Ugandan teenager Phiona Mutesi is the ultimate underdog. She grew up in one of the poorest spots on earth, couldn’t read or write, and scrounged for food each day for herself, her mother, and her brother.

Phiona heard that a missionary and refugee of Uganda’s civil war named Robert Katende had started a chess program and that he offered a bowl of porridge to any child who would show up and learn. She began walking the four miles each day to learn the game of chess and get that precious food. She soon found herself liking chess and started training and practicing regularly.

Fast forward a year to when she became a rising international chess star, the subject of a book, and the protagonist in a future Disney movie.

“Chess gave me hope, whereby now I’m having a hope of becoming a doctor and…a grand master,” she said.

“It teaches you how to assess, how to make decisions, obstructive thinking, forecasts, endurance, problem solving, and looking at challenges as an opportunity in all cases — and possibly not giving up. The discipline, the patience … anything to do with life, you can get it in that game.”

– Robert Katende, on chess to CNN

Meanwhile, Phiona is becoming an inspiration to people all over the world.

Some learned about her through an article for ESPN, which went viral. Others have seen a brief documentary about her on YouTube. Biographer Tim Crothers’ book about her, “The Queen of Katwe,” was published this fall.

Crothers says, “Every hurdle that the world can place in front of her it has placed in front of her.”

Which is precisely what makes this story all the more bittersweet. Congrats to Phiona Mutesi on her past, present, and future success.