Summary

Without truly understanding the magnitude of her achievement, teenager Phiona Mutesi qualifies to compete in the chess Olympiad in Russia. Phiona doesn't even know where Russia is. In her diary, she writes about the new experiences of travelling through Kenya and Dubai before finally arriving at her hotel room in Siberia. At the Olympiad, Phiona experiences a world completely different from her home in a Ugandan slum. When she enters the competition venue for the first time, she realizes the magnitude of representing her country against the world's best adult chess players. She looses her first two games and runs back to her hotel in tears. She can't remember the last time she cried.

Analysis

The prologue makes effective use of foreshadowing by plunging the reader directly in the middle of the story and revealing its climactic moment when Phiona travels to the chess...