Svane received his Abitur in 2016, and when asked in 2017 what he plans to do if a career as a professional chess player does not work out he stated he can return to his studies.[6]
Svane learned to play chess at the age of 4 after discovering a chess CD in a cereal packet.[3] He finished second at the German U12 Chess Championship in 2009,[7] and won the German U14 Chess Championship in 2010.[8] He was named the 2010 U14 Player of the Year by the German Chess Federation in recognition of the latter achievement.[9]
Svane earned his first international master (IM) norm at the 2011 German Chess Championship, scoring 5/9. He earned his second and third IM norms in 2012. The former came at the Politiken Cup held in July–August, where he scored 7½/10; the latter was achieved at the 1st Korbach GM tournament in December, with a score of 7/11. He was officially awarded the title by FIDE in May 2013.[10]
He earned his first grandmaster (GM) norm at the 2015 Aeroflot Open, scoring 4½/9. He earned his second at the 2015 Visma GM tournament, scoring 6/9, and attained the final norm during the 2015/2016 Chess Bundesliga season, scoring 6/10. He was awarded his GM title in September 2016, at age 19.[11]
From 28 October to 6 November 2017, he competed for Germany on board 4 at the European Team Chess Championship, scoring 5½/7 (+5–1=1) for a performance rating of 2762.[12] This was the second-best board 4 performance at the tournament, behind Rauf Mamedov's 2920 performance.[13] From 13 to 25 November, he competed at the World Junior Chess Championship. He placed joint eighth (seventeenth on tiebreak) with a score of 7½/11 (+6–2=3),[14] one point behind the winner Aryan Tari.[15]
From 23 January to 1 February 2018, Svane competed in the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters. He finished forty-first, scoring 6½/10 (+4–1=5),[16] one point behind the winner Levon Aronian.[17][18] From 20 to 28 February, he participated in the Aeroflot Open. He finished forty-seventh out of ninety-two,[19] scoring 4½/9 (+2–2=5).[20] From 17 to 28 March, he competed in the 2018 European Individual Chess Championship. He placed thirty-ninth,[21] scoring 7/11 (+6–3=2).[22] In August, he competed in the Riga Technical University Open. He placed fifth with 7/9 (+5–0=4).[23]
Svane represented Germany on the reserve board at the 43rd Chess Olympiad, from 24 September to 5 October. He scored 4½/8 (+3–2=3),[24] as Germany finished 13th.