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Illya Nyzhnyk
I Nyzhnyk 
 

Number of games in database: 700
Years covered: 2005 to 2024
Last FIDE rating: 2572 (2649 rapid, 2637 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2665
Overall record: +270 -83 =259 (65.3%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 88 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 King's Indian (41) 
    E60 E61 E63 E62 E67
 Sicilian (37) 
    B54 B40 B32 B33 B76
 Slav (32) 
    D11 D10 D18 D15 D16
 Queen's Pawn Game (25) 
    D02 A45 E10 E00 A41
 Queen's Gambit Declined (25) 
    D37 D31 D39 D30 D38
 Grunfeld (22) 
    D76 D85 D79 D78 D73
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (100) 
    B90 B32 B30 B94 B51
 King's Indian (45) 
    E62 E92 E97 E80 E90
 Sicilian Najdorf (34) 
    B90 B94 B93 B92 B99
 French Defense (33) 
    C11 C07 C10 C03 C01
 Queen's Gambit Accepted (24) 
    D27 D20 D28 D26 D23
 Queen's Pawn Game (20) 
    A46 D02 A45 E10 E00
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   I Nyzhnyk vs D Baider, 2006 1-0
   I Nyzhnyk vs S Siebrecht, 2011 1-0
   G Gislason vs I Nyzhnyk, 2010 0-1
   A Pashikian vs I Nyzhnyk, 2009 0-1
   I Nyzhnyk vs L Petovic, 2009 1-0
   I Nyzhnyk vs L Bruzon Batista, 2012 1-0
   I Nyzhnyk vs R Pruijssers, 2011 1-0
   I Nyzhnyk vs D Reinderman, 2009 1/2-1/2
   I Nyzhnyk vs Vocaturo, 2012 1-0
   I Nyzhnyk vs Giri, 2012 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Groningen Chess Festival (2009)
   SPICE Cup Open (2024)
   Tata Steel Group C (2011)
   National Open (2024)
   Canadian Open (2023)
   116th US Open (2015)
   SPICE Cup Open (2022)
   US Masters (2024)
   Reykjavik Open (2011)
   Dresden ZMD Open (2009)
   World Junior Championship (2010)
   PRO Chess League KO Stage (2019)
   European Championship (2009)
   European Championship (2013)
   PRO League Group Stage (2019)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   2005 WYCC (open) U-12 by gauer
   2014 Spice Cup open by gauer
   2006 WYCC (open) U-12 by gauer

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 Saint Louis Masters
   N Chasin vs I Nyzhnyk (Dec-07-24) 1/2-1/2
   N Theodorou vs I Nyzhnyk (Dec-06-24) 1/2-1/2
   I Nyzhnyk vs Shankland (Dec-06-24) 0-1
   A Donchenko vs I Nyzhnyk (Dec-05-24) 1-0
   I Nyzhnyk vs A Ostrovskiy (Dec-05-24) 1-0

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Illya Nyzhnyk
Search Google for Illya Nyzhnyk
FIDE player card for Illya Nyzhnyk

ILLYA NYZHNYK
(born Sep-27-1996, 28 years old) Ukraine
PRONUNCIATION:
[what is this?]

FM (2007); IM (2009); Grandmaster (2010).

Early Years

A chess prodigy, Nyzhnyk was born in Vinnytsya and 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.

Championships

<Youth – national and continental> 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, in the U12 Championship in 2006, and in the U16 Championship in 2008. In September 2007, and still 10 years of age, he scored 8.5/9 to win the U12 European Championship held in Sibenik, Croatia. A year later in September 2008 year, he won the U16 European Championship held in Herceg Novi in Montenegro. In 2010, he came 2nd in the Ukraine U18 Championship.

<Youth – world> 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. In October 2006, shortly after his tenth birthday, he was =2nd with Jorge Cori and Nijat Abasov (both now GMs) behind Robert Aghasaryan in the U12 World Championship in Batumi, Georgia. In November 2007, he scored 9.5/11 enabling him to become runner up (on count back) behind US player Daniel Naroditsky in the World U12 Championship held in Antalya, Turkey. In 2010 he came =3rd in the World U16 in Turkey.

<Junior> One of Nyzhnyk’s exceptional early achievements was first place in the Ukrainian U20 Championships in April 2010 when he was still 13 years old. In 2010 also scored 8.5/13 at the World Junior Championship (2010) to come =7th-15th

Continental

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.

Standard Tournaments

Nyzhnyk was a tournament veteran from an early age. Notable results included 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. 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 came 3rd in the Staufer Open, =4th in the Nord-West-Cup (half point behind the joint leaders), 3rd in the 8th Vladimir Nabokov Memorial GM Tournament, =2nd (4th on countback) in the HSG Open behind Friso Nijboer, 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 Reykjavik Open (2011) held 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 Group B (2012), where he scored 7.5/13, adding a handy 17 points in the bimonthly rating period to 1 March 2012. 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) and poor performances in the Ukrainian Championship (2013) and the European Individual Championships (2013) have cost him top spot in the U18 division. He scored 5.5/9 at the 2014 UT Dallas Spring FIDE Open underwritten by Turner Construction and then bounced back to form by coming =1st at the 42nd Annual World Open held in July 2014 in Arlington, Virginia. In October he won the 2014 Spice Cup Open with 7/9. In May 2015, he scored 6.5/9 at the annual Chicago Open to place =2nd, half a point behind the winner Jeffery Xiong. In July 2015, he placed =1st (6th on tiebreak), at the 2015 World Open.

Team Events

Nyzhnyk had his first serious experience in the top league playing for the Vinnytsia region on board 2 behind Sergey Fedorchuk in the 3rd all-Ukrainian Games held in Eupatoria in 2007. He played reserve for the PVK-Kievchess Kyiv club in its gold medal-winning seasons of 2008 and 2009. Since then, his season in the 2012 Turkish League was highly successful, when he scored 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 helped him maintain his hold of the top spot in the U16s for the rest of 2012. In the 2013-14 season, he played board 2 behind Jan Timman in the gold medal winning SG Köln Porz team in the Bundesliga West.

Rapid and Blitz

An occasional participant in the faster forms of the game, Nyzhnyk's best results were winning the Ukrainian U18 blitz championship in 2010 and winning the Ukrainian U20 rapid championship in the same year. In April 2014 he won the Anatoliy Olkhovskiy Memorial outright with 20/24.

Ratings and Rankings

One of the world's top Juniors (U20), Nyzhnyk's highest rating to date was 2637 from December 2012 to February 2013, during which time he reached his highest Junior ranking to date, world #6.

Other

Nyzhnyk has enrolled at Webster University and joined Susan Polgar's SPICE program late in 2014. (1)

References

(1) http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com.au/... and Illya Nyzhnyk (kibitz #460)

Wikipedia article: Illya Nyzhnyk; 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...

Last updated: 2016-09-16 04:29:00

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 28; games 1-25 of 700  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. A Chernyavsky vs I Nyzhnyk 0-1742005EU-ch U10A27 English, Three Knights System
2. D Hiti vs I Nyzhnyk  0-1392005EU-ch U10E11 Bogo-Indian Defense
3. G Benidze vs I Nyzhnyk  ½-½432005EU-ch U10B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
4. I Nyzhnyk vs K Nikologorskiy  0-1272005EU-ch U10B55 Sicilian, Prins Variation, Venice Attack
5. I Nyzhnyk vs K Tomsia  1-0392005EU-ch U10D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
6. I Nyzhnyk vs K Meneses Gonzalez  1-0282005EU-ch U10A53 Old Indian
7. I Nyzhnyk vs C Emiroglu 1-0322005EU-ch U10C22 Center Game
8. I Nyzhnyk vs S Kovacevic 1-0402005EU-ch U10C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
9. K Berbatov vs I Nyzhnyk 1-0222005EU-ch U10B28 Sicilian, O'Kelly Variation
10. V Rizsonkov vs I Nyzhnyk  ½-½642005UKR-ch sfC56 Two Knights
11. A Prihodko vs I Nyzhnyk  1-0382005UKR-ch sfA06 Reti Opening
12. N Bodnar vs I Nyzhnyk  ½-½142005UKR-ch sfD37 Queen's Gambit Declined
13. I Nyzhnyk vs J Baranov  ½-½752005UKR-ch sfB18 Caro-Kann, Classical
14. I Nyzhnyk vs M Vasiliev  0-1642005UKR-ch sfD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
15. I Nyzhnyk vs N Zhornik  0-1652005UKR-ch sfB55 Sicilian, Prins Variation, Venice Attack
16. I Nyzhnyk vs V Zatonskih  ½-½312005UKR-ch sfA84 Dutch
17. E Kilimnik vs I Nyzhnyk  0-1442005UKR-ch sfE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
18. P Lichmann vs I Nyzhnyk  1-0752005UKR-ch sfE20 Nimzo-Indian
19. I Nyzhnyk vs V A V Rajesh  ½-½522005Wch U12C00 French Defense
20. I Nyzhnyk vs So 0-1332005Wch U12A07 King's Indian Attack
21. I Nyzhnyk vs M Atabayev 1-0332005Wch U12A16 English
22. I Nyzhnyk vs Yinglun Teng  1-0612005Wch U12A22 English
23. I Nyzhnyk vs J Hapuarachchi  1-0282005Wch U12C68 Ruy Lopez, Exchange
24. Negi vs I Nyzhnyk ½-½402005Wch U12C11 French
25. O Mihok vs I Nyzhnyk  1-0522005Wch U12C45 Scotch Game
 page 1 of 28; games 1-25 of 700  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Nyzhnyk wins | Nyzhnyk loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 16 OF 19 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-25-12  voratco: Wait, according to this,

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr668...

he is not quite there yet, needs just a little push.

Mar-25-12  voratco: and finally, yes he is, live rating is over 2600.

http://ratings.fide.com/individual_...

Mar-27-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: lost today :(
Mar-27-12  twinlark: and is back below 2600
Mar-31-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: down goes rodshtein!
Mar-31-12  twinlark: And up comes Nyzhnyk! Great performance by the young man.
Apr-01-12  twinlark: <frogbert>

It might take a little longer for young Cheparinov to overtake Old Man Georgiev, with them scoring 6.5 and 7 respectively at the EICC.

Apr-01-12  frogbert: <That makes him the youngest GM to breach 2600 elo at age 15 + something months and days.>

really? did you check versus so and carlsen?

for instance, on january 1st 2006 carlsen had an <official> rating of 2625 at the age of 15 years 1 month and 1 day.

counting *live*, carlsen first broke 2600 <before> his 15th birthday, after going 1-1 against azmaiparashvili in the first round of the fide wcc 2005, gaining 2,4 rating points.

<It might take a little longer for young Cheparinov to overtake Old Man Georgiev>

twinlark, i've got no particular expectations for cheparinov, but eventually i guess the younger will prevail, assuming both continues to play chess for another 10-15 years. :o)

Apr-01-12  twinlark: <frogbert>

I was just having a good natured poke at your comment.

Georgiev does keep himself very fit, though. His physical conditioning for his world record simul a few years ago was really quite rigorous. I expect we'll see the old bugger around for a while yet, in the top 100 anyway.

Apr-01-12  frogbert: <I was just having a good natured poke at your comment. >

hehe. i didn't take it any other way, either. and i agree, georgiev seems fit to stay around for a while. in fact, there are numerous people around today (including anand, gelfand and ivanchuk) that prove quite clearly that the "youth invasion" is less obvious than some people have claimed.

as argued on the nakamura page, modern technology has leveled the field significantly compared to earlier (when the soviets had a huge edge), but the things that are equally distributed today only speeds up the first leg significantly (for the big stars), which is reaching gm-level.

climbing from there, quickly, takes a lot of innate talent. and reaching top 10 is probably *harder* today than 20 years ago, in my estimation, simply due to the much bigger group of chess professionals around, spending time and efforts on mastering the game. and these days the truely come from all over the world (ok, we still lack good representation from africa and australia, but anyway).

Apr-01-12  twinlark: <frogbert>

<the "youth invasion" is less obvious than some people have claimed.>

It's true, isn't it? Technology has facilitated getting the title more quickly, but it's benefited people of all ages, there are more people getting their titles at an older age now as well. The average age of players receiving GM titles has only started to decline in the last three years since the title was formalised in 1950, and that only slightly (by about a year).

<we still lack good representation from africa and australia,>

Don't I know it? Problem here in Oz is a complete preoccupation with the physical sports, an anti-intellectual attitude generally, and the fact that chess careers tend to stop when kids leave school and only resume when they're finished raising a family - there's no money in it. We've got one of the best school level participations in chess on the planet, but it all evaporates like the morning dew when kids leave school and have to get a job. There is no support program or recognition for chess in Oz apart from some very minor one-off grants and minor sponsorships.

There's lots of talent here, but it can't showcase itself too well in Oz, and the opportunity to expand one's experience has to be undertaken by going on international tournaments at great personal expense...we're a long way from everywhere here, unlike Eurasia and the Americas.

I'm sure the socioeconomics are the same, only in truckloads, in Africa.

For talent to shine through, it has to start early, keep on developing through participation in progressively stronger tournaments, and <have the infrastructure> to enable this, something many African countries - apart from Egypt - lack for obvious reasons.

Latin America is doing extremely well in this respect despite significant problems. Deysi Estela Cori Tello was feted by the Peruvian President when she returned home after winning the World Girls Junior last year, nationally televised with a significant cash gift. In Oz, it might rate a mention in the papers before it's quickly forgotten.

Apr-01-12  ozmikey: <twinlark> Sad but quite true. Unfortunately, the Australian chess authorities have an absolutely abysmal record at securing sponsorship (let alone government support) for talented young players, so if they want to take the step up and test themselves in Europe, they have to do it off their own bat most of the time.

Look at Max Illingworth, for instance. Obviously a serious talent, NSW champion at eighteen, but when he decided to take a year off between school and university to get an IM or GM title, he had no financial support whatsoever (as far as I know).

Back when I was on the NSWCA council in the nineties, and at a couple of ACF conferences as well, I pleaded constantly that we needed to provide some meaningful support to the ones coming out of the excellently run junior system (the NSW junior league has done a fantastic job over the last twenty years) into the senior ranks. It didn't happen then and it still hasn't happened.

Apr-01-12  voratco: <frogbert: <That makes him the youngest GM to breach 2600 elo at age 15 + something months and days.>

really? did you check versus so and carlsen? >

Nope, I didn't, that's why I asked kkderek to break out the calculator.:D)

<Kkderek, calculator please.>

Apr-02-12  twinlark: <ozmikey>

Unfortunately the ACF is a closed shop and difficult to replace its members with those that are more proactive and visionary. But the problem is obviously deeper than the ACF which after all is a peak body and so as you alluded to the problem is at the State level.

We have great talents here, like Bobby Cheng and that amazing youngster Anton Smirnov who I reckon is 2700+ potential, but these kids will get nowhere unless their families have deep pockets.

But while we have a culture like that idiot private school, the exclusive and expensive Sydney Grammar, that turfed out the Willathgamuwa brothers who competed (quite successfully) in the recent Youth World Championships, we can't expect much from either the corporate or government sector, much less from a hidebound ACF.

Apr-30-12  joeyj: The brand new 15-year-old who made it among the youngest Super-GM in the May 2012 FIDE rating list is Ukraine’s Illya Nyzhnyk who breached with a 2610 rating @ the 2012 European Individual Chess Championship and currently now the 5th youngest at age 15yrs-7mos-4days.

Read more:
World’s Youngest To Attain GM, 2600, 2700, 2800 and WC

http://chessaccount.wordpress.com/2...

Jul-15-12  waustad: Nice win today against Judit Polgar in Turkish League.
Aug-12-12  Shams: Wonder why he skipped the World Junior Championship, happening now.
Aug-12-12  twinlark: <Shams>

Good question. He played in the HZ Tournament: http://www.hztoernooi.nl/hz/index.p..., which just finished (he came =3rd), but what would make him miss the World Junior in favour of a tournament like this is probably known only to himself.

Aug-12-12  achieve: Young Illya also gave a simultaneous exhibition in Vlissingen, scoring a magnificent 19/20 (+18 =2), and probably the financial benefits made him choose to play in this well organized tournament.

Here are photo's of the simul:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/depion...

Aug-12-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  OBIT: If Hollywood ever decides to make a Scanners sequel, this time about a kid that can make heads explode by staring at his victim, Nyzhnyk would be perfect for the part.
Sep-27-12  LoveThatJoker: Happy 16th Birthday, GM Nyzhnyk!

LTJ

Sep-27-12  brankat: Happy Birthday Illya!
Sep-27-12  wordfunph: happy birthday "Wunderkind"!
Oct-01-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: Belated Happy Birthday Illya :)

He's currently the 10th ranked junior!

Nov-08-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: No Tata Steel 2013 event for Illya. Also the event will have 2 groups instead of 3.
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