The stones are not invincible because of the
white stone.
After , black can't the marked stones from being retaken at
.
If , then a play at the circled point catches a connect-and-die.
unkx80: Good!
at
would save the
stones in the original problem by capturing the
stornes and sacrificing
.
However, the shown variation could work (?) if there's no ladder-breaker waiting in that direction.
Niklaus: There is no need to worry about ladder breakers:
unkx80: Niklaus is right. Further, the sequence shown is not a ladder at all. This can be seen after , which captures the
stone and makes an atari on the
stone.