ms. mutesi: i was so hungry, so i just followed my brother to the chess program to get a meal. didn't have any idea, any picture, of chess, how it looks like. it was my first time to see it. so, it looked strange for me. i just wanted to enter, and i touched the pieces to feel them. reporter: now, a decade or more later, phiona is a heroine for the children at the chess academy. robert katende taught her the game and the ideas behehind it- thinking ahead and looking for solutions to problems, even when things are looking hopeless. mr. katende: we try to integrate the values and the principles of the game into our lifestyle, to do problem-solving. if you consider what you don't have, you can't make it. now he has to consider what he has on the board -- how can i still i achieve my goal using the resources that i do have? [fililm clip] >> in chess, the small one can become the big one. repoporter: for phiona, that waa fascinating idea. what clever move might free her from this life of misery? she practiced endlessly, and at the e age of eleven she won ne ugandan junior championsh