Chennai: Surya Sekhar Ganguly of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board continued to be the sole leader with 6.5 points while Grandmaster Tejas Bakre (Indian Airlines) suffered a shock defeat in the eighth round of the Velammal 45th National A chess championship here on Sunday.

Bakre lost to International Master S. P. Sethuraman of the host Velammal School.

Sethuraman, M. S. Thejkumar of Karnataka and Grandmaster G. N. Gopal (PSPB) are behind Ganguly with 5.5 points each.

Bakre made some opening mistakes in the Sicilian defence, which was well exploited by Sethuraman. Though he lost a pawn on the 19th move, Sethuraman established a commanding position soon. Bakre surrendered in just 27 moves.

Gopal outwitted former nation champion Dibyendu Barua of Tata Steel in a French defence game. Gopal’s strategy worked out well, fetching him a point.