Luc Winants, born on August 27, 1963, is a Belgian chess player who earned the prestigious title of Grandmaster by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in 1991. Winants graduated with a degree in Philosophy in 1989 from Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he worked as a teacher. He later pursued a career as a financial consultant.
He first made a mark in the chess world by winning the Belgian Junior Chess Championship in 1981, and three years later, he became one of the youngest ever to win the Belgian Chess Championship. From then on, he represented Belgium in several international chess team events including eight Chess Olympiads, five European Team Chess Championships, and one World Chess Championship.
One of his notable victories in individual chess tournaments was the 1991/1992 Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament, where he took first place and earned his Grandmaster title. The Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament is considered as one of the strongest open tournaments in the world.
Winants also played for various Dutch and Belgian chess clubs, including Schaakclub Groningen and De Variant. He demonstrated a robust win against Russian Grandmaster Alexander Khalifman in the Chess Olympiad of 1998.
Not just limited to playing chess, Winants has also contributed to the administrative side of the sport, serving as a delegate to the FIDE for Belgium.