15 EXTRA OPTIONS

Keyboard users use F9.

• 15.1 Changing names (menu Extra )
• 15.2 The simultaneous mode (menu Extra )
• 15.3 The Game Overview (menu Extra )
• 15.4 The energy levels (menu Extra )
• 15.5 Fun time level (menu Extra )
• 15.6 Blindfold Chess (menu Extra )
• 15.7 Analyze EPD-file (menu Extra )
• 15.8 Shuffle book (menu Extra )
• 15.9 PC-Auto-board (menu Extra )
• 15.10 Swapping clocks
• 15.11 Swapping names

15.1 Changing names (menu Extra )

In the first two lines of this menu you can change the name of the white player (first line), as well as the name of the black player (second line).

The cursor will flash in the name section and you can type the desired white or black name (maximum 20 characters).

15.2 The simultaneous mode (menu Extra )

REBEL 10.0 offers you the possibility to play against 4 (computer) opponents by activating the Simultaneous option. In doing so, 4 graphical boards are shown to you. Above the 4 boards the score so far is displayed. If REBEL recognizes a checkmate or a draw this score will be automatically updated. Please note that Simultaneous is a very special match and a lot of normal options will be not available in the pull-down menus.

• exiting the simultaneous mode
  To exit the simultaneous mode, turn off "Simultaneous" or "Four boards" in the pull-down "Extra".
• starting a new simultaneous
  Activate simultaneous via the pull-down menu and choose "New game". All 4 boards will show you the starting position. Remember that all 4 clipboards will be overwritten.
• playing simultaneous
  Before starting there are two important points you have to understand: for the little board you are now playing, the black squares will have the SAME colors as the main (normal) board. After you have given a move, REBEL automatically loads the next board for you.
  EXAMPLE
  • activate simultaneous in the pull-down menu
  • choose "New game"
  • enter E2-E4, 1.e4 will be displayed in board 1
  • automatically you will go to board 2
  • enter D2-D4, 1.d4 is displayed in board 2 and board 3 will become active
  • enter NG1-F3, 1.Nf3 is displayed in board 3 and the fourth board will now become active
  • enter C2-C4, 1.c4 is displayed in board 4.
  • and now the FIRST board will become active and REBEL will play a (black) move.
  • just like a real simultaneous, you enter your second move and go automatically to the next board.
• stopping one Game
  If a game is ended (mate or draw) REBEL will update the score and terminate that game. A mate will be displayed by a fallen king, a draw by 2 green kings. You can also decide the result yourself by clicking on the "->" button. After you have entered the result the game is finished and of course can not be reached anymore.
• playing simultaneous with black
  You also have the possibility to play simultaneous with the black pieces. Just press the REBEL button with the first move and REBEL will play the white pieces.
• simultaneous rules
  We have tried to follow the official simultaneous rules, which also means that it is not allowed for the simultaneous giver to take back more than one move for a given position!

15.3 The Game Overview (menu Extra )

With this function you can make a graphical overview of any game. The game is divided into 15 small graphical boards including move number, the move and the (computer) score.

REBEL automatically starts analyzing positions that do not have a computer score! With <ESC> this will be stopped.

Using this option you can see in a moment in which part of the game something went wrong or in which part the game was decided.

• for a fast analysis you click with the RIGHT mouse button on one of the 15 boards: REBEL will start analyzing that position and will write its advice below the little board
• clicking again with the RIGHT mouse button will result in another analysis but this time the move that is played will be analyzed by REBEL and the result of that will also be written below the little board but on the place where the original move was displayed
• the time REBEL will take for analyzing depends on what was defined in the database layout for calculating (see Time)
• clicking on one of the 15 boards with the LEFT mouse button will force REBEL to move to this point in the game on the normal board.

15.4 The energy levels (menu Extra )

Using energy levels REBEL will behave more human-like. There are three different kind of energy levels:

• Increasing
  REBEL just woke up and will play the game like a snail. However as the game continues REBEL will play stronger and stronger! Be sure to beat the program in the opening or middlegame!
   
• Decreasing
  REBEL starts the game with full energy. However as the game continues REBEL will become tired and will play weaker and weaker! Hold on and beat the program in the endgame!
   
• Random
  REBEL is a bit unconcentrated: sometimes he will concentrate intensely on the position, but other times he looks less interested and plays accordingly.
   

You can watch REBEL's increasing or decreasing energy on the screen.

15.5 Fun time level (menu Extra )

With this level you can try to weaken REBEL or give yourself an extra challenge. In defining fun time levels, you can define a bonus or malus time for certain moves. For instance you can define moving a pawn with a bonus of 10 seconds. This will change your play style dramatically of course... especially when you are already in time trouble.

This option only makes sense when time level is blitz, handicap or tournament. Therefore it's only available when the time level is one of those levels.

Every time a bonus or malus is given you'll hear a corresponding sound when sound is activated.

HINT with a smile: Set "Pawn moves", "Capture moves" to -30 seconds, play a normal 5:00 blitz game and find out that it is not so difficult to beat Rebel after all.

15.6 Blindfold Chess (menu Extra )

REBEL offers various ways to play blindfold chess or to learn to play blindfold chess. Choose for yourself what suits you best!

15.7 Analyze EPD-file (menu Extra )

This option will analyze an EPD-file and write the results into a file with the same name but with the extension "TXT". It will also calculate an ELO-rating considering the results of the analysis. Unless otherwise defined the ELO-rating that is taken as a base for calculating is 2000.

This EPD-file has to contain all kind of positions of course. REBEL 10.0 supplies you with 3 pre-programmed well-known test sets LCT2, BT2630 and BS2830.

You can also make you own EPD test sets. As an extra option you can define in the first line of that file the time level you want the positions to be analyzed on by writing:

"TIME=mm:ss" where mm stands for minutes and ss for seconds; or

"PLY=dd" where dd stands for a number between 1-60.

Furthermore you can define the ELO-rating that should be taken as a base

to calculate the new ELO as follows:

"ELO=dddd" where dddd stands for a number between 0000-3000.

After the analysis is finished, the file with the data is automatically loaded so that you can see the results of the analysis.

15.8 Shuffle book (menu Extra )

REBEL will load a random position out of the opening book. From there on you can play.

15.9 PC-Auto-board (menu Extra )

By selecting this option yo activate the buildin PC chess board support. Just plugin your external Saitek Kasparov or Mephisto PC chess boadr and activate this option. You can now comfortable play against Rebel via your PC chess board.

This option was introduced with the first Rebel 10.0 update version Rebel 10.0a

15.10 Swapping clocks

Only mouse users have the possibility to swap the 2 clocks in the time section. This is executed by clicking in the time section.

15.11 Swapping names

Only mouse users have the possibility to swap the two names in the names section. This is executed by clicking in the names section with the RIGHT mouse button.