The story of the 85th Massachusetts Open begins with GM Alexander Ivanov. The manytime champion was coming off a clear title in 2015 and at least a share of first in six of the last seven iterations of the event. He was seeded first by comfortably over a hundred points. 

This was not to be his weekend. The veteran Grandmaster had an uncharacteristically poor showing, enduring losses on all three days of the tournament, with two games ending in a fallen flag for Ivanov, albeit in lost positions.

Ivanov’s stumble opened a door of opportunity, and in rushed the Commonwealth’s chess elite. The field’s other titled player, IM David Vigorito (above, left) established a lead on the rest with the championship section’s sole 3-0 start. After a draw with FM Aravind Kumar in the fourth round, however, Vigorito would face the tournament’s two other unbeatens, and though two more draws would not be enough to relinquish his lead, it meant he would have to share the glory. 

In the fifth round, Vigorito encountered longtime star pupil FM Mika Brattain (above, right), the tournament’s second seed. Brattain had already accumulated two draws by that point, but he capped off his tournament with a win over NM Grant Xu, a crucial result to catch up to the two players a half point ahead of him.

One of those players, of course, was IM Vigorito. But the other was NM Chris Williams, whose journey to the top was fraught with five higher-rated opponents: FM Kumar, FM David Brodsky, FM Chris Chase, FM Brattain, and finally IM Vigorito. But Williams delivered, with victories over Chase and Brodsky and hard fought draws against Brattain and Kumar. Finally, he hunkered down against Vigorito with the black pieces for a final half point to complete an impressive journey to a first Massachusetts state chess champion title.

With their formidable performances, Vigorito, Brattain, and Williams each earned a place on the Mass Open trophy, and a share of the 2016 state championship.  

There was one more first place winner, however – an interloper from out of state. Young FM David Brodsky of New York overcame an early loss to NM Williams to amass three and a half points out of his first five rounds. His last round opponent was the same as Brodsky’s final round opponent from both 2014 and 2015 – GM Alexander Ivanov. But this time, the youngster bested his veteran opponent, adding to Ivanov’s nightmare tournament with a triumphant outing, and tying his score with the three champions’. 

5th-6th in the championship section would be shared by FM Chris Chase and NM Grant Xu (above, left), whose road to the heat of contention included the following thrilling game against NM Siddharth Arun:

While all this drama unfolded in the top section, Morris Lainer (above, left) quietly took care of the U2100, putting up a spectacular 5.5/6 score for almost a hundred points of rating gained – he was rated only 1936 at the start of the event. U1800 honors were shared by Christopher Estremera and Bill Stein. In the U1500, young T.J. Fini of New York put up the only 6/6 of the tournament, rocketing his posttournament rating over 1600.