HB Final

The HB Global Chess Challenge mega-event has concluded. In the end, it did not live up to its organizer's expectations -- so if you didn't go, it may well be that you will never get to see something as huge again. But in many ways it seems to have been a success. The number of GM games it produced alone is staggering. And there was some excellent chess at the top board. You can find the critical game Nakamura-Beliavsky annotated by Chris Byrd on the Day 4 Summary page. Beliavsky was later defeated by the eventual winner, Zviad Izoria, in a tough game:

[Event "HB Global Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Minneapolis"]
[Date "2005.05.22"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Beliavsky, Alexander"]
[Black "Izoria, Zviad"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2707"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2005.05.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Qc2 b6 9. Rd1 Ba6 10. b3 Nbd7 11. Bf4 Rc8 12. Nc3 Qe8 13. e4 dxc4 14. h3 Bb4 15.Re1 h6 16. bxc4 Bxc4 17. a3 Be7 18. Nd2 Ba6 19. Qa4 Bd3 20. Re3 Bb5 21. Nxb5 cxb5 22. Qxa7 g5 23. Bc7 Ra8 24. Qb7 Qc8 25. Qxc8 Raxc8 26. Be5 Nxe5 27. dxe5 Nd7 28. Nf3 Rc5 29. Rb3 Nxe5 30. Nxe5 Rxe5 31. Rab1 Rd8 32. Rxb5 Rxb5 33. Rxb5 Bc5 34. Rb3 Rd2 35. Rf3 Ra2 36. Bf1 Bxa3 37. Bc4 Ra1+ 38. Kg2 Bc5 39. Rc3 Re1 40. Kf3 Kg7 41. Rc2 h5 42. Rd2 Rc1 43. Be2 Kf6 44. Kg2 h4 45. gxh4 gxh4 46. Rd7 Rc2 47. Kf1 Kg6 48. e5 Rb2 49. f4 Rb4 50. Bd3+ f5 51. exf6+ Kxf6 52. f5 exf5 53. Rh7 Rf4+ 54. Ke2 Rf2+ 55. Ke1 Rf3 56. Bf1 Kg5 57. Rh5+ Kxh5 58. Be2 Kg5 59.Bxf3 Kf4 60. Bc6 Kg3 61. Bd7 f4 0-1