... Black finds himself unable to play the final atari at the circled point - it is a self-atari due to shortage of liberties.
is a mistake, because
retreats and makes an eye at a. Note that
at b is met by
at
leading to similar shape as the solution diagrams (though Black has some chances to escape via c).
To further demonstrate why Black lives, should attempts to crawl in, then
is an atari on
. This requires White to connect at
, allowing
to make his second eye and thus saving the Black group.
thanatos13: I think the point of this is to play in a vital point that connects. This looks a bit like the belly tesuji, that's what I look for first anyways.