expressions meaning to risk death [closed]

Solution 1:

To tempt death is an alternative expression:

• To tempt: To provoke or to risk provoking (AHD)

• "Local men to tempt 'death' :(Poststar.com)

• Two local men will be competing in a Vermont-based race that bears the slogan, "You may die."

Solution 2:

Not a saying or proverb, but you would sound original saying "to play chess with Thanatos".

• In Greek mythology, Thanatos /ˈθænətɒs/ was the daemon personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to, but rarely appearing in person.

Thanatos as a winged and sword-girt youth. Sculptured marble column drum from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos

• Thanatos - "Death as a personification or as a philosophical notion." TFD