I thought you played the game really well. You were never in any trouble, and your attack worked great. Really couldn't have done it much better
IHSA State Round 7 vs Maine South 2019
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Black usually takes on e4, then plays e5 in this Caro-Kann variation.
You played passively, but solidly in the opening - then white decided to just give away the bishop pair with Bxd7, basically giving you a great position, where your attack comes first. Then, missed a fork, which you spotted.
Hopefully you were aware of white's ideas of Qg5,Nh5, attacking g7, and if you try ..g6 to stop it, then Qh6, and if ...gxh5 gxh5 and the g-file opens and white wins. If you calculated that your attack comes first, and that counterchances like this didn't work, then it's all good.
RussianHAMMER wrote:
Black usually takes on e4, then plays e5 in this Caro-Kann variation.
You played passively, but solidly in the opening - then white decided to just give away the bishop pair with Bxd7, basically giving you a great position, where your attack comes first. Then, missed a fork, which you spotted.
Hopefully you were aware of white's ideas of Qg5,Nh5, attacking g7, and if you try ..g6 to stop it, then Qh6, and if ...gxh5 gxh5 and the g-file opens and white wins. If you calculated that your attack comes first, and that counterchances like this didn't work, then it's all good.
I consider taking on e4 and following up with e5 more fun than just playing e6 from the start. Playing e6 is much safer and solid though, as it takes away any of white's tactics that can arise from mistakes in the line with dxe4 fxe4 e5. For this reason, I was happy that she played e6 instead. I played the white side of this line for quite a while at one point. I was always disappointed when black played e6, since it took all of the fun out of it. It is definitely more passive for black, but I think it might be better.
your 4 ......Bd6 contains threats if White is not careful, ie; if White nonchalantly develops his King Bishop, then 5......Qh4+ can be devastating,ie; 6 g3, Bxg3+ 7 hxg, Qxh1
White should try 15 Kb1 before opposing Bishops on f4. White forces you to play a good move by retaking on move 16 with his Queen ! your 16 ......Qc4 wins a pawn and stays in the middlegame. You have to do that as 16.....Qxf4 17 Nxf4 and soon Nd3 with a strong knight versus a bishop that needs more range not to be "bad".
I don't like your suggestion of 19 b3. This opens up the floodgates to White's position with 19 ......Rxc3+ followed by ....Qxb3
yes, 19......Rxc3 would have been a great tactic ! nice imagination. I did not see that.
another option on move 25 is .....a4 to .....a3 the Kans Kmoch "can opener" from the classic "Pawn Power in Chess"
27......Rxb2 is a fine move. As long as you continue to gain advantages, you are moving towards victory and your opponent gets more frustrated ! Don't be so hard on yourself ! you have many more victories to earn 
Hello! This was my final game I played at IHSA State 2019. I played as black on board 4 with a win, time control 55 minutes with a 5 second delay. I had a strong initiative against his queen but wasn't sure how to continue with the attack. I instead exchanged some pieces since I didn't know during the game how I could use my attack to gain even more. Any analysis is appreciated!