The 7th European Team Championship final was scheduled in Skara, Sweden. Due to format alteration the length of the ETCh cycle was reduced from four to three years. 20 teams applied, of which one (USSR) qualified by default as title holders, one (Belgium) withdrew before the start and 18 had to fight for the right to compete in the Championship final in the preliminaries. England threw out West Germany to whom they lost 7½-8½ thanks to a big win over Wales which turned out to be an ample contribution towards future success. The Germans are until today the only team in the ETCh history to win all of their preliminary matches and fail to qualify. From group 3, Israel qualified at the cost of the Netherlands whom they overtook by virtue of match point record (round 1 win 4½-3½ was decisive) as both teams finished with 19 game points. Sweden sensationally hammered Romania 6½-1½ in the early stage of group 5 qualifiers and went through together with Hungary, and last round's win over the Hungarians did not help Romania at all.

The event attracted most top European players to Sweden. The Soviets and the Hungarians went to training camps shortly before the start of the Championship. The English team sent their best squad to Skara thanks to sponsorship of Duncan Lawrie bank. Only 14-year-old Short was absent because of his school duties. Top rated players were World Champion Karpov, Tal and Portisch. USSR had the highest overall team ELO (2631) ahead of Hungary (2554) and Yugoslavia (2520). Sweden, the hosts, and Israel were aiming at avoiding the very bottom of the table.

The opening day saw the Soviets barely halving with England and Karpov sensationally losing to Miles after his 1. ... a6??!! opener in the game that soon became an epitome of the power of creativity and bravery. Sweden created another sensation of the day beating Hungary 4½-3½. Czechoslovakia, fourth seeds (thus dreaming about reaching the medal zone) lost badly to Israel, who took an early lead defeating Sweden by the same 5-3 margin on day two. The Soviets had another bad day only drawing with Hungary. In the next round team USSR finally accelerated wiping out hosts Sweden 6-2. The Israeli leaders lost to Yugoslavia who took over the lead ahead of the Soviets. In round 4 both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union won, but the Soviet margin was far more impressive, letting the Soviet squad move into the lead at last. Israel shared points with England to retain third position. On day five England sensationally defeated Yugoslavia 6-2 (the margin hardly achievable even for the Soviets) and Hungary conceded another bad loss against Israel. Standings after day five: USSR 25½; Yugoslavia 21½; Israel and England 21. In the penultimate round the Soviets defeated Israel 6-2 to seal their gold medals and deny Israeli hopes. Hungary fought very hard to finally defeat Yugoslavia in another chapter of their neverending holy war. England beat Sweden and moved into a clear second position, a fraction ahead of Yugoslavia. Hungary were lying in fourth, one point behind the Balkan team. The last round was a real horror. Yugoslavia lost 5-3 to USSR and they might feel lucky with it. Hungary-England was a close run all day long, a few package deal offers were made and rejected. Hungary needed a 5-3 win in which case they would finish in second position or, alternatively, a 4-4 draw to secure bronze. The Hungarians finally went on to a great win earned by Sax and Faragó to get silver while England took bronze. Yugoslavia fell down to fourth. Bulgaria beat Israel on the last day and moved up to 5th. Czechoslovakia were lying in sixth ahead of Israel, while Sweden did badly after first round's show and finished in eighth.

The Soviets took seventh consecutive gold but it was not easy at all in Skara. Needless to say, none of their top three players managed to score a single game win! Karpov's round 1 debacle against Miles was so much a shocker that he only managed to draw all of his remaining games to produce the only ever minus score at the team championships (ETCh, WTCh, the Olympiads). Most points were contributed by 17-year-old Baku prodigy Harri Kasparov (as his name used to be spelled at the time). The Hungarians took silver because of the team's overall strength and good leadership by Portisch who, by the way, for the third time in his history of ETCh appearances scored one win and a bunch of draws. England enjoyed a great come-back after dreadful play in Moscow three years earlier. Unlike the Soviets, they scored best at top (Olympic) boards. Another curiosity is that of 14 games won overall, as many as 12 were won with black pieces (only Mestel won two games with white)! Yugoslavia missed the podium because of a 6-2 loss to England. Gligorić's 5½/7 secured him an individual board medal and was the best result of his team. Of the other teams the best results were achieved by: Popov of Bulgaria 5/7 (ELO 2637!); Ftáčnik of Czechoslovakia 6/7 (ELO 2792!!) - second individual performance of the event after Kasparov; Liberzon of Israel 3½/7 (all drawn!) and Andersson of Sweden - 4/7.