SAMARKAND (UZBEKISTAN): Led by R Praggnanandhaa on the top board and world champion D Gukesh on the fourth, the Indian men scored an emphatic 3-1 victory over Holland but the Indian eves were shocked by Poland in the fifth round of the 46th chess Olympiad here.

Praggnanandhaa may have started with three draws against lower ranked players but when it mattered the most the Indian came up with a fine game to beat in-form Anish Giri while Gukesh put it across Erwin l’Ami to score his fourth win in five games.

On the second board, Arjun Erigaisi played out a draw with Jorden Van Foreest, while Nihal Sarin did not face many hurdles and drew with Loek Van Wely on the third. With their fifth victory on the trot, the Indian men kept their date with the second consecutive gold in the Olympiad having won the previous edition held at Budapest in 2024.

For the top ranked Indian women, it was a heartbreak as R Vaishali lost to Aleksandra Maltsevskaya on the second board, while the other three games ended in draws.

This resulted in a loss with minimal margin of 1.5-2.5 for the Indian eves and it remains to be seen how they bounce back with six rounds still remaining in the biggest chess event of the world.

In the shocker of the day, top seeded USA went down against a strong German display.