Contents

• Menu POS
• Menu LEV
• Menu OPT
• Menu DAT
• Menu MVS
• Menu CFG
• Menu PGN
• Menu CLR
• Menu EXT

Menu POS (F1)

This menu contains all position related options.

New game (ALT_G)

Starts a new game.

Set up

Enter the chessboard position setup editor.

Remove all

Empty the chessboard and enter the chessboard position setup editor.

Abort set up

Abort the chessboard position setup editor. And display the last board position.

White to move

Exit position setup with white to move.

Black to move

Exit position setup with black to move.

Exit to DOS (ALT_X)

Exits Rebel 8.0 and save the actual configuration.

Menu LEV (F2)

Playing strength related options.

Time

You can choose from the following medium computing times for Rebel 8.0:

• 2 seconds
• 5 seconds
• 10 seconds
• 30 seconds
• 1 minute
• 2 minutes
• 3 minutes
• 6 minutes

Medium time means: if the time is up, Rebel finishes the actual ply depth before moving a piece.

Blitz

You can choose from the following max. computing times per match and player:

• 2 minutes
• 5 minutes
• 10 minutes
• 15 minutes
• 30 minutes
• 1 hour
• 2 hour

Handicap

You can choose from the following max. computing times per match and player (1st time: player, 2nd time: Rebel 8.0):

• 10 minutes <> 5 minutes
• 15 minutes <> 5 minutes
• 30 minutes <> 5 minutes
• 60 minutes <> 5 minutes
• 30 minutes <> 10 minutes
• 60 minutes <> 10 minutes

Tournament

You can choose from the following tournament playing times per match and player:

• 40 moves in 01:00
• 60 moves in 01:00
• 40 moves in 01:30
• 60 moves in 01:30
• 40 moves in 02:00
• 60 moves in 02:00
• 40 moves in 02:30
• 60 moves in 02:30

Ply

Rebel 8.0 computes at most up to 1 - 10 plies.

Mate in

Rebel 8.0 can solve mates from 1 - 10 moves.

User level

The user can enter a medium computing time (Format: mm:ss) for Rebel 8.0.

Fixed level

The user can enter a max computing time (Format: mm:ss) per move for Rebel 8.0. If the time is up, Rebel does the (so far) best move and don't finish the actual ply depth computaion.

Infinite

Rebel 8.0 computes until a mate is found, or the actual evaluated move is forced by the user.

Analysis

Rebel 8.0 evaluates all legal moves in the actual position.

Analysis Power

Rebel 8.0 evaluates up to six given moves in the actual position. The move can be entered via keyboard or with the mouse. If no move is given, Rebel evaluates all legal moves in the actual position.

Menu OPT (F3)

General program options.

Player <> Player

Switches of the Rebel autoresponse mode. All moves must be entered by the user. The Rebel icon ("REBEL") changes to "-----" in this case. With clicking the mouse on "-----" you can switch back to the autoresponse mode.

Autoplay on

Activates the Rebel autoplay mode (Rebel plays both sides). With clicking the mouse on the Rebel icon ("REBEL") you can switch back to the regular playing mode.

Analyse game

The user can analyse the actual game:

• Analyse for white
• Analyse for black
• Analyse for both

Rebel 8.0 analyse the game with the choosed playing option and from the actual position on. The evaluations are saved as move comments. After analysing the games, you will see to lines in the info box for ever analysed move: first line Rebel's evaluation for the actual move, second line Rebel's best move evaluation. With the option "OPT/Game to textfile" you can save the moves and Rebel's analysis to a text file.

Analyse database

Analyse all games in the actual loaded database. Rebel asks for a destination database, to store the analysis results into. This option can not be used for game databases, but position databases only, because Rebel analyses the first position of a game only.

Go to move

Enter number of move in actual game. The position, related to the entered move number will be setuped.

Search move

Search for the entered move in the actual game. The position, related to the entered move will be setuped.

Replay game

Replays the actual game. You can choose between three different replay speeds:

• Slowly
• Normal
• Fast

Make move note

Enter a move comment.

Game to textfile

Save the actual loaded game moves to a ASCII file. This command is especially useful for saving analysed games (including evaluations) to a text file.

Permanent brain

Rebel evaluates the position during the user time (user is thinking).

Brute force

Don't use any selective heuristics.

Combination

Selection

1 - 9 or N (normal).
By default, Rebel uses a mixture between brute force and selective move selection. If e.g. Selection is set to 4 and Rebel is computing 9 plies deep, the first 5 plies will be computed in brute force mode and the next 4 plies will be compted selective. In mode N (normal) Rebel deceides, when to start with the selective move selection.

Playstyle

Choice of the general playing style:

• Agressive
• Active
• Normal
• Solid
• Defensive

Strength

Choice of the general playing strength:

• Novice
• Intermediate
• Strong

Hashtables

Configuration of the hashtable size (0 to max 64 Mb RAM).

ELO-rating 2432 (Pentium 90)

Rebel 8.0 plays at the given ELO rate. On a Pentium 90 (32 MB RAM) a ELO rate of 2432 is the default. The user can enter any ELO rate <= this value. After entering a lower value than the default, the REBEL icon will be substituted by the choosen ELO rate. The ELO rate playing mode can be switched off, by choosing again the default (maximum) ELO rate.

PC-Auto-board

Use the external PC auto board for playing.

Autoplay 232

Use the AUTO232 driver for playing against another program.

Menu DAT (F4)

Rebel database options.

Load game (ALT_L)

Load a game from database.

Next game (ALT_N)

Load the next game from database.

Save game (ALT_S)

Save the actual game to database.

Rewrite game

Overwrite the loaded (and changed) game in database.

Delete game

Delete game from database.
To be more exact: the game is marked as deleted in the Rebel database. Only a database reorganization will really delete games from a database.

Reorganisation db

Reorganize database: free no more needed disk space.
This function is only useful if you have deleted games in the database. The Rebel reorganizes the database by removing all deleted. The positive outcome is that your are gaining disk space. It also makes the database faster depending of how many deleted games were found in the database. Before the reorganization starts you can see how much disk space you will gain.

Search names

Search for all games in database with the given player name. All found games, if any, will be shown in the game select window, like in "Load game".

Search for text

Search for all games in database, containing the given text.

    Examples
       a) All games of the Linares tournament.
          - Type by TEXT "Linare"".
       b) All games of Kasparov played in 1993.
          - Type "Kasparov" in the "WHITE NAME".
          - Type "1993" by DATE.
       c) All games between Kasparov and Karpov which were
          won by Kasparov.
          - Type "Kasparov" in the "WHITE NAME".
          - Type "Karpov" in the "BLACK NAME".
          - Type "+" in the SCORE.

    In all cases a "Next game" loads the next game with
    these selections.

Search for moves

Search for all games in database with the same move sequence, like the one in the actual game (from first move on up to actual position). All found games, if any, will be shown in the game select window, like in "Load game".

Search for position (ALT_P)

Search for all games in database with the same position as the actual one. All found games, if any, will be shown in the game select window, like in "Load game".

Game-info (ALT_I)

Shows the database game info:

    Date, Elo White, Elo Black, Score
    Tournament
    Place
    Notes

The shortcut (ALT_I) is the same as for "Data info" in menu EXT. ALT_I shows either this information (game loaded) or the general file information.

Overviews

• Complete overview
• Top 40 perc
• Top 40 elo
• Tournament
• Match
• Bookopenings

Load database (ALT_D)

Load a database (change actual database).

New database

Create a new (empty) database.

Menu MVS (F5)

Opening book options.
You have to distinguish between Rebel book format (.MVS) files and userbook (.RBM) ASCII files.

Load opening book

Load a Rebel opening book.

Join opening book

Join two Rebel opening books into one book.

Import book from

Import of a

• Genius
• Fritz
• CM 4000

opening book into Rebel book format.
It seems that Chessmaster 5000 books can also be converted with the option "CM 4000" into the Rebel book format. Genius .BOK opening books can be imported by renaming into .CGS.

Overview MVS-file

Statistical information about the Rebel opening book in use.

Load user book

Load a userbook.

New user book

Create a new userbook. The move e2-e4 is the only move in the new opening book.

Make userbook from DB

Create a new userbook from the actual Rebel database. The user can enter the max. number of moves of each game, that will be copied to the userbook.

Edit userbook

Edit an userbook.

Save userbook

Save the edited userbook.

Menu CFG (F6)

General program configuration options.

Info

Choice of the informations, displayed in the info box.

None

Usual

Extended

Same display as in mode Super, but without the top 4 variants.

Super

    Show the first 5 plies of the top 4 variants.

    Analysis mode

    Ply         actual ply depth
                medium ply depth

    Hash        number of white transpositions (x 1000)
                number of black transpositions (x 1000)
                filling of hash tables in per cent

    Selection   number of variants marked for selection
                number of variants evaluated after selection
                same in per centage

    Time        minimal evaluation time for actual position
                maximal evaluation time for actual position


    Permanent brain on in normal playing mode

    Expecting   expected move

    Score       actual position evaluation value

    Current     ply depth and move number (e.g. 9.12)
                actual evaluated move

    Positions   number of evaluated positions

Show hint

If activated, Rebel displays a hint for the next user move.

Characters/Piece-icons

The pieces will either be displayed as characters (K,Q,R,N,B) or as pieces icons in the move box.

Show teacher (ALT_T)

If this option is activated, the user gets some information in the info box in pressing ALT_T.

When active the program shows the following information of the current board position:

    1) Hanging pieces  : The two most important hanging pieces are
                         displayed. Be sure, don't lose a piece!

    2) Passed pawns    : Shows your passed pawns. Maybe you can
                         promote?

    3) Weak pawns      : Shows the weak pawns you have. Be careful
                         you can easily lose such a pawn.

    4) Pinned pieces   : Shows your pinned pieces. Be careful moving
                         these pieces, you can easily lose material.

Points 1 to 4 above have given information about the most important fields of your position. Points 5 to 8 will perform a quick judgement about your position:

    5) Pawn Structure  : All aspects of your pawn structure are taken
                         into account (structure / isolated pawns /
                         backward pawns) and a judgement is given.

    6) Passed Pawn     : A judgement of your passed pawns chances for
                         possible promotion is given.

    7) Your Mobility   : A judgement of your mobility is given. Always
                         be careful not to have a bad mobility. You can                             lose very quickly.

    8) Your King safety: A judgement of your king safety is given, take
                         special care not to have a bad king safety.
                         You can be mated very quickly.

Possible judgement descriptions for point 5 to 8 are:

    - VERY GOOD         ... You have a superior position.
    - FINE              ... You have great advantage.
    - GOOD              ... You have advantage.
    - SLIGHTLY BETTER   ... You have a small advantage.
    - BALANCED          ... The position is in balance.
    - SLIGHTLY WORSE    ... You have a small disadvantage.
    - MODERATE          ... You have a disadvantage (be careful).
    - BAD               ... You are in the danger zone.
    - VERY BAD          ... Red alert !

Remarks and limitations of the teacher function
Clicking in an empty place in the info menu will swap the "teacher info" with the "position info". Keyboard users use "ALT_T" here. The teacher information is always given from the mover's point of view. The judgement texts are always given as a sum from black and white. This may have the following effects:

    a) Your king is well protected and teacher says "Your King
       safety is VERY GOOD" then this means you have an enormous
       pressure on your opponents' king.

    b) You have a normal pawn structure and teacher reports "Your
       pawn structure is FINE" this means that your opponent has
       certainly some (very) bad pawns.

Teacher is not allowed to conduct a very deep search about the current position because of time restrictions. It's calculation is very superficial and therefore, it's judgements will not always be 100% correct.

Resign

Rebel 8.0 either resigns never (Off), or from the given evaluation value on.

Turn board

Turn board upside down.

Drag pieces/Click on squares

Toggles pieces mouse move method: either drag a piece with the mouse from the start field to the end field, or click with mouse on start and end field to move a piece.

Load piece set

Load a alternative piece set.

Animation

• None
• Usual
• Fast

Opening book

If activated, the actual loaded Rebel opening book (REBEL.MVS by default) will be used.

Tournament book

If activated, the Rebel 8.0 buildin opening book will be used.

User book

If activated, the actual loaded userbook will be used.

Language

The Rebel 8.0 user interface can be displayed in the following languages:

• English
• German
• Spanish
• French
• Dutch

Sound

Switch sound on/off.

Mouse

Switch mouse support on/off.

dd-mm-yyyy/mm-dd-yyyy

Display dates either in day-month-year, or month-day-year format.

Small Pulldown

Save configuration

Save the actual Rebel 8.0 configuration.

Standard config.

Reset to the Rebel 8.0 standard configuration.

Menu PGN (F7)

Game import/export options.

Game to PGN

Save actual loaded game into a PGN file.

Database to PGN

Export all games in database to a PGN file.

PGN into database

Import all games in the given PGN file to database.

Position to EPD

Append the board position to a EPD file. The following modes can be used:

• As a new file
• Add to existing file

Position to

Append the board position to the actual EPD file.

Database to EPD

Export a position database to a EPD file. The following modes can be used:

• As a new file
• Add to existing file

EPD into database

Append all positions in the given EPD file to a database.

Analyse Bookup EPD-file

Analyse all positions in a Bookup created EPD file.

Write game to email-file

Write all game data

• Without diagram
• With diagram

into a email file

Load email-file

Load the game data from a email file

• only as game
• also in database
• overwrite in database

Open NicBase game file

Open a NicBase database.

Load NicBase game

Load a game from a NicBase database.

Next game

Load the next game from the NicBase database.

Load previous game

Load the previous game from the NicBase database.

Search in NicBase

Import NicBase -> Rebel

Import a NicBase file into a Rebel database.

Convert Rebel -> NicBase

Convert a Rebel database into a NicBase file.

Menu CLR (F8)

Rebel color settings options.

REBEL.CLR

White squares

Black squares

White pieces

White background

Black pieces

Background black

Background

Info square

Menu square

Buttons

Text

Variations

Current line

Pulldown

Pulldown shadow

Pulldown line

Reset colors

Save colors

Load colors

Standard colors

Menu EXT (F9)

Rebel extended options.

Player

Enter name of white player.

REBEL 8.0

Enter name of black player.

Simultaneous

Display the four boards and enter the simultaneous playing mode.

Four boards

Display the four boards (clipboards). You can switch the board by either clicking with the mouse to the desired board, or by using ALT_1, ALT_2, ALT_3, or ALT_4.

Game Overview

Shows a game overview in 15 positions with related evaluation.

Energylevel

Choose one of the following energylevel playing levels:

None

Energylevel playing disabled.

Increasing

Rebel starts with a low playing strength and will play stronger and stronger.

Decreasing

Rebel starts with top playing strength and play weaker and weaker.

Random

Rebel play each move at random playing strength.

Program info

Program version and some other data of interest:

    Version: Rebel 8.00 2 September 1996     Processor: CPU type
    Chess program: Ed Schröder                   Speed:   nn Mhz
    Graphics & IO: Rob Kemper              Free memory: nnnn Kb
    Book openings: Jeroen Noomen       Hash table size:   nn Mb

Data info (ALT_I)

Rebel shows the following currently in use (or memorized) files:

• Opening book
• User book
• Database
• EPD

The shortcut (ALT_I) is the same as for "Game info" in menu DAT. ALT_I shows either this information (no game loaded) or the actual game information.

Blindfold chess

Rebel 8.0 supports blindfold chess playing:

Back to normal

Display all pieces.

no white pieces

Only the black pieces are displayed.

no black pieces

Only the white pieces are displayed.

? only, colordistinction

All white pieces are represented by white question marks and all black pieces by black question marks.

? only

All pieces are represented by black question marks.

? only white pieces

All white pieces are represented by white question marks and the black pieces aren't visible.

? only black pieces

All black pieces are represented by black question marks and the white pieces aren't visible.

no pieces at all

Real blindfold playing.

Clear movecomments

Remove all move comments from actual game.

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