General Information
The Match
A match of six games has been played between International Grandmaster John van der Wiel and top computer-chess program Rebel Century 3.0 on January 2-4 and 9-11, 2001, at the Centre Céramique in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The match was organized by Chess Events Maastricht. Geurt Gijssen was international arbiter. The match was sponsored by Rebel, ABN-AMRO Bank, Paradigit Computers, Centre Ceramique, Mabi Hotels and ENCI.
The Games
Rebel escaped in the first and second round. Game three showed an advantage for Rebel in the middle game. John defended well and won the endgame. Rebel wrote history by winning in the fourth round. Van der Wiel made an error in the opening of the fifth game and lost. The sixth game was wild! The match ended in a 3½-2½ victory for Rebel Century 3.0.
The Player
John Van der Wiel won the Aegon Computer Tournament in 1995 with 5½ / 6. His score against computer programs is 24½ / 28! Rebel Century is a Dutch chess program, in the top 10 of the Swedish SSDF-list. Rebel scored excellent in matches against GM's Anand and Yusupow.
The Machine
The computer with a 866 Mhz processor and 256 MB internal memory was provided by Paradigit computers. The time control was forty moves in two hours and the remaining moves in one hour. Rebel played without endgame CD's.