Rasmus Svane from Lübeck: Life as a professional chess player
The suitcase is packed, the ticket booked. Rasmus Svane celebrates Christmas Eve with his family in Lübeck, “typically Danish, with singing and dancing around the tree”. On Christmas Day, the 24-year-old goes to Warsaw. At the end of the year, the World Championships in blitz and rapid chess will take place in Poland’s capital.
Svane at the World Cup in Warsaw at the start
The title fights are endowed with a million dollars. Up to 35th place there is prize money (1500 dollars). “A place in the top 25 would be cool,” says Svane. It would be important to him, “but not because of the money. For me that would have more of a symbolic value, because everything that has rank and name is at the start, including world champion Magnus Carlsen. ”He could still use the prize money. Because Svane, born in the Danish Allerod municipality, has turned his hobby into a profession.
Also read: Chess is booming in the pandemic – but only online
As a nine-year-old steppe, he simultaneously checkmated his opponents in Lübeck’s Breiter Straße. Since 2016 he has been a grandmaster in the royal game, number five in Germany. Svane has been a professional for five years, right after graduating from the Johanneum. The idea of earning money while playing outside of the 40-hour week is attractive for every hobby player. “But in Germany there are maybe ten of them who make a living from it, rather fewer,” he estimates. He is one of them.
Svane plays for clubs in several countries at the same time
But how does he make his money? Prize money is a source of income. The but: Only the elite around Carlsen & Co. earn six-figure plus inaugural wages, the majority of mortal professionals have to be satisfied with far less. Open tournaments often cost less than 1000 euros. Svane once collected $ 4,800 at the World Cup in Sochi, “my biggest prize money so far”. Only: he cannot live from it. The pressure is also high. Because: If you play badly, you get nothing. But: Travel, accommodation, food – everything has to be paid for, including the small old town apartment in Lübeck. That is why Svane – like many of his colleagues – plays for teams in the league. And that in several countries at the same time. “This is expressly allowed in chess.” In October and November, the Lübeck man lived out of his suitcase. First the Spanish team Andreu Paterna brought him to the top board at short notice, which he led to rapid chess gold. It went on to Berlin. Bundesliga with its club Hamburger SK. Shortly thereafter, two games took him to the Danish top club Skanderborg. On to Graz, where he played with Jenbach in the Austrian league. “It’s a solid source of income. “But: Only the best are asked by the clubs.
Also read: From prince to title favorite
Svane in the four-member A-squad for Germany
Svane: “I never feel like it’s work”
His plan for 2022? He is working on it, so far only has the Olympics in Moscow and the European Championships firmly in his sights. It would be his sixth year as a professional. “The good thing about chess is that you don’t have to quit when you are 30, and ideally you can make a living from it as a pensioner.” He lives on it. “I won’t get rich, but I can pay rent and food. I never feel like it’s work either. I feel like training every day. ”Even if he is still studying cultural studies at the Fernuni Hagen – Rasmus Svane is far from thinking about a life without chess.
From Jens Kürbis
Reference-www.ln-online.de