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Toyota, Dwango Plan "Real Car Shogi" Match at Seibu Dome

Toyota Marketing Japan and the media company Dwango are planning a shogi (Japanese chess) match using real Toyota cars as pieces. The large scale match between 55-year-old 9-dan professional shogi player Yoshiharu Habu and 25-year-old 7-dan shogi player Masayuki Toyoshima will be held at the Seibu Dome in Saitama on February 8.

The Seibu Dome will be repurposed into a giant game board. The cars representing each piece are:

1. Crown Athlete & Land Cruiser (kings)
2. 86 (hachiroku), Mark X, Esquire (rooks)
3. FJ Cruiser, Hiace, Mirai (bishops)
4. Prius, Alphard, Noah, Estima (gold generals)
5. Harrier, Voxy, Vellfire (silver generals)
6. Auris, iQ (knights)
7. ProBox, Corolla Axio (lances)
8. Aqua, Vitz, Passo (pawns)

Professional test drivers will take part in the match by moving the "pieces."

The match is part of a collaboration promoting the Den-Ou Sen finals, a set of shogi matches that pit human players against AI specifically designed to play shogi.

[Via Otakomu]