D Gukesh and Koneru Humpy (FIDE Photos) NEW DELHI: The decision hour is upon us. The countdown has begun.

The winners of both the open and women's sections of the 46th Chess Olympiad will be decided later today. Do India have a chance to retain their gold medals?

Certainly, perhaps more so for the open team, less so for the women's side, though there is still a route to a minor miracle there too. Either way, the fate of both Indian teams is no longer entirely in their own hands.

They will have to win their own matches and then hope the teams above them slip up elsewhere. 5 in Samark and.

Praggnanandhaa got things going with a win over Jakhongir Vakhidov, Nihal Sarin cruised to victory after his opponent, Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov, blundered straight out of the opening, and Gukesh added a smooth win of his own with the London System against Ortik Nigmatov. Arjun Erigaisi was the one to leave something on the table.

He had a completely winning position against Abdimalik Abdisalimov but couldn't find the finish, settling for a draw instead. Uzbekistan's own top team made no such mistakes, crushing Armenia to stay perfect.

That result leaves the standings finely poised heading into Sunday's final round. Uzbekistan lead outright on 18 match points, with India alone in second on 17.

Germany, Ukraine and Hungary make up the chasing pack, all on 16. Open section: India dominant, but the door isn't fully openThe equation for gold is straightforward, even if the odds require some help.

Uzbekistan face Ukraine, a side in decent form themselves after beating China in the penultimate round, with Vassily Ivanchuk and Roman Dehtiarov among those capable of causing an upset. India, meanwhile, take on Hungary, a team missing a bit of firepower at the top (Richard Rapport has been playing solid rather than spectacular chess) but dangerous further down the order, where Gleb Dudin has been in the form of his life.

If India beat Hungary and Uzbekistan lose to Ukraine, the gold is India's outright. If India win and Uzbekistan draw, the two sides finish level on match points, and it comes down to the Sonneborn-Berger tiebreak, which is essentially a measure of the strength of the teams you've beaten.

It's not a tiebreak India are likely to win; without many big-margin victories across the tournament, India would probably fall short of Uzbekistan's score even in a shared-points scenario. If Uzbekistan win regardless of India's result, they clinch the title.