I wonder why the lowest team is removed from SB for the olympiad. Why not remove the bottom 2 teams, or the bottom 3? What is special about the bottom team?

Also, according to one of the GMs interviewed, the formula for doing the pairings used a different tiebreak ranking than the tiebreak used for the final results, which if true does not make sense.

Several decades ago I finished 2nd in a little tournament in New Jersey. The TD explained that I didn't finish first due to the "SB" system. I didn't know what that was, I told him "reverse those letters and that's what you've got" and walked away..... a bit of unsportsmanlike behavior on my part!
Actually, I have no problem with the system itself. It is the lack of up-to-the-minute knowledge for the players that is wrong. Come on, man, this is the computer age, if you're going to use the system, there should be a computer screen where the teams can know precisely the current status of the tournament. It's as if, in the final round of the world's championship, MC or FC don't even know if they can draw or go for a win! It's a ridiculous system only because of lack of knowledge.

For those who are confused by the Sonneborn-Berger tiebreaker, I did some math out of curiosity, and here's how China overtake US in the final round.

The tiebreaker is the sum of the board points scored against a team multiplied by that team's match points in the tournament, without the team that has the lowest match point. At the end of round 10, US led China by 4 points http://chess-results.com/tnr368908.aspx?lan=1&art=0&rd=10&flag=30, and after round 11, China is up by 12 points.

So what made up the 16 point difference? The big one is Panama and Georgia3, they had the lowest match points (11) after round 10, and US scored 4:0 vs Panama (4x11=44) and 2.5:1.5 vs Georgia3 (2.5*11=27.5). Since we are dropping the team with the lowest match point, and given we have a tie, we dropped the 27.5 for US. But in round 11, Panama lost and Georgia3 won, so now instead of having 44 points between those two teams, US only got 2.5*13=32.5 for Georgia3. Lost of 11.5 points.

For China, the lowest opponent score was Morocco both after round 10 and 11, so nothing changed.

The rest of the opponents for US, Netherland/Israel/Bosnia/Croatia lost, India/Poland/Armenia draw (2.5+1.5+2.5)*1=6.5, Azerbaijan won 2.5*2=5, US gain 11.5 points.

The rest of the opponents for China, Colombia/Peru/Croatia/Netherland lost, Czech/Ukrain/Poland draw (1+2+3)*1=6, Azerbaijan/Iran won (2.5+2.5)*2=10, China gain 16 points.

Last time US won gold due to the same reason https://en.chessbase.com/post/tie-break-system-decides-olympiad, with Jordan (Ukrain beat them 4:0) dropped to the lowest opponent for Ukrain after last round, and let US won the gold. This time it's Panama (US beat them 4:0) dropped to the lowest opponent instead of Georgia3.

It was widely published but unofficially that all that USA team would do is draw all games with China to cling the gold. And that is what they did drew all games, was misled, shocking, was beaten by the complex scoring system. I believe there should be a playoff. Thatwas not fair, USA has higher points.

in the open section poland faced by far the strongest opponents, facing the top eight seeds in rounds 4-11. against this brutal opposition they scored +4 =3 -1. in a swiss system tournament the result from the last few rounds is often critical, and poland paid the price for losing to china in round 10. unfortunately chess-results.com does not calculate the performance rating for the team as a whole. if they did i suspect that poland would be on top.
http://chess-results.com/tnr368908.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=POL&flag=30

among individual players, ding and caruana were phenomenal. they carried their teams to the top.

Could anybody please explain this weird tie-break system (not a word about it on the official site), and why board points as first criterium, well-proven in countless team tournaments, wasn't used in Batumi instead ?

Strange result as usa was leading on the average points before the last round. it should be a big surprise even for the chinese team to win the olympiad.

The first three are very very close - if USA would have held a draw against Poland... If Russia would have held a draw against Poland (Both USA and Russia can be grateful that Poland, at least, was "fair" to both of them). If Poland would have held a draw against China... If Ukraine would have beaten China (it was a draw)... If USA would have beaten Israel (it was a draw)...

Does not take much to make a decisive difference.

Amazing precision in the game between Caruana and Ding: ninety six percent and ninety percent.

why only three games for USA vs Poland?

Look at how the three Georgian teams are lined up in the rankings!

http://chess-results.com/tnr368908.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30

What happens to Russia? It risks not to take a medal, both men and women! Decline of leadership.

What is the3 difference between tsunami and Batumi? In tsunami, you run away, in Batumi, you come together and play. Would you likwe to play BATUMI? From now on, chess and Batumi are one and the same