About Ukrainian chess Grandmaster Illya Igorevich Nyzhnyk (Ukrainian: Ілля Ігорович Нижник; born September 27, 1996).
He was born in Vinnytsia (Ukraine) and gained worldwide attention when he won Group B of the 2007 Moscow Open at the age of 10. He attained a nearly flawless score of 8½/9 and his performance rating was 2633, that of a Grandmaster. As of January 2009, his FIDE rating was 2504, the highest rating in the world in the under-12 age group. In 2007 he won the European Youth Chess Championship for under-12. In the 2007 World Youth Chess Championship he tied for first in the under-12 age group, placing second on tie-breaks.
In April 2008, Nyzhnyk won the Nabokov Memorial in Kiev, Ukraine, with 8½/11, and scored his first GM norm. In September 2008 he won, at the age of 12, the European Youth Chess Championship for under 16. Soon after, in December 2008, he placed 12th in the Ukrainian championship, with a performance rating of 2594, barely under the 2600 performance required for another GM norm. In December 2009 he won the Schaakfestival Groningen tournament in the Netherlands with a performance rating of 2741.
In December 2010 he was equal first (GM Dejan Bojkov won on Buchholz tie-break) at the Schaakfestival Groningen tournament, securing his final GM norm and making him, at 14 years and three months, the youngest Grandmaster in the world.
In January 2011 Nyzhnyk played in the Grandmaster Group C of the prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, finishing in second place with 8½/13. In 2011, he tied for 1st-6th with Ivan Sokolov, Vladimir Baklan, Kamil Miton, Jon Ludvig Hammer and Yuriy Kuzubov in the MP Reykjavík Open.
Source: Wikipedia
Illya recently decided to begin his higher education in the United States. He was offered scholarships from multiple excellent universities. At the end, he decided to attend Webster University and applied for admission less than a month ago.
He just passed his TOEFL exam, and was officially admitted earlier today. He will begin his study in St. Louis in a few months. Illya will join SPICE, the top ranked chess program in the US, with 9 current GMs (Wesley So, Le Quang Liem, Georg Meier, Ray Robson, Fidel Corrales Jimenez, Manuel Leon Hoyos, Anatoly Bykhovsky, Denes Boros, and Andre Diamant)
He sent a quick message to CDN earlier today after he found out that his application was approved:
“I am so excited about entering Webster University!
My dream was to work in a friendly and professional chess team as well as to get high quality education. Now my dream comes true. I thank SPICE for providing me this opportunity and I look forward to coming to Webster.”
He will rise like Wesley So.