English Chess Forum

The sad news has just been reported that Belgian Grandmaster Luc Winants died earlier today at the age of 60.
Luc was born in Watermael-Baitsfort,Belgium, on 1st January 1963.
He won the Belgian Championship in 1986 and became an International Master in the same year. He was awarded the Grandmaster title two years later in 1988.
Luc drew with white against both Anatoly Karpov and Nigel Short in Brussels in April 1987.
In 1995, he lost to Michael Adams at Hoogovens, playing the Anti-Borg (Desprez) Opening.
Luc won against Magnus Carlsen with white in the European Club Cup, back in 2003.
He also defeated Oleg Korneev in the European Championship of 2005.
One of his other notable wins was against Evgeny Bareev, rated 2715 at the time.
RIP

I recall playing Luc the only time I went to Belgium, in 1978. RIP.

RIP Luc, strong player in his day.

Had the chance to create his Immortal Game against Karpov at the 1988 (?) Brussels tournament, but ultimately fell agonisingly short.

Still chalked up a fair few strong GM scalps in his day.

Luc took part in eight Chess Olympiad tournaments with the Belgian national team.
He took second prize at the Cappelle-la-Grande Open in 2002.
Luc also played for Slough Chess Club in the 4NCL.
In addition to his career in tournaments, he wrote a weekly column on chess in La Libre Belgique.

A fun game, taking down the 12 year old future great.

[Event "European Club Cup"] [Site "Rethymnon GRE"] [Date "2003.10.01"] [Round "4.191"] [White "Luc Winants"] [Black "Magnus Carlsen"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2501"] [BlackElo "2385"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2003.09.28"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 c5 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. Bb5 e6 8. b4 Bd7 9. c3 a5 10. Qb3 axb4 11. cxb4 Ne4 12. Nc3 Qf6 13. Nge2 Nxf2 14. O-O Ng4 15. h3 Nge5 16. Na4 Nc4 17. e4 Nd4 18. Bxd7+ Kxd7 19. Nxd4 Qxd4+ 20. Kh1 Qxe4 21. Rae1 Qg6 22. Rc1 Ke8 23. Rxc4 dxc4 24. Qxc4 e5 25. Nb6 Ra3 26. Bxe5 Qe6 27. Re1 Be7 28. Qb5+ Kf8 29. Bxg7+ Kxg7 30. Rxe6 fxe6 31. Qd7 Kf6 32. Qd4+ e5 33. Qh4+ Kf7 34. Qh5+ Kg7 35. Nd5 1-0

I was at Rethymnon and I vaguely recall that game.

I met Luc at a junior tournament in Germany in 1980 or so; won by another future GM, Josef Horvath, ahead of a third, Olivier Renet. Luc was a notably friendly person, and made an impression on me by his passion for the games of Capablanca. I never met him again, but I remember him as someone who really loved the game and enjoyed sharing that enthusiasm. I'm sorry to hear of his relatively early death.