I must thank Chris and Ashley because between them they covered the three hours that Loki was due to play me.  Without their help my record attempt would have been stopped in its tracks.  Trying to organize my opponents, as well as concentrating on the difficult task of playing chess against powerful opponents, was difficult enough in itself without any major calamities like opponents not turning up!



Between them, Chris and Ashley played me for 9 hours.  This took me through till 8.00 pm on Friday evening.  Twelve hours of playing non-stop.  So time for a quick assessment of how everything was proceeding.  Before this record attempt, I did practise over Xmas and Boxing Day.  Without too many problems, I managed to stay awake for over 50 hours; so 12 hours was a mere a mere drop in the ocean in the grand scale of what I was attempting!  

I had a short toilet break at this point in time, but no rest before I played my next opponent, Richard White.  

In the three hours of play against Richard, I won one game, lost one game and drew the other two.  Richard was a fiercesome opponent and for the first time I realized how mentally exhausting this record attempt was going to be.  So far, I was not too physically tired but I was becoming very mentally tired

I knew that the early hours of the morning would prove to be the most physically challenging time.  Staying awake between 2.00 am - 6.00 am would be my most difficult period.  







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