The Federation Royale Belge des Echecs was founded in 1921 and was one of the founders of FIDE in 1924. The most important tournaments were organized in Ostende, Liege, Brussels with Ohra and Swift in the mid-80s and Antwerp with Lost Boys at the end of the 90s.
The well-known players were Edgard Colle, Georges Koltanowsky, Alberic O’Kelly the first Belgian Grandmaster and World Chess Correspondence champion, Jef Boey, Luc Winants, Mikhail Gurevich…
Belgium has participated to 35 Olympiads since 1927. Its best achievement was 6th in 1950.
In 2016 Belgium was ranked 41st among the countries (2470) with 7 IGMs, 25 IMs and a total of 96 titled players.
The top players of the national team O’Kelly and Boey in action in 1962
The national champions were
1921 Boruchovitz, 1922 Colle, 1923 Koltanowski, 1924 Colle, 1925 Colle, 1926 Colle, 1928 Colle, 1929 Colle, 1930 Koltanowski, 1931 Barzin, 1932 Kornreich, 1933 Devos, 1934 Soultanbeieff (unofficial), 1935 Dunkelblum, 1936 Koltanowski, 1937 Devos & O’Kelly, 1938 O’Kelly, 1940 Devos, 1941 Devos, 1942 O’Kelly, 1943 O’ Kelly, 1944 O’Kelly, 1945 Devos, 1946 O’Kelly, 1947 O’Kelly, 1948 Devos, 1949 Dunkelblum, 1950 Lemaire, 1951 O’Kelly, 1952 O’Kelly, 1953 O’Kelly, 1954 Gobert, 1955 Gobert, Lemaire & Limbos, 1956 O’Kelly, 1957 O’Kelly, 1958 Franck, 1959 O’Kelly & Boey, 1960 Willaert & Lemaire, 1961 Limbos, 1962 Van Seters & Willaert, 1963 Limbos, 1964 Boey, 1965 Van Seters, 1966 Cornelis & Van Seters, 1967 Van Seters, 1968 Ebrahimi, 1969 Schumacher, 1970 Van Seters, 1971 Boey & Verstraeten, 1972 Freise, 1973 Willaert, 1974 Moeyersons, 1975 Goormachigh, J. Tonoli & Henri Winants, 1976 Deleyn, 1977 Weemaes, 1978 Meulders, 1979 Deleyn, 1980 Defize, 1981 Meulders & Weemaes, 1982 Goormachtigh & Penson, 1983 Meulders & Defize, 1984 Jadoul, 1985 Meulders, 1986 Winants, 1987 Schuermans, 1988 Jadoul & Meulders, 1989 Meulders, 1990 Jadoul, 1991 Meulders, 1992 Jadoul, 1993 Cools, Le Quang & Vanderwaeren, 1994 Cekro, 1995 Cekro & Sonntag, 1996 Dutreeuw, 1997 Vetemaa & Cekro, 1998 Cekro & P. Claesen 1999 Claesen & Vanderwaeren, 2000 Chuchelov, 2001 M. Gurevich (9/9), 2002 Dgebuadze, 2003 Van der Stricht, 2004 Michiels, 2005 Dgebuadze, 2006 Mohandesi, 2007 Dgebuadze, 2008 Laurent, 2009 Hovhanisian, 2010 Hovhanisian, 2011 Michiels, 2012 Ringoir, 2013 Ringoir, 2014 Van der Stricht, 2015 Hovhanisian, 2016 Ringoir, 2017 Hovhannisyan.