Massachusetts Open 2026
About This Tournament
Please see the USCF write-up on this event here: https://new.uschess.org/news/2026-memorial-day-weekend-wrap
Lichess contains recordings of available games: https://lichess.org/broadcast/massachusetts-open-2026/GiQfOTDu
Crosstables
Main Event: https://ratings.uschess.org/event/202605250253
Scholastic: https://ratings.uschess.org/event/202605230473
Prize winners at the 94th Massachusetts Open, held May 23–25 at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough.
The Championship Section produced a clear first—CM Jamison Edrich Kao—followed by a seven-way tie for second. Kao is not a Massachusetts resident; the seven players tied at 4.5 share the Massachusetts state championship title as co-champions for 2026.
Prize | Winner(s) | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Championship Section ($2,000) | ||
1st Place | CM Jamison Edrich Kao (CT) | $1,000 |
2nd + U2300 (split 7-way) | GM Alexander Ivanov, IM Denys K. Shmelov, FM Danila Poliannikov, Jerry Chen, Dattasai Kilari, William Wu, Ryan Sowa | $143 ea ($1,000) |
Under 2100 Section ($1,600) | ||
1st + 2nd (split) | Maitreya Ganguly, Matthew Beauvais | $600 ea ($1,200) |
Under 1900 (split 3-way) | Viraj Rastogi, Christine Nguyen, Maxim Klempf | $134 ea ($400) |
Under 1800 Section ($1,600) | ||
1st Place | Samuel D. Park | $800 |
2nd Place | Taron Babumyan | $400 |
Under 1600 (split 7-way) | Neel Parwani, Alan Axelrod, Niranjan Sivakumar, William M. Beagle, Igor Klempf, Charles Woodruff, Justin Ralph Baldovino Guerra | $58 ea ($400) |
Under 1500 Section ($1,400) | ||
1st Place | Alexander Chung | $700 |
2nd Place (split) | Alexander Rapoport, Koustav Datta | $175 ea ($350) |
Under 1300 (split) | Dhruvil Patel, Rachel Day | $175 ea ($350) |
Under 1200 Section ($900) | ||
1st + 2nd (split 3-way) | Lucas Sun, James Clark, Anubhab Mukherjee | $217 ea ($650) |
Under 1000 | Daniel Hibbard | $250 |
Mass Open Scholastic
The Mass Open Scholastic ran Saturday in two sections (Under 600 and Under 300, four rounds at G/30;d5). Trophies were awarded to first, second, and third place in each section, and medals were awarded to additional top finishers.
Place | Winner(s) | Score |
|---|---|---|
Under 600 Section | ||
1st Place (trophy) | Michael Liu | 4.0 |
2nd Place (trophy) | Sofia Parker | 4.0 |
3rd Place (trophy) | Eli Alexander Lantsman | 3.0 |
Medals | Patrick Lemelin, Cameron Yang Anzivino, Morrice Natheson Steier, Julia Kroell, Maedha Naluvala, Ilina Zantye-Maitra | 3.0 |
Under 300 Section | ||
1st Place (trophy) | Siheet Shruyam Patro | 4.0 |
2nd Place (trophy) | Ishaan Gupta | 3.0 |
3rd Place (trophy) | Jason Cooper Liu | 3.0 |
Medals | Miriam Hemberg Mierau, Vikram Singh | 3.0 |
Massachusetts Blitz Championship
Sunday night’s Massachusetts Blitz Championship (5SS double-round, G/5;d0) was won outright by Nikhil Kalghatgi, who claims the 2026 Massachusetts Blitz Champion title. Prizes were 75% of entry fees, with chess books donated as additional prizes for select winners. The tournament staff would like to single out a moment of sportsmanship: after winning the Under 1600 prize, Niranjan Sivakumar voluntarily shared his book prize with the second-place finisher in the section, Dhanvanth Kumar.
Prize | Winner(s) | Amount |
|---|---|---|
1st Place | Nikhil Kalghatgi | $100 |
2nd Place | Sritan Devineni | $50 |
Under 2000 (split 3-way) | Dejan Skrcheski (+ chess book), Charles Slade, Sophia Zada Rosenholtz | $15 ea ($45) |
Under 1600 | Niranjan Sivakumar (+ chess book) | $45 |
Under 1200 (split) | Linru He (+ chess book), Arun Vaasan | $13 ea ($26) |
The Mass Open main tournament was directed by Colin Scheriff, Bob Messenger, Jamie Williams, Dima Barash, and Matt Phelps. Rithika Kilari and Yan Barash served as tournament assistants. Nick Sterling assisted with registration. The Mass Open Scholastic was directed by Dima Barash. The Massachusetts Blitz Championship was directed by Colin Scheriff.