Basic Life and Death

This is kyu material but I thought I'd go over some basic life and death. Look at this diagram and see if you can read out the solutions. Here is a hint: In the lower right there are two tesujis that work but in the upper left only one of these two will work. After the jump I'll have the two solutions to the lower right and next time we'll go over the situation in the upper left.

Problem Diagram

Black to Move and Kill in Either Corner

Note: There are two ways to kill the lower right

but only one to kill the upper right.

Please, lay this out on a board if you can't see the solution and practice your reading. There are only a few possible moves so this will be a good test. Alright, got it? Really? For sure, you know every variation? Ok... here we go!

So first the situation in the lower right, black to move and kill. The first way to go about this is one of my favorite eye-stealing tesujis. I remember being shocked the first time it was pulled on me because I thought I had an eye...

Solution 1

Black 7 at 3

Black 1 strikes at a vital point since black can pull back to 3, cut white's eyespace in half with 5 and throw in at 7 to make a false eye. Striking underneath at 1 is a common eye-stealing tesuji. But black has options here. Lets see how else black can attack white...

Solution 2

Black can also strike directly at white's eye space by playing at the 1-2 point. After white tries to expand her eye space with 2 the hane at 3 is enough, after white blocks at 4, black 5 takes away any chance to make a living shape.

Looking at these two solutions try the problem in the upper left. Only one of these tesujis will work now. Remember, put it on a board and read out every possible move. Practice will, eventually, make perfect. Next time we'll work out this problem. Have fun!