Queen of Katwe

Taking things too literal will probably always be NM Reb's first mistake. Pleez....of all people....don't you start doing that too.

Why not? I've met people who is convinced Salieri killed Mozart.

And for those who can't take anything from this movie ?....if you have any Horatio Alger books ?

Why don't you throw them in the fireplace. They're better served keeping your cold heart warm........

I don't see where batgirl has gone astray.

dont give attention to that ..... thing. Please.

Agreed.

I read the book too last year and the book contains about enough info for a good ESPN article (which is how it started.) Still, it is an inspiring story and I understand why they wanted to make a movie.

The movie is now available on demand in the US.  I thought it was pretty interesting from a human point of view. She did live in awful slum and had to struggle to get food. She had no access to schooling. Her prospects were below "limited". She did get lucky to meet a coach who encouraged her but her accomplishments are her own. She did learn enough to beat serious opponents in Uganda and won the Ugandan Junior Women's Championship three times. She did legitimately qualify for the Olympiad. Wanting to learn about chess inspired Phiona to learn to read. It is a great story and it's nice to see anybody getting excited about chess.

Phiona's WCM will inspire far more people around the world in developing countries to take up chess. That is a great thing.  There are a lot of problems with FIDE, but this is not one of them.

On several issues:

She got WCM because she earned it according to the rules. Nothing more, nothing less.

As I understand she's focused very hard in the last few years on catching up on school. People forget she didn't go to school for 6-7 years.

Also the Uganda Chess Federation so they hardly send her to international competitions.

All in all her focus since 2012 has shifted to finishing high school, hence he hasn't played that much and her resulting drop in the ranking. She has said that she aims to refocus back on her chess career once she gets her diploma.

And one more thing: How many of those people that are WCM or GM or whatever didn't go to skill until they were a teenager, got up at 5 am to bring water and lived in a shack with no running water, let alone a computer or qualified chess trainer?

All in all the fact that at age 15 she managed anything at an international chess olimpiad is pretty astonishing. And she may yet drastically improve her ratings once she returns to professional chess. Her current points mostly come from not actually playing much on the international circuit, she doesn't have much exposure or opportunities, so its not as if she could have reached 2000 in the meantime.

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I know that this post & comments are made last year.  iTunes Store and other movie stores sell this movie for $19.99.  I'm not sure about the rental price.  Disney lost the money on this movie.  The movie was budgeted at $15M but only made $10.4M.  I would like to read the e-book.  The cost of e-book is $11.99.