From January 2 till January 11, 2001 REBEL played a 6 game match against GM John van der Wiel in the Centre Ceramique, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
This time REBEL had to compete against the world best computer fighter, John in his whole career did not lose one serious chess game against the computer, a remarkable performance.
The match became a thriller, 6 spectacular games, the human leading after the first 3 games with 2-1 but then the season turned and REBEL was without mercy and scored 2.5-0.5 out of the last 3 games making the total of 3.5-2.5 in favor of REBEL.
GM John van der Wiel about his computer opponent after the match: It avoided 'anti-computer' type of positions more often than other programs so far. Still it made quite a few mistakes (I have to add that I certainly made more!) and in the middle-game treatment there is a lot to be improved. I was impressed by REBEL's endgame technique, though. Looking back at the match I am convinced that a Van der Wiel "in form" should definitely come out victorious.
