Valsad, Former national champion Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua of West Bengal and young International Master S Arun Prasad surged ahead after the second round at the 44th National 'A' Chess Championship at Atul Club here today.

While the top three tables saw drawn games, the fourth board match between Gujarat's Vainy Parikh and Barua proved to be an interesting affair.

Barua, playing white, opted for the French defense to the reply of Valay who opted for an off-bear line to steer the game into unkown territories.

Both the players castled on opposite wings. The game went on equal footing. However, an error by Valay allowed Barua to win a piece on the 50th move. Valay resigned immediately.

On the 7th table, Arun Prasad scored an expected win over the lowest seeded Sudhir Sinha to join Barua in the lead.

A big pack of 14 players are following the leaders on the 3 spot with a score of 1.5 points.

The notable upsets of the day was the loss of GM R Ramesh at the hands of IM Himanshu Sharma. GM Tejas Bakre suffered his second consecutive loss to M Prathamesh Mokal in a plus position on time.