A roundup of the week Aug. 29-Sept. 3

AUTO RACING—EMERSON FITTIPALDI of Brazil drove his Lotus to victory in Europe's richest race, the $125,000 Rothmans 50,000 at Brands Hatch, England (page 85).

CHESS—BOBBY FISCHER of the United States won the world championship from Boris Spassky of the U.S.S.R. 12½-8½ with a 41-move victory in the 21st game in Reykjavik, Iceland (page 34).

FOOTBALL—Curt Knight, the NFC's leading scorer last season, kicked 51-and 24-yard field goals in the fourth quarter to give WASHINGTON a 27-24 victory over Miami after the Dolphins had tied the score at 21-21 on Charley Leigh's 101-yard kickoff return. Mercury Morris, who is challenging Jim Kiick for a starting position, ran 10 yards for a touchdown and 79 yards from scrimmage for the losers. Philadelphia dropped two games in six days, the first to CINCINNATI 34-20 and the second to the NEW YORK GIANTS 27-12. The Bengals scored 24 in the second half against the Eagles, and the Giants simply powered their way to three touchdowns, all scored on short runs. DETROIT intercepted Johnny Unitas twice, Quarterback Greg Landry threw a pair of touchdown passes and the Lions handed slumping Baltimore a 24-17 loss in Tampa. In Atlanta it was Bobby Howfield over Bill Bell in a battle of field-goal kickers and very little else as the NEW YORK JETS booted the Falcons 9-3. Even the aerial battle between Joe Namath and rookie Pat Sullivan fizzled, Namath completing only 5 of 14 and Sullivan 6 of 27. KANSAS CITY stopped Dallas' 15-game winning streak 20-10 as Len Dawson passed for a touchdown. DENVER trounced New England 49-24, ST. LOUIS defeated Green Bay 31-10, PITTSBURGH walloped New Orleans 56-7 and SAN DIEGO edged Los Angeles 14-13.

GOLF—VINNY GILES, 29, of Richmond, won his first U.S. Amateur championship after several near-misses, shooting a one-over-par 285 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club and defeating Mark Hayes of Oklahoma City and Ben Crenshaw of Austin, Texas by three strokes.

HARNESS RACING—Stanley Dancer drove SUPER BOWL to victory in two straight heats of the $119,090 Hambletonian, trotting's biggest race for 3-year-olds, at Du Quoin, Ill. The Star's Pride colt, timed in 1:57[2/5] and 1:56⅖ broke the Hambletonian record and three world trotting marks in his easy wins over Delvin Miller's Delmonica Hanover. After the race it was announced that a syndicate formed by Hanover Shoe Farms of Hanover, Pa. had purchased the colt for $1 million from owners Mrs. Dancer and Hilda Silverstein. Super Bowl will be retired to stud at the end of the season.

HOCKEY—RUSSIA, with Valeri Kharlamov scoring two goals, defeated Team Canada 7-3 in the opener of the eight-game series between the two countries in Montreal (page 16).

HORSE RACING—SUSAN'S GIRL ($4.20), maintaining her record of never finishing out of the money this year, won the $55,650 Gazelle Handicap at Belmont Park by 1½ lengths over Honestous. Ridden by Laffit Pincay, Susan's Girl made the 1‚⅛-mile race for 3-year-old fillies her eighth victory in a dozen starts.

Chou Croute ($21.60), the only filly in a field of 10, won the $28,900 Fall Highweight Handicap with John Rotz aboard by two lengths over Icecapade at New York's Belmont Park. It was her sixth victory in 11 starts.

OLYMPIC GAMES—After the first week of competition the UNITED STATES was tied with the U.S.S.R. in total medals at 51, but trailed by three in golds, 21-18 (page 20). EAST GERMANY was third with 38 medals, 16 of them gold. Individually, swimmer MARK SPITZ was the biggest winner, earning six gold medals to surpass an Olympic record. He still had one more event to swim. Australia's SHANE GOULD was nearly as spectacular in the women's swimming events, winning three gold medals in world-record time. U.S. boxers won 12 of their first 13 bouts, and the wrestlers earned three gold medals, DAN GABLE in the lightweight class, WAYNE WELLS in the welterweight and BEN PETERSON in the light heavyweight. U.S. fortunes turned at the start of the track and field events when sprinters Rey Robinson and Eddie Hart were disqualified from the 100 meters for failing to appear on time for their qualifying heats. The U.S. basketball team extended America's string of Olympic victories to 62 with seven preliminary-round successes, but, for the first time in the 76-year history of the Games, the U.S. did not win a gold medal in the pole vault. Bob Seagren, the world record holder at 18'5¾", failed to clear 17'10½", losing to East Germany's WOLFGANG NORDWIG who cleared 18'½". Other U.S. disappointments came in women's gymnastics, where the Russians dominated the competition and Cathy Rigby did not win a medal; in the 400-meter hurdles, where Ralph Mann was defeated by JOHN AKII-BUA and lost his world record to the Ugandan as well; and in the discus, which the U.S. had won in five consecutive Olympics. In that event LUDVIK DANEK of Czechoslovakia made a toss of 211'3" to beat American Jay Silvester. DAVE WOTTLE scored the only U.S. track victory, racing past Russia's Evgeny Arzhanov at the tape to win the 800-meter run. A totally unexpected medal was won by Jamie McEwan of Silver Spring, Md., who took a bronze in the Canadian canoe slalom singles.

SOCCER—MOSCOW Dynamo, 10-time champions of the Soviet Union, defeated the New York Cosmos 2-1 before 13,205 in Hempstead, N.Y. to close out the U.S. phase of its North American tour with a 2-0-2 record. Its other victory came against Atlanta 1-0, and it was tied by Baltimore 3-3 and by the 1971 NASL Champion Dallas Tornado 0-0.

TENNIS—MARK COX of Great Britain upset second-seeded Ken Rosewall in the second round of the U.S. Open championships at Forest Hills. Jan Kodes of Czechoslovakia, seeded eighth, was defeated by amateur ALEX MAYER JR. of Wayne, N.J., and ILIE NASTASE of Rumania was forced into a tie-breaker in the fifth set before winning his match with unseeded Roger Taylor of Great Britain. The only unexpected winner in the women's bracket, which includes Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert and Margaret Court in the same tournament for the first time, was KAZUKO SAWAMATSU of Japan, who defeated sixth-seeded Nancy Gunter.

MILEPOSTS—ACQUIRED: By the Detroit Tigers, First Baseman FRANK HOWARD, 36, who has hit 369 home runs in his 15-year major league career but only nine this season to go with a .244 batting average; from the Texas Rangers for the waiver price of $20,000.

FORMED: With little fanfare, the ASSOCIATION OF TENNIS PROFESSIONALS, similar in purpose to golf's PGA and designed to give 56 of the world's foremost male players control over their own tournaments. Arthur Ashe, a spokesman for the group, said the players had already contributed personal funds to make up the prize money for a first tournament and that a tour director would be named.

RETIRED: After a fall in which he broke a leg in Epsom, England, MILL REEF, Paul Mellon's 4-year-old winner of the Epsom Derby, the French Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and more than $730,000.

SUSPENDED: By the San Diego Chargers, sometime Running Back DUANE THOMAS, for failing to report to camp ever since he was traded to the Chargers by the Dallas Cowboys more than a month ago. The suspension carries with it a $150-a-day fine effective Aug. 28.