Plovdiv, the second biggest city of Bulgaria, hosted the final of the 8th European Team Championship, as history proved the last one run in the old format. Not many sensations happened in the preliminaries. Iceland, a country of 300,000 inhabitants, beat Sweden and fought very hard only to lose to England by the smallest possible margin to miss the Championship final tickets. Czechoslovakia, runners-up from the 1982 Olympiad, were denied by Denmark to whom they lost 8½-7½ in the decisive match. The Danish hero was undoubtedly Kristiansen who beat Ftáčnik 2-0. West Germany eliminated Israel without problems while Poland once again were out losing to the Netherlands. The winners of the Balkan group were Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

Of the teams who took part in the Championship final the Soviet Union were missing Kasparov, Smyslov, Spassky and Tal but they still held a 60 ELO point edge over Hungary, the second seeds. Then came Yugoslavia and England, bronze medal winners from 1980. West Germany were extremely weakened as they were missing Hübner, Hecht and Pachman (not to mention older but still vigorous players such as Unzicker, Schmid or Darga). Denmark's trademark GM Larsen did not arrive either (as in 1970).

Yugoslavia beat Hungary in the crucial match of round one to earn a one-point advantage over the Hungarians. USSR took an early lead smashing Bulgaria 6-2. On day two the Hungarians managed to beat England while Yugoslavia only held Bulgaria to a draw. Day three saw a record 7-1 win by the Soviet squad over the weakened Germans. The Bulgarians produced another surprise defeating runners-up England. On the next day Hungary hammered Bulgaria 5½-2½ while England lost to Holland. Standings after four rounds: USSR 25; Hungary and Yugoslavia 19½; England 16. In round five Yugoslavia halved vs USSR drawing all eight games but Kovačević missed a huge chance to beat Beliavsky and win the match for Yugoslavia. Hungary sensationally lost to the Netherlands led by Timman who brilliantly beat Portisch. In the penultimate round England fought hard to lose to the Soviet Union by only 4½-3½ but this was not satisfactory for them as Yugoslavia and Hungary won their respective matches. On day seven Holland beat Denmark but only 4½-3½ finishing in 5th. The Britons played an excellent match and defeated Yugoslavia but this was not enough to reach the podium zone since the Hungarians quickly drew seven games vs USSR necessary to steal the bronze. There were some accusations that the package deal was made but nothing had been proved. Apparently the Soviets didn't feel like playing serious chess on that day. The Bulgarians beat poor Germans to take the 6th spot while Denmark finished in 7th.

The Soviets were unanimously the best team of the event. Karpov (who caught flu during his stay in Plovdiv) played only four games and best individual results were achieved by Yusupov and Romanishin. Yugoslavia easily took silver taking revenge for the 1980 slip-up. Unlike for the Soviets, the best results were achieved by top board players for Yugoslavia. Hungary came only third losing three matches (including the 3-5 loss vs Holland) and 10 games. Best individual result: Adorján. England failed to defend bronze medals won in Skara with only three match wins and four match losses. Mestel's best overall individual score (6/7 and ELO performed 2812) was a sort of consolation. The Netherlands came only fifth, but their match point record (5 wins and 2 losses) was only inferior to that of the Soviets (best players: Timman and Ligterink). Bulgaria, the hosts, were a bit frustrated because of the poor performance of their top players, but 17-year-old Kiryl Georgiev scored an excellent 4/6 instilling hope in the hearts of Bulgarian fans. Denmark and West Germany were by far weaker than the rest. Remarkable results: Øst-Hansen for Denmark (4½/6 and ELO performed 2652) and Peter Grün of Germany (ELO 2290!) who scored 3½/7 and performed at 2471 ELO points.