Quote Originally Posted by jz12
the combinations ши,ци,жи are pronounced шы,цы,жы since the consonants are inherently hard, but щи,чи are pronounced щи,чи since they are inherently soft.

хороший like "хорошый"
старший like "старшый".

Right?
Yes. The confusing thing is you cannot WRITE Ы after Ш and Ж, you have to write И, but the И is pronounced Ы.

E.g. Живу is pronounced Жыву, but writing a Ы after Ж is not allowed.

Also since they are inherently soft, -ча- is pronounced like -чя-, -ща- is pronounced like -щя-.