CLARIFICATION

It is "suspected" that "some" members of the UCU deliberately loose chess games in order to rig their rating. I want to make it clear I am not involved in anything like this.

So, I want to clarify why I lost 3 games out of 5 in the recent Gibraltar 1st week Amateur tournament, which incidently I have jointly won on two past occasions.

1. The first reason for my bad performance was the fact that the PSNI seized all my computers on the 11th of November.

2. The main reason for the bad performance is the fact that I suffer from serious bouts of sleeplessness. I have medication to combat this but sometimes the medication does not work, so I am left with the effects of sleeplessness and the side effects of the medication.

This greatly reduces my ability to think clearly.

It would not have mattered if I had stayed home and not went to Gibraltar, the same thing would occur, as it certainly will occur again within a few months.

Once the sleeplessness recedes my chess performance improves as I played much better last Thursday night.

In Belfast there is a saying which covers this type of scenario, it is as follows;
"Tough, dry yer eyes!"

Esther 6:1 On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.