3. Using Rebel

3.1. General

Rebel Century has a lot of features. We strongly recommend the reading of the "50 Examples" tutorial, before any further investigations.

3.2. How to Play Rebel with the Black Pieces

3.3. Print Game Scores

3.4. ELO Playing Level

The ELO playing level (menu "OPT/ELO-rating ...") can be used, to scale down the Rebel playing strength to your own playing level. You must be aware, that the ELO values are no absolute values, but representing a relative playing strength. I.e. you have to experiment, to find the right Rebel ELO value for your playing strength.

3.5. Using the BT2450, BT2630 and BS2830 Rebel Databases

Part of the Rebel Century release are the Rebel databases BT2450 and BT2630. This databases contain the positions of the BT2450 and BT2630 test suites. This test suites are designed by Hubert Bednorz and Fred Toennissen for measuring the tactical capabilities of chess engines. BT2630 is the predecessor of BT2450.

Each test suite contain 30 positions. Select each position and let Rebel think for 15 minutes (900 seconds). If a position is solved, write down its solution time in seconds. It doesn't count as a solution if Rebel finds, the move and then changes its mind. If after finding a move, then changing its mind, then finding it again, you should use the last time found. Any solution that is not found, score as 900 seconds. Add up all the times, divide by 30 and subtract the result from either 2630 or 2450. The final figure is Rebel's (BT-) ELO rating.

The new BS2830 (Bednorz-Schumacher) test suite can be downloaded from the Rebel Century subscription aera. This suite is designed for programs, with an expected SSDF-ELO rating of 2300 or higher. The test suite contain 27 positions. Select each position and let Rebel think for 15 minutes. If a position is solved, write down its solution time in minutes. It doesn't count as a solution if Rebel finds, the move and then changes its mind. If after finding a move, then changing its mind, then finding it again, you should use the last time found. Any solution that is not found, score as 15 minutes. Add up all the times (in minutes) to the total time TT (in minutes). You get the (BS-) ELO rating with the following formula (updated in CSS 2/1998):

    BS2830-ELO = 2830 - TT/1.5 - (TT * TT)/(22 * 22)

    BS2830-ELO = 2830 - (TT * TT)/(17 * 17)

Be cautious in interpreting the BT/BS results. The BT/BS values are only indicators for the tactical strenght of a chess engine. You can't measure the positional strength of a chess engine with this test suites.

3.6. The Rebel Book Tutorial Database (BOOKTUTR.DAT)

On the Rebel Century CD you will find a Database, called BOOKTUTR.DAT. This is the so called (opening) book tutorial database.

If you open the BOOKTUTR database within the Rebel database window, you will find different opening lines, named in German, Englisch and Dutch. The coding used, is as follows: White: Language, Black: Opening, Place: Subvariation of the opening, named as Black.

To position to the start of the openings in one of the languages, press one of the keys "D" (German), "E" (English), or "N" (Dutch). After loading an opening, you can use the buttons "<-" and "->" (near the big "REBEL" button) to navigate through the moves of the opening. You can also use the keys "-" and "+" from the numpad for this purpose.

That's all to say about the BOOKTUTR database. It is simply a collection of different openings, to show which names are connected to what for moves and (more interesting) resulting positions.

3.7. The Rebel Logfile

Rebel writes the analysis data for the current position into a logfile (default name: STANDARD.LOG), located in the CENTURY\LOG directory. By default, Rebel writes only the analysis data of the current position into the logfile, i.e. if you change the board position, Rebel will overwrite the old logfile data. As an alternative Rebel can also append the analysis data to the logfile. You can switch between the modes with the following key codes:

• Shift-F6 will limit the logfile to the current position.
• Shift-F7 will store every position (append mode)
• Shift-F8 toggle logfile writing off/on

The logfile options aren't saved in the configuration.

The append mode for the logfile can be set also on the command line by starting Rebel (see the L1/L2 parameter description in the "Rebel Calling Parameters" section).

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