Despite maintaining a bright-eyed look of innocence, 42 Coos and Curry county students waged a full-scale war of logic all day Saturday as the young chess players battled in the South Coast Regional Scholastic Chess tournament for the right to compete at the state level.

The coveted trophies shimmered in neat rows at the front at the competition room of the Boys & Girls Club of Southwestern Oregon in Coos Bay, as organizers corralled the chattering and excited players of the elementary school division.

"Black! Mark Fontaine. White! Jessica Ross," announced Lynn Kindred, the tournament organizer. "If you win, that's great. If you don't, it's good manners to congratulate the other player. As far as I'm concerned, every one of you has won."

The silent and attentive children fidgeted in squeaky plastic seats, waiting for the clock to begin.

"Go!" Kindred said.

And off they went. Sighs, suppressed celebrations and sharp, quickly muffled squeals came from the floor. A few minor disputes were soon calmed by moderators.

In the last round, Kindred and fellow organizer Dr. Nancy Keller, known as "The Chess Lady" at Coquille schools for volunteering to lead clubs, were still going strong. They shuffled through stacks of scorecards, calculating figures and looking proudly at their pupils.

One of them didn't mince words about why he was there.

"Me? I'm in this tournament for the trophy," said Jon Murphy, a fifth-grader from Coquille Valley Middle School. "What I like about chess is that it's a game of war and all my life, trophies have been a sign to me of winning."

Rebeka Bertrand, a sixth-grader at Coquille Valley Middle School, said she employed her patented six-move checkmate.

"It's a four-move checkmate, except I did it in six moves," Rebeka said about one of the many strategies she's been taught.

Keller explained the students' enthusiasm. She said the long-standing stigma of chess club members as outcasts is not part of the school culture in Coquille.

"It helps kids think logically," Keller said. "And they have to learn sportsmanship. It's not as looked up upon as basketball, but it's not nerdy to be playing chess in Coquille."

Marred with controversy as to its origin, chess, according to one story, began in India and was later introduced to Europe by Persian kings in the sixth century, when it took on its modern form. Historical discrepancies aside, it is widely believed the game was used to mediate disputes without armies.

"I think it's nice to have an intellectual game rather than a physical game," Keller said, adding the competition is just as hard-fought as any organized physical sport. "Sportsmanship is a big one (to teach). You get a lot of tears."

But with the vast majority of competitors - 24 - in grade school, interest this year waned with age, Keller said. With only five high school players, Keller said other interests pull students away from chess.

"Jobs, cars, girls, sports," Keller listed. "But I'm still hopeful I'll get things started in the high school."

Mark Stephens, a speech pathologist at Marshfield High School who has bolstered chess programs at the former Milner Crest Elementary School, Sunset Middle School and now Blossom Gulch Elementary School, said since the last high school chess coach left, no one has taken his place.

"Now attendance for chess has fallen off," Stephens said, adding the students that stick with the game reap its rewards. "You have to explain that there's always going to be someone better, and if you seek them out, you're going to get better."

Stephens said the lessons are lasting and can be applied globally.

"It's a lifelong social thing. Pretty much anywhere you go in the world, you can play," Stephens said. "It's truly an international sport."

But the world will have to wait for Jon Murphy, the player who was in it to win. He got what he wanted when he accepted his third-place trophy.

"This is the happiest day of my life," Jon said after the ceremony.

In other action Saturday, Ryan Biasca, a sophomore from Marshfield High School, won first place in the high school division, earning his place in the state tournament. A draw for second place resulted in a five-minute-limit "blitz" round between Jeff Stephens, a freshman from Marshfield, and Christopher Neighbors, a freshman from Brookings-Harbor High School. Stephens emerged victorious.

At the middle school level, sixth-grader Josh Thompson from Millicoma Intermediate School beat out his older competitors, earning his way to state play.

In the end, 16 players qualified for the Chess for Success State Championship in Portland:

€ high school champion: Ryan Biasca, Marshfield High School;

€ eighth-grade champion: Anthony Ray, Coquille Valley Middle School;

€ seventh-grade champion: Justin Thomas, Coquille Valley Middle School;

€ sixth-grade champion: Josh Thompson, Millicoma Intermediate School;

€ fifth-grade champions: Mark Fontaine and Jessi Ross, Coquille Valley Middle School;

€ fourth-grade and under champions: Matthew Crim, Lincoln Elementary School and Ty Bunnell, Blossom Gulch Elementary School;

€ middle school team: Coquille Valley Middle School, Michael Daily, Justin Thomas, Tasha Napier and Stephen Mast; and

€ elementary school team: Coquille Valley Middle School, Mark Fontaine, Jessica Ross, Tasha Daily and Ivy Hallmark.