With one round to spare, the Soviet Union retained its World Team Championship title when the final game in the eighth-round match between Yugoslavia and Africa ended in a draw.
In its report, Reuter News Agency said that even with the Soviet Union still struggling in its match against Hungary, it has an uncatchable 4 1/2-point lead ahead of the two second equal teams, England and Yugoslavia.
The winning margin will not be determined until the end of the ninth and final round this week.
In the first game to finish in the Soviet-Hungary match, former world champion Anatoly Karpov defeated Grandmaster Adras Adorjan.
Surprisingly, Soviet Grandmaster Mikhail Gurevich, the world's seventh-ranked player and until then the tournament's most successful player with five wins, lost to the Hungarian International Master Tibor Tolnai.
The Soviet Union retained the title when it was first played in Lucerne, the site for the current match, in 1985.
Yugoslavia stayed in second place with England, who easily defeated the United States with an impressive performance that all but secures a medal for it.
Grandmaster Nigel Short demolished Grandmaster Yasser Seirwan, U.S. champion from Seattle, in 34 moves, inspiring the rest of the team.
The one drawn game was between Grandmasters Murray Chandler of England and Dmitry Gurevich, United States, after an incredible time scramble with more than 20 moves played in just three minutes.
In the remaining matches, Switzerland is level with Cuba, 1 1/2 points each, with one game adjourned.
China impressively crushed the once-favored Dutch team 3 1/2 points to a half.
In the battle for the silver and bronze medals to be completed later, England will meet China, and Yugoslavia will meet the United States.
In a late wire story, Reuters reported that Switzerland gained a point when it drew two adjourned games.
It picked up half a point from its adjourned round-six games against China and another half-point when it agreed to a draw in an adjourned Round 8 game against Cuba.
China and Cuba each earned half a point.
The positions after Round 8:
1. The Soviet Union, 24 1/2 points
2.-3. England, Yugoslavia, each 19 1/2 points
4. Hungary, 16 1/2
5. United States, 16
6. Cuba, 15 1/2
7. Switzerland, 14 1/2
8. China, 13 1/2
9. Netherlands, 10 1/2
10. Africa, 10
-BLUNDERS? - Do top-rated grandmasters ever blunder? Robert Byrne, chess editor of the New York Times, asks.
Gary Kasparov was annoyed by remarks from commentators about a terrible blunder that his opponent Anatoly Karpov made in the 11th game of their second title match, the one that gave him the championship.
In his excellent book, "New World Chess Champion," Kasparov relates that Karpov's unfortunate move was dubbed "the blunder of the century, a unique occurrence in matches for the world championship."
What bothered Kasparov was that there was nothing unique about that sort of error, not even on the world championship level.
Without trying too hard, he provided some juicy examples of title match blunders: three from Mikhail Botvinnik's matches in 1951 against David Bronstein, in 1958 against Vassily Smyslov and in 1960 against Mikhail Tal; one from the Tigran Petrosian-Boris Spassky match in 1969; one from the Spassky-Bobby Fischer match in 1972; and one from Spassky's previous match with Karpov, in 1984-85.
Kasparov's message was clear: When nervous tension is high, the blunders are bound to come.
-CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SOLVERS! _ William DeVroom, Ken Frost, Brian Griffith, Paul R. Lindeman, Robert Tanner, Ted Pathakis, Al Nicholas, Mel Puller, Hal Knight, Ann Neil, Raeburn Kennard, Aaron Kennard, Mark Stranger, Kay Lundstrom, Brian Harrow, Monroe Iversen, William D. Rice, Hal Harmon, Harold Rosenberg, Edwin O. Smith, Covert Copier, Joan Nay, Ardean Watts, Dean Thompson, Ray Jackson and John N. Nielsen.