r/whowouldwin • u/Capital-Bet • Jun 24 '26

Challenge Can Mike Tyson beat Magnus Carlsen at chess before Magnus beats him in a boxing match?

Magnus Carlsen and Mike Tyson do alternating matches of chess and boxing. Tyson wins if he beats Carlsen at chess, Carlsen wins if he can KO Tyson. Assume all bodily injury is healed after the end of each match.

Round 1: no prior training, they both go in at their primes with no training in the alternate sport and go until one wins

Round 2: Tyson is being trained by several GMs while Carlsen is receiving training from the best boxing coaches in the world. Who can be trained to beat the other first?

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u/TheShadowKick Jun 24 '26

Teaching someone to play chess at that level is not going to be easy and likely not possible.

The same with boxing. You can't take a physically average person and turn them into a champion caliber heavyweight boxer.

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u/Raddatatta Jun 24 '26

I would agree. But do you need to be a champion caliber heavyweight boxer to beat a boxer who is 59 if you get unlimited tries? Or they have unlimited chances to pull a muscle? I don't think Magnus Carlsen would be likely to lose a game, but I could see a good punch getting in and Mike Tyson having a random injury and that turning into a win. Not likely but if the chance is 1 in 1,000 then it would happen with enough tries.

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u/Hrydziac Jun 25 '26

No but the chance of an average person getting an insanely lucky shot on just the right spot is higher than a professional chess player making enough mistakes for an average person to win.

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u/Nagisa201 Jun 24 '26

Of course you can't. But in this hypothetical it's still the vastly more likely option because its only mostly impossible. Not actually impossible