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BQM56

 

BQM56 variations
    Keywords: Life & Death

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

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


[Diagram]
Continuation

Better give a few more plays, though.



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

This looks too hard for Black.



[Diagram]
If there is a way ...

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


[Diagram]
Holding on

White will want to answer with W1 here. The question is how much extra Black gets by threatening to cut on the top side.


[Diagram]
Now Black tries 'b'

At this point blocking with B1 has become quite serious. The reason is that Black x and y are now threats. W2 looks less than best here, since B9 is close to life.


[Diagram]
White plays from the centre

White should therefore take the key point in the centre. After W4 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) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.