Soviets Win Chess Olympiad

The Soviet Union came from behind today and took the gold medal in the World Chess Olympiad and the underdog U.S. team, which held the lead into the final round, finished third.

The first-seeded Soviets thrashed Poland 4-0 in the final round to finish with 40 points in the 27th Olympiad, in which 108 teams competed. Britain recorded an identical 4-0 perfect score over Brazil to tally 39 1/2 points for the silver medal. The fifth-seeded Americans had a 36 1/2-to-36 lead over the Soviets before today’s round but ran into trouble in its match against Bulgaria and finished only third.