Himal Lama of Golden Gate College and Sajin Maharjan of Kamana Sacos set the championship battle of the Kamana Cup National Chess Championship here on Wednesday.

Lama defeated Suman Rai of Thapathali Chess Park 2-0 whereas Maharjan pipped Sumit Panta in sudden death play to set up the title clash. In the thrilling match, Maharjan and Panta drew both their games forcing tiebreaker, played in a blitz format. After the blitz also ended in 1-1 draw, the game was decided in sudden death.

However, Maharjan had an advantage over his opponent as he needed just a draw, while Panta needed an outright victory for a passage to the final. Maharjan won the match in less than a minute.

Meanwhile, Chhitiz Bhandari is on top of the leaderboard with 6.5 points at the end of the eight round of the regular league games. Candidate Masters (CM) Bhandari beat Rijendra Rajbhandari in the eighth round. CM Bhupendra Niraula and Ganesh Man Duwal are within the striking distance on six points each. Niraula overcame three-time national champion Badri Lal Nepali and Duwal defeated Suman Lama. Lava Kumar Shrestha, CM Keshav Shrestha, Rabindra Shakya, Raj Kumar Lama, Ranbhan-dari, Lava Kumar, Suman and Janardan Shrestha were next on 5.5 points. The regular league is being played under Swiss League format. After the completion of seventh rounds in regular league, top four players had qualified for the Super League.