Brandon Blackwell sits in his apartment in the Jamaica section of Queens, training with a collection of 30,000 homemade flash cards the way weight lifters train with barbells. Each card contains an obscure fact about the world. Which country is home to Lake Assal, the largest salt reserve on earth? (Djibouti). Which metal is smelted using the Hall-Héroult process? (Aluminum).

It is the fall of 2016 and the 22-year-old is struggling to reach the highest echelons in the little-known world of…