BQM 56 / Variations

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.

White to play and kill ('a')  

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

Continuation  

Better give a few more plays, though.

White to play and kill ('b')  

This looks too hard for Black.

If there is a way ...  

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

Holding on  

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

Now Black tries 'b'  

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

White plays from the centre  

White should therefore take the key point in the centre. After 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