Talk:Shatar

Actually, Hiashatar is not the main variant that is (was?) played in Mongolia. That honor goes to Shatar; as described on the Chessvariants.org page, this uses a standard chessboard. The only differences are that the Queen moves like Shogi’s promoted rook; the knight can not deliver mate, the king does not castle, and pawns do not have their initial double step move.

The setup is a little different; when the game is started, White must move his queen’s pawn up two squares; then Black must do the same.

What I really need to do is make a Shatar article, and merge this article in to that article. Once I have the Shatar article, I can copy the list of references in that Geocities page. Samboy (talk) 17:16, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Done. This should more accurately reflect the actual game; in addition I’ve added a bunch of references as per Wikipedia policy. The references are as-is on the Geocities page. Samboy (talk) 17:38, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Merge with Hiashatar

The contents of Hiashatar should be merged with Shatar. Shatar is what they play in Mongolia these days (or just regular Chess); Hiashatar is a variant which has run out of favor many years ago. Samboy (talk) 15:30, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

OK, done. Hiashatar is, according to all sources I have read, just a variant of Shatar that isn't played any more. The previous content was not well-referenced, and its content did not agree with the single reference provided. No explanation was given for the discrepancies. This version agrees with the referenced sources (in particular, it’s a re-wording of the ChessVariants.org description of the rules). Samboy (talk) 15:47, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

If you want to merge these two articles start a discussion about it. I oppose the merging I find your unilateral behavior disruptive. Loosmark (talk) 15:58, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Please assume good faith and answer the concerns I have brought up. The Hiashatar article you reverted to has original research and its rules do not agree with the cited references. For example, the referenced page says the queen moves like a queen in international chess, not a Shogi promoted rook. Also, there are complicated rules about giving mate which the Hiashatar article doesn’t address. Also, the article implies Hiashatar is the most commonly played variant in Mongolia while the referenced pages make it clear people play 8x8 Shater (or international chess) in Mongolia.

This is why I fixed up the page and merged it. Samboy (talk) 16:19, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

If the article has issues then what needs to be done is simply to fix those issues. There is no need to merge the articles. Loosmark (talk) 16:21, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I think I have fixed those issues now. Loosmark (talk) 16:28, 30 November 2009 (UTC)