The 1992 Championship attracted a record number of 41 teams to the Hungarian city of Debrecen. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia let many strong chess nations emerge radically strengthening the level of competition. Also, for the first time there was a separate event for women. The political storm had its impact on the chess world again. Yugoslavia, six-time silver medal winners, now truncated and only represented by the republics of Montenegro and Serbia (Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia announced independence and soon became FIDE members) were almost unanimously expelled from the Championship after a round 1 win over Czechoslovakia (another twilight side). The reason for that was a UN embargo imposed on Yugoslavia in retaliation for taking part in the Bosnian war. Another major formula change was a reduction of the number of boards to four and only one reserve per team was allowed.

Russia were led by World Champion Kasparov but the team's ELO was superior to England's by a mere 11 points as the Englishmen sent their strongest squad to Debrecen. Ukraine led by Ivanchuk and Beliavsky were also tipped to reach the medal zone. Other notable sides were ETCh newcomers Bosnia & Herzegovina and Armenia. Hungary were allowed to put three teams in the field and all of them were strong ones. Team "A" was led by Portisch; team "B" stars were Sax and Pintér while the top attractions of team "C" were the Almási brothers and the famous Hungarian prodigy Peter Lékó.

Bosnia and Herzegovina took off well ruthlessly beating France 4-0. Most major sides won their matches by an impressive margin with the exception of the united German team (FRG + GDR) who lost to Hungary "C". The FIDE team (Yugoslavia) beat Czechoslovakia. Round two saw Bosnia beating Georgia and Russia defeating Lithuania by a 3-1 margin. Bulgaria earned an important 2½-1½ victory vs Romania in the Balkan derby. Day three saw Russia convincingly defeating leaders Bosnia while the Netherlands ground down Bulgaria 2½-1½. Ukraine moved into second position hammering Moldova 3-1. Round four brought a few interesting matches between top teams. Russia beat Ukraine while Holland, the runners-up, lost to England after a tough battle. On the next day England halved vs Russia as Short's loss vs Kasparov was compensated by Speelman's win over Bareev. Armenia and Israel moved into tied second after massive wins over the Netherlands and Bulgaria respectively. Standings after 5 rounds: Russia 14; Armenia and Israel 13½; Ukraine and England 12½.

Day six saw Russia sweeping out Armenia's hopes with a ruthless 3½-½ win. Israel and Ukraine did not take much of a risk drawing all four games. Hungary won two matches in a row (at last) boosting hopes of the home crowd and moving up to joint fourth. The biggest upset of the event (according to ELO tables at least) happened as Italy hammered Switzerland (72 ELO points stronger at each board on average) 3½-½. In round seven Russia pinned Israel after a tough battle extending their lead up to a clear three points and Ukraine narrowly beat England in another giant battle of the day. Bulgaria and Georgia were the teams to join the chasing group thanks to 2½-1½ wins.

A number of decisive matches were scheduled for the penultimate day of the event. Kramnik's win over Adorján sealed Russia's win over Hungary while England lost to Israel by the smallest possible margin. Ukraine took all the chances wiping out Bulgaria 3-1 to move into lone second place, half of a point ahead of Israel. Then came Georgia (a clear point behind Israel) followed by England, Hungary and Croatia. On the last day the Russians easily sealed the very first gold in their history defeating Georgia. Ivanchuk's win over Portisch proved the decisive shot of the Ukraine-Hungary match to secure silver medals for Ukraine. Israel, who seemed certain to defend third position, lost unexpectedly to Croatia to be pushed down to fourth by England who ground down Armenia by an outstanding 3½-½. Sweden took fifth spot beating Greece 3-1 ahead of Lithuania who leapfrogged to sixth, thanks to a round nine 4-0 win over Italy, after losing four (sic!) matches in a row before. Germany scored another big win of the day wiping out Czechoslovakia 3½-½ (not a happy ending in the last ever match played by Czechoslovakia, a country that disappeared from the map just 30 days later). Hungary only finished 11th after unlucky round 8&9 pairing (Russia and Ukraine). The Netherlands finished in a poor 19th still better than Armenia and Czechoslovakia (28th!).

As far as individual results are concerned Russian prodigy Kramnik (only an FM at the time but already rated 2590) scored a fabulous 6/7 winning three gold medals! Other +80% players were Ostensand of Norway and Adams of England. Kasparov's 6/8 was only by a fraction less impressive. Best results of Swedish and Israeli teams were scored by Hellers and Alterman respectively. It is interesting to note that none of the second-board players from the leading teams stood out. All of them disappointed, as if they had hatched some odd plot.