  In the classic Maximum Weight Independent Set problem we are given a graph
$G$ with a nonnegative weight function on vertices, and the goal is to find an
independent set in $G$ of maximum possible weight. While the problem is NP-hard
in general, we give a polynomial-time algorithm working on any $P_6$-free
graph, that is, a graph that has no path on $6$ vertices as an induced
subgraph. This improves the polynomial-time algorithm on $P_5$-free graphs of
Lokshtanov et al. (SODA 2014), and the quasipolynomial-time algorithm on
$P_6$-free graphs of Lokshtanov et al (SODA 2016). The main technical
contribution leading to our main result is enumeration of a polynomial-size
family $\mathcal{F}$ of vertex subsets with the following property: for every
maximal independent set $I$ in the graph, $\mathcal{F}$ contains all maximal
cliques of some minimal chordal completion of $G$ that does not add any edge
incident to a vertex of $I$.
