What If You Were Stuck in a Time Loop Until You Beat Prime Magnus Carlsen

You sit down across from Magnus Carlsen. You move a pawn. He moves a knight. Nine moves later, checkmate. Bill Gates once lasted about 79 seconds against him. You beat his record by 4 seconds. At midnight, you blink and you're back [music] in bed. Same morning, same song on the radio, same knock on the door.

Grandpa with pancakes. >> Morning, kiddo. Big day. >> Didn't you say that yesterday? >> Yesterday? It's Saturday. >> Your name is Nico. You're 16. And today, there's a chess festival in town. At 4:00 p.m., one fan gets one long game against the world champion, up to 5 hours. That fan is you, >> [music]

>> every single day. Here's how it works. The day repeats until you beat him. One real win. A draw doesn't count. You keep every memory. Nobody else does. And it's 2019. Prime Magnus, rated 2882, the highest official rating in history. He once played 10 people at the same time >> [music] >> with his back turned, every board out of

sight. And in 2019, he didn't lose a single classical game. Not one. Of all the years to get stuck [music] in. So, what if you were stuck in a time loop until you beat prime Magnus Carlsen? Plan A, luck. [snorts] You're rated about 1200. The math says that's roughly one win in 16,000 games.

30 years of daily games for a coin flip. How bad can it be? Loop 100, crushed. Loop 1000, crushed in a new and exciting way. Loop 3000, you offer a draw on move four. He politely declines. It wouldn't have counted anyway. Loop 8000, he checkmates you while signing an autograph. Plan A and a half, speed. Bullet chess?

Bad news. He holds the highest rapid and blitz ratings ever recorded. Faster just means losing faster. [music] Year 30, loop 11,000. You lost the coin flip. Plan B, the script. You keep every memory, right? >> [music] >> So, you memorize the best engine moves. Move one, move two, move nine, and he plays something new.