Grandmaster (2010). Born in Vinnytsya, Nyzhnyk started playing chess at age 4. At the age of ten, the Ukrainian prodigy shot to world wide prominence by winning Group B of the 2007 Moscow Open, scoring 8.5/9 points with a 2633 performance in a field of 324 players, including two International Masters and numerous other titled players. In July 2005, at the age of 8, Nyzhnyk competed in the World U12 championship in Belfort, France, scoring 7.0/11, and coming in 17th in a field of 125. He re-entered the same event in 2006 and 2007, scoring 2nd place on each occasion. He has had a series of excellent results in the Ukrainian youth championships the most notable being first place in the U10 Championships in 2005 and 2006, and the U20 Championships in April 2010. In October 2006, shortly after his tenth birthday, he was =2nd with Jorge Cori and Nijat Abasov (both of whom are now GMs) behind Robert Aghasaryan in the World Youth Championship Boys U12 in Batumi, Georgia. In September 2007, and still 10 years of age, he scored 8.5/9 to win the U12 Boys section at the 10th European Youth Chess Championships held in Sibenik, Croatia. A year later in September 2008 year, he won the U16 at the European Youth Championships. In November 2007, he scored 9.5/11 enabling him to become runner up (on countback) behind US player Daniel Naroditsky in the World U12 Championship held in Antalya, Turkey.
At the age of 12, Nyzhnyk was a tournament veteran. Notable results were a 2330 performance (coming 11th in a field of 17) in a category 3 tournament in Lugansk, Ukraine, while still only 9 years old and sixth place in the Independence Cup tournament in Kiev in August 2008 (performance rating of 2471) in a field of 70 players. In April 2008 Nyzhnyk won the 6th Nabokov Memorial in Kiev with 8.5/11, scoring a GM norm, and in September 2008 he was outright first in the U16 division of the European Youth Championships held in Herceg Novi in Montenegro. In December 2009, Nyzhnyk scored a sensational first place ahead of Jan Werle and Dimitri Reinderman at the Groningen Chess Festival (2009), scoring 7.5/9, his second GM norm, and a 2741 performance rating for the tourney. In 2010, he has so far come 3rd in the Staufer Open, 2nd in the Ukraine Boys Under 18 Chess Championship, =4th in the Nord-West-Cup (half point behind the joint leaders), won the Ukraine Boys Under 20 Chess Championship with 9.5/11, come =3rd in the World Youth Chess Championship-U16 in Turkey, 3rd in the 8th Vladimir Nabokov Memorial GM Tournament, =2nd (4th on countback) in the HSG Open behind Friso Nijboer, scored 8.5/13 at the World Junior Championship (2010) to come =7th-15th and came 1st on count back with 7/9 at the Podillia tournament in Khmelnitsky in Ukraine. In December 2010, he scored his 3rd GM norm at Groningen A (where he came =1st) with a round to spare, making him the youngest Grandmaster in the world at 14 years 3 months and 2 days. Richard Rapport was previously the youngest GM.
Nyzhnyk started 2011 by coming a solid second behind Daniele Vocaturo at the Tata Steel (Group C) (2011) (formerly Corus C) tournament, scoring 8.5/13 (+6 -2 =5) with a 2615 performance rating. He followed this up with =1st at the 2011 Reykjavik Open in March 2011, scoring 7/9 with a TPR of 2688, and with a score of 5.5/9 at the International Tournament in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, in May 2011 against a field that included 7 GMs (+2 -2 =3). In October 2011, he came =4th, half a point behind the three co-leaders, with 6.5/9 in the 15th Unive Open (2011) and also scored 6.5/9 at the 15th Bavarian International Open. 2012 started with a strong performance at Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2011 - GMB, where he scored 7.5/13, adding a handy 17 points in the bimonthly rating period to 1 March 2012. At the 13th European Individual Championship (2012), Nyzhnyk scored an excellent 7/11 (+4 =6 -1; TPR 2687) to finish 43rd, 68 places above his seeding and breaking through 2600 in the ratings. His season in the 2012 Turkish League was highly successful, scoring 10/13, a result which elevated his ranking to top of the U16 age group, while his excellent result in the Romanian Team Championships in September have helped him maintain his hold of the top spot in the U16s. Nyzhnyk closed out 2012 scoring 7.5/9 to win a share of 1st place in the 16th Bavarian International Open, and to boost him to the top of the U18 division in the New Year (2013) lists. A subsequent moderate performance (5.5/9) in the Moscow Open (2013) has cost him top spot in the U18 division, ceding it to Richard Rapport (2646), for the moment.
Just after his 8th birthday, Nyzhnyk received his first FIDE rating (2119). In 2007 he received his FM title and in October 2008, Nyzhnyk's FIDE rating was 2444, the highest rating in the world in the under-12 age group. He received his FM title in 2007, his IM title in 2009, and his GM title in 2010.
With a rating of 2635 in FIDE's May 2013 rating list, Nyzhnyk is the 2nd ranked player in the world in the U18 division behind Rapport.
Personal web site: http://www.dril-chess.com/ The following link contains a photo of him at 14 years 3 months: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp....
Wikipedia article: Illya Nyzhnyk
