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BQM56

 

BQM56 variations
    Keywords: Life & Death

[Diagram]
Diag.: Can Black live here?

This is from BQM 56. It has become quite a tough life-and-death problem. The suggestions, with Black to play, are Black at a or b.



[Diagram]
Diag.: White to play and kill ('a')

This goes nowhere for Black - difficult to form eyes in the centre.


[Diagram]
Diag.: Continuation

Better give a few more plays, though.



[Diagram]
Diag.: White to play and kill ('b')

This looks too hard for Black.



[Diagram]
Diag.: If there is a way ...

The one thing that Black has in reserve is this play.


[Diagram]
Diag.: Holding on

White will want to answer with 1 here. The question is how much extra Black gets by threatening to cut on the top side.


[Diagram]
Diag.: Now Black tries 'b'

At this point blocking with Black 1 has become quite serious. The reason is that Black x and y are now threats. White 2 looks less than best here, since Black 9 is close to life.


[Diagram]
Diag.: White plays from the centre

White should therefore take the key point in the centre. After White 4 it seems that Black is still dead.

Well, with so many hypotheticals I'm not sure that anyone is convinced (and I include myself). But there is no clear way to life for Black here. Charles Matthews



This is a copy of the living page "BQM56 variations" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.