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Rarest passport stamps

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cryptocrab

So far I have 95 passport “stamps” on chess.com, but there are a few countries that I doubt I’ll ever get paired with, for instance North Korea. What other countries seem to have the fewest players here?

Avii0034

North korea isnt that rare in my opinion  i think croatia and bahamas are rare to paired with.

Dr_Risiko
South Georgia and Niue are really rare.
cryptocrab

Update: I played someone from N. Korea tonight!

VantablackChess

Vatican City should be extremely rare. Isn't the population like 450? But I do have the stamp for this one.

Jalex13
Trinidad is rare
Mark_H_250
VantablackChess wrote:

Vatican City should be extremely rare. Isn't the population like 450? But I do have the stamp for this one.

Me too.

Not sure why, though. I recall that it was from a UK Vs USA tournament.

Dr_Risiko
Maybe some catholic priest identifying with the Vatican?
Dr_Risiko
South Georgia, by the way, has a population of like 40 people.
VantablackChess
Dr_Risiko hat geschrieben:
South Georgia, by the way, has a population of like 40 people.

Okay, your example is better than mine thumbup.

I had to look up the Wikipedia article for South Georgia. It says 32 (summer) or 16 (winter). I am a bit confused because of the differentiation by seasons.

wizardKM

Yeah...probably the only way anyone will get all the passports/flags is if it's an arranged thing (i.e., someone temporarily changes their profile flag to one of the rarer passports for a game)...

LeeEuler
wizardKM wrote:

Yeah...probably the only way anyone will get all the passports/flags is if it's an arranged thing (i.e., someone temporarily changes their profile flag to one of the rarer passports for a game)...

That does work, but another way is to search by country and just challenge people to daily games. That is how I was able to get them all at least; more info here: https://www.chess.com/blog/LeeEuler/project-237-playing-people-from-all-around-the-world

 

 

LeWoeps

Does Leshoto have one?

Dr_Risiko
LeWoeps hat geschrieben:

Does Leshoto have one?

Yes, of course it has.

Dr_Risiko
LeeEuler hat geschrieben:
wizardKM wrote:

Yeah...probably the only way anyone will get all the passports/flags is if it's an arranged thing (i.e., someone temporarily changes their profile flag to one of the rarer passports for a game)...

That does work, but another way is to search by country and just challenge people to daily games. That is how I was able to get them all at least; more info here: https://www.chess.com/blog/LeeEuler/project-237-playing-people-from-all-around-the-world

 

 

I agree, this is a very nice way of collecting the passports. Furthermore, you kind of get to know people from all over the world. I tried this method and collected some rare passports!

Chrismoonster

My rarest is probably Seychelles. It's small population, 100, 000 people, means Seychelles players on chess.com are few.  

GravyIsBetter

I challenged a guy from the Vatican City Club to a 7 day match and got that stamp.

 

albacored
Dr_Risiko wrote:
LeeEuler hat geschrieben:
wizardKM wrote:

Yeah...probably the only way anyone will get all the passports/flags is if it's an arranged thing (i.e., someone temporarily changes their profile flag to one of the rarer passports for a game)...

That does work, but another way is to search by country and just challenge people to daily games. That is how I was able to get them all at least; more info here: https://www.chess.com/blog/LeeEuler/project-237-playing-people-from-all-around-the-world

 

 

I agree, this is a very nice way of collecting the passports. Furthermore, you kind of get to know people from all over the world. I tried this method and collected some rare passports!

As someone from a 'rare' country, this is fine if someone sends a message first. Otherwise it's just a bunch of random people you don't know sending you game invites. Given I almost exclusively play blitz games, I don't actually want to play a daily game without any chatting first just so someone can get a flag. That's basic chess-dating.

DestroyTheJarrr

I'd personally say that the Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands are the two most difficult. I have neither as of now

albacored
DestroyTheJarrr wrote:

I'd personally say that the Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands are the two most difficult. I have neither as of now

I have played people (apparently) from both those locations (combined population < 150k), though haven't played anyone from several countries with populations over 20 million, despite having reached 199 passports. Obviously population is one factor, but chess popularity, free time, and internet access are another.