Frederik Svane Sets Likely Record, Scoring Final 2 GM Norms In 24 Hours
It is probably a record: scoring two norms in a time span of fewer than 24 hours. GM-elect Frederik Svane, the brother of GM Rasmus Svane, managed to do so last weekend in Hamburg, Germany.
17-year-old Svane, the younger of two brothers (Rasmus recently turned 25), scored his first GM norm in October 2021 at a round-robin in Kiel, Germany, where he finished in second place and reached the necessary 6.5 points by winning the last two rounds on demand.
The second GM norm came last Friday, when Svane finished another closed GM tournament, this time at the local Hamburg Chess Club. The scenario was almost the same: he again came second with the necessary 6.5 points, this time winning the last three rounds on demand.
Meanwhile, Frederik had played a pretty good Bundesliga season for his Hamburg club, where he had collected six points in the first eight rounds. You may guess it: also here, against pretty strong opposition, he needed 6.5 points for a GM norm. His opponent on Saturday, GM Eduardas Rozentalis, who had celebrated his 59th birthday the day before, didn't mind a quick draw, and so Svane had achieved something unique: two norms in a day!
While we check our records, has any of our followers ever heard of anything like this? 🤯
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) May 28, 2022
Well done, Frederik Svane! 👏 https://t.co/m9NclXYr20
It's safe to say that Frederik has been "inspired" by his brother from an early age. As a toddler, he used to watch Rasmus playing games and receiving training, and already at four, Frederik joined a chess club himself.
As a teenager, the brothers played a lot together—Rasmus won a lot; Frederik learned a lot.
At the end of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, Frederik won the U16 Online World Championship.
The two brothers also have a sister, Freja, who plays as well but at a lower level. Their father is a world-class cellist; Frederik plays the cello as well.
The Svanes are not the only siblings both holding the GM title. The list below might not be complete; further suggestions are welcome in the comments and we'll add them.
- Csaba and Jozsef Horvath
- Nadezhda and Tatiana Kosintseva
- Athanasios and Dimitrios Mastrovasilis
- Anna and Mariya Muzychuk
- Judit and Susan Polgar
- Jorden and Lucas van Foreest
- Yuri and Andrey Vovk
- Andrey and Sergei Zhigalko
For this article, the author thankfully used Perlen vom Bodensee's excellent Schachmagazin blog (in German).
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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