.\n\nBy the age of eleven Phiona was her country's junior champion, and at fifteen, the national champion. Now a Woman Candidate Master - the first female titled player in her country's history - Phiona dreams of becoming a Grandmaster, the most elite level in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world's most unstable countries. The Queen of Katwe is a remarkable and inspirational book that shows how 'Phiona's story transcends the limitations of the chessboard' (Robert Hess, US Grandmaster).\n\nAbout the Author\n\nTim Crothers, a former senior writer at Sports Illustrated, is the author of The Man Watching and co-author of Hard Work. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40133005803605,"sku":"9780349141770N","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9e6e2d87-72f8-4ba7-afee-c96709ce811f.jpg?v=1655909676","url":"https:\/\/smeikalbooks.co.uk\/en-us\/products\/the-queen-of-katwe-one-girls-triumphant-path-to-becoming-a-chess-champion","provider":"smeikalbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}