Sign out of chrome but use gmail

In the past, I could refuse to sign in to chrome - and still be able to use, for example, gmail. I would just select the tiny "skip" link when presented with the sign in window.

With the latest version of chrome it seems this option has been removed. Now as soon as I sign in to gmail, chrome automatically signs in as well into the same account. If I sign out from under "people" in chrome settings, I am automatically signed out from gmail.

I do not want to sign in to chrome; I do not want chrome to associate everything I do in my browser with my account. Yet, I do have to use gmail and docs (it's a corporate account, I don't have a choice).

How can I keep using gmail without signing in to chrome?

Chrome 83:

Go to ⋮ > Settings > You and Google > Sync and Google services
and disable Allow Chrome sign-in.

Chrome 70:

Go to ⋮ > Settings > Advanced > Privacy and security
and disable Allow Chrome sign-in.

Allow Chrome sign-in
By turning this off, you can sign in to Google sites like Gmail without signing in to Chrome

Now, when you sign in Gmail, it won't sign in Chrome.

After so much wasted time, I found the answer in this blog post:

https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-disable-the-auto-sign-in-feature-in-google-chrome-69-522856.shtml

Navigate to chrome://flags/#account-consistency and switch the Identity consistency between browser and cookie jar flag to "Disabled". Relaunch chrome - and you're set.