In 2012, Mutesi and Ivy Amoko were awarded the title of Woman Candidate Master after scoring the required 50% from nine games at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
Ĭommenting on one of her games from the 2010 Olympiad, British chess journalist John Saunders wrote that "Phiona's present playing standard is that of a modest but competent club player but, placed in the context of her environmental and educational deprivation, her achievement in reaching such a level has been awe-inspiring." Īs of 2012, she was a three-time winner of the Women's Junior Chess Championship of Uganda. At this event, she attracted the attention of journalist Tim Crothers, who wrote a substantial piece on her for ESPN The Magazine. She scored one-and-a-half points from the seven games she played. In 2010, Mutesi played six rounds on board two and one round on board one for Uganda at the women's event of the 39th Chess Olympiad, held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Īs of 2019, Mutesi spends less time on chess, and focuses on her studies and work as a motivational speaker. After college, Mutesi said she wants to "come back home and serve my community," and work with children who live in the slums of Uganda. She was offered a scholarship and began attending Northwest University in 2017. ĭuring a trip to the US, Mutesi visited Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. In this after-school program run by Robert Katende, Mutesi began playing chess.
One day she followed her brother and discovered a project run by Sports Outreach Institute, a Christian sports led mission. At age nine, Mutesi dropped out of school because her family could no longer afford to send her. Her older sister, Julia, subsequently died of unknown causes. When she was roughly three years old, her father died of AIDS. Mutesi was born and grew up in the neighbourhood of Katwe, the largest of Kampala's eight slums.