'That's it, bruv," says 20-year-old Ashley Andrew to Nathan Richards in the semifinal of the inaugural Hardcore Is More Than Music chess tournament at the Stowe Centre in Paddington, west London. Which is one way of saying "checkmate". Ashley shakes Nathan's hand, smiles broadly and goes off to embrace his mates, before facing hot favourite Angel Blanco-Lista in the final.

This event is a unique and, for a chess nut like me, encouraging one. Sixteen inner-city youngsters, aged from 12 to 20, have turned up on a weekday evening at a youth centre to play a game usually associated with spotty boys in public schools. Admittedly, incentives have been laid on. The organiser, Michael Dipple, mentions lapdancers, but I think he is joking; a supper courtesy of Nando's chicken restaurants is promised; and, least likely of all, Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, is opening the event.

Kasparov is in London promoting his self-help book, How Life Imitates Chess, and has been enticed along by BBC2's The Culture Show, which is making a programme about inner-city chess. "What chess piece do you like playing with most?" Wayne O'Brien, a 17-year-old in a bright red baseball cap, asks him. "The best piece is the one that's most useful now," replies Kasparov. "In life you discover situations when you don't like what you have. If you want to win the game, you have to use all the materials at your elbow." "Cool, man," says Wayne.

I ask Kasparov whether he thinks chess really can reach inner-city areas. "In America it already is," he says. "Look at the national schools championship. Kids arrive in buses from downtown Detroit or Chicago, and others are flown by their parents in the family jet. Chess is probably the only game that goes beyond social status, race, education and physical ability. Chess is bringing kids from the streets to a more civilised environment; it channels their aggression."

Angel appears to be coasting in the final, but omits to take Ashley's queen when he has the chance and falls to a shock mate. He handles defeat with dignity. "Losing is part of winning," he says. "You can't progress unless you learn from your mistakes." Angel's self-help book will no doubt appear shortly.