Background
He was born in Vinnytsia (Ukraine) and gained worldwide attention when he won Group Bachelor of the 2007 Moscow Open at the age of 10.
He was born in Vinnytsia (Ukraine) and gained worldwide attention when he won Group Bachelor of the 2007 Moscow Open at the age of 10.
As of January 2009, his FIDE rating was 2504, the highest rating in the world in the under-12 age group. In the 2007 World Youth Chess Championship he tied for first in the under-12 age group, placing second on tie-breaks. 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 General Motors norm.
In January 2011 Nyzhnyk played in the Grandmaster Group Chamber 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 Member of Parliament Reykjavík Open.