Games fresh for analysis: V

The following games are from a recent tournament I played. I was in the intermediate section so these are against lower-rated players. However, I think they are all interesting.

I know what you mean, I had a very weak position. However, looking at that specific variation I think 14 Ba4+ Bd7 15 d6 Nd5 16. Qe2+ Nd3+ 17. Kxf2 Bxa4 18. Qxe3+ Kd7 19. Ne5+ Kc8 20. Nxf7 Qf6+ 21. Qf3 Qxf3 22. gxf3 Rg8 holds on to the material and looks playable. Black still has a bad position, but white doesn't have the means to take advantage of that. I guess black loses a pawn out of it.

Yes, you're right. My mistake (I got mixed up when I was thinking through that line). How should Black have better defended?

So, you're saying the position is still winning for me even after I allow his c-pawn to get to d5? I assumed that my mistake was to allow the trade to take his c-pawn there. Much more straightforward would have been to either a) take his c-pawn en-passant, then trade off knight for bishop or b) capture the bishop on e3 with knight instead of pawn.

What exactly do you mean by "clearer"? Also, I have some more basic questions about that first game. It is an example of a type of game I've been seeing a lot recently when I play weaker opponents: they decline the Sicilian and instead try to develop to the most straightforward squares. As black, I feel cramped and used to be out of ideas. Recently, I looked at the Closed Sicilian and decided I should try fianchettoing, which I attempted to do even in this game. What other ideas would you recommend?

Thank you for the suggestions, do you have any other tips from the other games? I am still unsure as to what happened in game 4 - I thought I knew what I was doing but was already in a much worse position and a pawn down by move 8. What happened?

During the game, I felt that 8... a3 accomplished nothing, as it doesn't even attack the bishop and white can merely plop the knight on e4. At this point I am in dire straits (or so I analyzed incorrectly) but I guess everything is alleviated by playing Nd2. For some reason I was avoiding that move... but I guess if its the mainline of the CSD it must be a prety good move... :(

I see what you're saying. For some reason, I thought that the better lines involved bringing the queen to c2 so that one can recapture with queen instead of ruining pawn structure, thinking of a later b4 push or something. Is there any way to retain the b-pawn, or is that not a very important plan?