ICN's Star Student
Our very own PS 139 Chess Ninja, Jonas Flores-Zeledon is our Star Student of the Month. He has continued to show his love for the game with his tremendous dedication; He has been participating in all of our remote learning resources (team lesson, puzzle duels,blitz w/ coaches) and has been killing it in our daily tournaments along with our puzzle contest.
Let’s take a moment to Congratulations to Jonas for breaking 1400 in our NEW Rating System and becoming a TWO-STAR General on the Ninja Hall of Fame board!! We look forward to adding your star in the near future!
Check out Jonas Chess Story —->
My Story, by Jonas Flores-Zeledon
My name is Jonas. Chess came into my life when my older sister Dana started playing, I was in 1st grade and I wanted to do what she did, and my parents enrolled me in the PS 139 club.
At the beginning I didn't understand much, and my sister would always beat me, and would I never want to go to any chess tournaments. A lot of times I wanted to quit chess club, but my parent’s always told me that, If I start something, I have to finish it.
I was always a shy kid, with few friends and I didn’t talk to much, I was scarred to make mistakes.
PS.139 was always a very strong team for me. I saw how my sister won many tournaments and I wanted to be as a strong chess player like her, so I started playing in tournaments and I started being happy once I started bring medals and trophies to my house. My coach Ian West always gave us courage to make puzzles to prepare for tournaments, I remember one time, I made 1000 puzzles in one week because I wanted first place.
This experience helped me to be confident. Nowadays in life I didn’t change much but now I can say hi to good players from other schools and I don’t feel scared from them but I want to share something important that you can make a lot of mistakes trying to be first place and I finally understand that you have to enjoy chess and play with your heart always trying to do what your coach teaches you. I have to say thank you to coach Matheu, because he would always give me a good word when I lose or when I win, I consider him a real friend.
This is my story,
Jonas-Flores
Keep up the Amazing work Jonas and Good Luck with all of your future success !