I'm trying to learn the Sicillian a little, but I'm using too much improvisation

 Here's my latest attempt, in which I managed to lose way too many pawns. Any comments would be appreciated.

 At any rate, I realize that my opening skills are quite poor, but I would also like some comments on the end game, if there's anything you have to say. Go ahead and skip to move 29 or so if you want to see how I did...

 Thanks a bunch!

By move 29, make no mistake about it, black is dead lost. There's no way to overcome a 3 pawn disadvantage in a king and pawn ending unless you can force a promotion very quickly. In the case of your game, there is not even a way to get a passed pawn.

 

4. ... e5. Yes, this is not standard Sicilian. The reason is that you leave a big weakness on d5 and you leave the diagonal to f7 weak since now can't play e6. I would recommend against this line as it gives white easy ideas. 

 

6. ... Nd4, hopefully this is the last time you set yourself up for Legall's mate. ;-) 

 

7. ... dxe5. I don't think you have anything better here. Your bishop is attacked and you certainly can't play 7. ... Bxd1 8. Bxf7 Ke7 Nd5# 

 

Take a look at move 16. You have no developed pieces and there is a lot of space around your king. This favors white significantly. 

 

Your opponent sacrificed a piece for some pawns, but 20. ... hxg6 just loses a rook. 

lol this is the game i played you, remember???

 

What a coincedence i stumbled upon this =) 

lol...yeah i should've told you I was going to post it...

 we'll have to do a rematch some time

21... d2 followed by 22... Qxa2 if Rd1 and win along the back rank

i think black is actually better after d2

4...e5 is the key move to Botvinnik's innovation against the closed Sicilian.  It also leads to a kind of reversed English, Botvinnik variation.

The deterrioration of your game came not from 4...e5 but from overlooking the indirect defense against the threatened ...Nd4 with 6.Bc4.

A direct defense against ...Nd4 would be 6.Be2.     

6. Bc4 is an indirect defense because it defends against ...Nd4 by threatening strong retaliation should black proceed with ....Nd4. And as you can see, when you played ...Nd4 White retaliated at once with Nxe5.

Here's how the pawn and piece configuration of the Botvinnik Sicilian looks like: Pawns at g6, e5, d6, and c5. B at g7, N's at c6 and e7.

The key idea is to undertake a wing attack with pawns  later inthe game - either on the K-side or Q-side.  The pawns at e5 and c5 plus the B at g7 and N at c6 are deterrent against the pawn break d4, keeking in mind the chess concept that an attack on the wing is repulsed by a breakthrough in the center.   

I definitely missed that. I was wondering how I could have taken advantage of the passed pawn

Matalino wrote:

4...e5 is the key move to Botvinnik's innovation against the closed Sicilian.  It also leads to a kind of reversed English, Botvinnik variation.

The deterrioration of your game came not from 4...e5 but from overlooking the indirect defense against the threatened ...Nd4 with 6.Bc4.

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 Thanks for the insight!

when your ready to rematch, just notify me =)

I think when you went into the End game, I noticed on move twenty six it seems you should have pressed check? and on move 15 I thought you might attack the queen and trade knights out? But it all depends on the situation depending on knights and bishops value in view of the board and the players playing style and strength. These are just things I noticed, take it with a grain of salt~!