Is it faster to use 1 reference for table merging or a 'chain' of references?

I am querying data from a process historian that was stored using OPC. The querys run very slow. What table merging method should I expect to be faster and why when I query the data?

This:

and a1.TS >'15-MAR-18 07:00'and a1.TS = a2.TS                                                   and a2.TS = a3.TSand a3.TS = a4.TSand a4.TS = a5.TSand a5.TS = a6.TSand a6.TS = a7.TS and a7.TS = a8.TSand a8.TS = a9.TSand a9.TS = a10.TSand a10.TS = a11.TS

or this:

and a1.TS >'15-MAR-18 07:00'and a1.TS = a2.TS                                                   and a1.TS = a3.TSand a1.TS = a4.TSand a1.TS = a5.TSand a1.TS = a6.TSand a1.TS = a7.TS and a1.TS = a8.TSand a1.TS = a9.TSand a1.TS = a10.TSand a1.TS = a11.TS