Shatar is an ancient Mongolian chess games, played in the Republic of Mongolia. It is considered to be the king of the board games. This game is a direct offspring of the medieval Arabic chess, evolving in a different direction as chess did in Western Europe and Russia. Mongolian chess contains a complex of figures representing various animals, well-known wrestlers, archers, soldiers, herders and other kinds of celebrities. The movement of the queen is particularly interesting, as it has the combined moves of a Ferz and Rook. It is quite similar to Xiangqi, or Chinese chess, but the form, rules and ways to move the chess pieces are more like international chess.
Mongolian chess exists in 2 variants – big one and little one. Mongolian names for them are as following: the little one – shatar, the big one – hiashatar. Shatar is rather well-known game, but hiashatar is nearly absolutely unknown. Shatar is the local form which presents several differences with the International play in term of rules and material. The Chessboard used to be unicolor until end of WWII when people adopted the classical checkered board. The pieces are very expressive and reflect the current life. The molds are made directly from pieces hand-carved by Mongolian artisans. There are a total of 32 pieces, with 16 for each player, including one king, one commander-in-chief, two chariots, two elephants, two horses and eight soldiers. Although they are very coloured, the color does not play an important role to distinguish the sides. Mongolia has embraced the standard international style 바카라 of chess play, while maintaining its deep-rooted culturally unique style of figurative chessmen.
The pieces are arranged as the same configuration as modern western chess. The two kings must face each other directly across the board. The first player must start by moving the pawn which stands in front of his queen forward two spaces, and the second player must reply by doing the same, so that the two queen pawns face each other. After that initial mandatory opening, the players take turns, alternately moving one piece at a time. To win the game, as in other forms of chess, by putting the opposing king into a position of being threatened with capture or check. There are different kinds of check in shatar according to checking pieces. Checkmate can be made only by shak either queen or rook. Mongolian chess is improving and also integrating with the current international rules. Expanding its range, it has become a great sports attraction for all people, regardless of their age and gender. Read more…