"Ladies and gentlemen, this is what a champion chess player looks like," the announcer said as Kurt Naiker, a burly 14-year- old in a football jersey, was introduced with other high school champions at a chess tournament at Long Reach High School.

He may not fit the highbrow image of a chess player, but Kurt exemplifies how the game can help children improve in school.

Saturday's tournament was co-sponsored by the Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP) and the Council of Elders of the Black Community of Howard County.

"Our primary objective is to deal with the low academic achievement that tends to be associated with ... children of poverty, children of color and language-minority children," said Lynne T. Newsome, elementary facilitator for the BSAP.

A few years ago, Kurt was headed for the Gateway School, Howard County's program for troubled and emotionally disturbed youths. But when he transferred schools, he made a fresh start.

Kurt began attending the BSAP's Saturday Math Academy, working on academic skills and teaching younger kids one of his favorite pastimes: chess.

Now a ninth-grader at Hammond High School, Kurt earned third place at the chess tournament and coached his 11-year-old brother Conley to a first-place trophy in his age group.

BSAP programs - such as community-based, after-school learning centers where youths can learn chess - are open to all Howard County students.

Five elementary-level centers are available. Older students are served at Education and Career Empowerment Centers at Long Reach and Oakland Mills high schools and at the Saturday Math Academy that Kurt attends. Registration for the centers, which are open daily after school, is free.

Bob Washington, a member of the Council of Elders, brought the idea of a chess tournament to BSAP last year.

"I saw chess as a way of doing those things - analyzing, problem solving, all in a way to improve [the children's] intellectual capabilities," the retiree said.

Newsome said that chess is "a way of teaching the students to learn to think, to plan, to devise strategies to accomplish a goal. In order to play chess, you have to learn to control impulsivity."

Kurt found that practicing chess helped him do just that. "Say I have a problem with something with school," he said. "I just think about if I was playing chess how would I attack this problem."

But the youths also enjoy chess as a game. "Once they've actually gotten involved, they see the beauty of chess and they find it to be fun," Washington said.

At the tournament, the fun of chess was most evident among elementary school children. In contrast to quietly intense matches between high school students, elementary-level games were fast and loud, as youngsters talked through their moves and discussed rules during play.

Nine-year-old Ray Dumes, a fourth-grader at Running Brook Elementary School, was one of 39 participants. "It's kind of a funner game than just sitting there pushing buttons" as you would with a video game, he said.

"My favorite part is how you actually have to think 10 times harder than in real life," said 8-year-old Isaac Colin Berland, a third-grader at Running Brook who was at his first tournament. "It's great," he added. "I can see how other kids are at chess that are my age."

Parent Kenny Duffy, whose son Jamie won first place in his age group, said Jamie is usually shy. The 10-year-old, who lives in Columbia but attends St. Mary of the Mills School in Laurel, is not involved in BSAP programs.

Although he didn't know any other players, Jamie was paired to play more games when his tournament matches were over. "It's a good learning experience for them socially. Obviously it helps a lot as far as their thinking process," Duffy said.

"Chess has the reputation or the aura of being a thinking person's game. We think it's very important for these children to realize they're also thinking people," Newsome said.

That realization has been key to Kurt's success, in chess and in school. "I just decided to prove to everyone else that I wasn't what they expected me to be," he said.

Oakland Mills' Education and Career Empowerment Center will have an open house from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. today. Information on BSAP: Lynne Newsome, 410-313-6686, Ext. 352.