Jaiho Win: Asking Durga Maa for Courage When the Challenge Has No Opponent

Move a knight from a1 to e4 in three moves. This small solo puzzle gives a concrete meaning to meeting a challenge with Durga Maa's blessing.

A win need not always mean somebody else has lost. You can sit alone with a chess movement puzzle, feel thoroughly stuck and still want the courage to face it.

Here is one for Jaiho Win readers: on an otherwise empty practice board, move a knight from a1 to e4 in exactly three knight moves. This is a movement exercise; the task is to find a route, not to defeat another player.

Try before reading the route

From a1, the knight can first land on b3 or c2. Where could it go next so that the third move ends on e4? Each move changes one coordinate by two squares and the other by one, as described in the FIDE Laws of Chess, Article 3.6.

Keep the exact condition in view: reach e4 in three legal knight moves. Moving any piece to e4, or reaching it in an unspecified number of moves, would answer a different puzzle.

Bring the difficulty before the Mother

You might pause here for darshan at Durga Maa's offering area on Ishta Mel. The red flowers, fruits, coconut, bhog and deepak are offered together.

Durga's courage and protective strength are the gifts being sought. In this personal application, the challenge is your own unfinished puzzle. There is no need to imagine another person as an enemy in order to address the warrior Mother.

Maa Durga, accept my offering. Give me courage to stay with a difficulty I can name. Help me meet it honestly, without changing its condition just to claim success. Bless my effort as I try again.

One route, checked move by move

Move from a1 to b3: one file across and two ranks up. Next, b3 to d2 changes the file by two and the rank by one. Finally, d2 to e4 changes the file by one and the rank by two. Each step follows the knight's pattern.

The route a1 → b3 → d2 → e4 satisfies the target in exactly three moves. It need not be the only route to be a complete answer. You can point to all three legal steps and the final square; success has a visible basis.

You have not defeated a friend. You have met the challenge you set out to meet. If you return to Maa with thanks, name that achievement plainly: “I stayed with the question and understood a route.” In a solo exercise, that is enough to give your wish for courage—and your gratitude—a real occasion.