The third cycle of European Championship had been scheduled for 1965. As in 1961, six teams entered double round robin competition of which two (USSR and Yugoslavia) qualified by default and four won respective preliminaries. The preliminary stage did not bring major upsets. Hungary and Romania qualified from Eastern European group at a cost of Bulgaria and East Germany while Netherlands overcame Spain easily. USSR were as usual major favourites for gold although they were missing Tal, Spassky, Geller, Keres and Polugaevsky, Hungary and Yugoslavia were aiming at close battle for silver sending their first suits to Hamburg.
Hungary made huge step towards silver beating Yugoslavia in the very beginning. The Soviets took sweet revenge for Tel Aviv 1-3 debacle and beat West Germany by 6½-3½. Round two 8-2 over Romania let the Soviets leave the opposition far behind and they strengthened their lead by consecutive 6-4 wins over Yugoslavia and Hungary. USSR were in clear lead after first cycle with 34 points ahead of Yugoslavia - 29 and Hungary - 28. West Germany were lying fourth ahead of Romania. Day six saw the Hungarians beating Yugoslavia again and both teams leveled on points. In round 8 the Soviets beat Yugoslavia 7-3 and virtually sealed the gold medals. Hungary fought hard to overtake Yugoslavia defeating the Soviets sensationally in penultimate round thanks to Szabó's magnificent win over Botvinnik and Bilek's win over Korchnoi. With last round to go Hungary and Yugoslavia were in tied second and they both won last round's matches by 6½-3½. Both teams finished with 57 points then and Yugoslavia were awarded silver medals on a basis of a special tie-break. By many this was considered unfair since the Hungarians had excellent match point record (nine wins and only one loss) and had won both matches vs Yugoslavia. The controversial tie-breaking method had soon been abolished. Caissa, the goddess of chess, soon came across the bill. One year later, at Havana Olympiad, Hungary and Yugoslavia came in tied third. Hungary were awarded bronze medals on a basis of jury verdict who decided to use unweighted Berger (not weighted, as many suggested).
Soviet's gap over the chasing group was impressive (as usual) but Botvinnik's three consecutive loses were sensation of the event. Never before and never after did Botvinnik lose three games in a row against non-Soviet players. Also, after excellent first cycle performance (4½/5) Viktor Korchnoi, the hero of 1957 and 1961 championships had a dreadful second cycle performance (1/4). Best percentage results were achieved by bottom board players: Boleslavsky and Lein. Gligorić, who courteously gave the right to play at top board to Ivkov produced best performance of all Yugoslav players. The Hungarians won two individual prizes for best board scores (Barcza and Forintos) and Portisch (their top board) avoided a single loss. West Germany easily took fourth spot despite Unzicker's poor play (=7-3) that was compensated by Schmid's excellent show. Romania came fifth (only two players achieved 50% results and nobody scored better) and the Netherlands came sixth losing all 10 matches (Donner's 5½/10 was the only consolation).
