Humming along to Disney films while colouring in, her hair scraped off her face with a blue ribbon, the six-year-old has mastered the art of lulling her opponents into a false sense of security.
Carolina Espinosa Cancino may be only 3ft 6in tall, but as a chess player she often leaves older challengers trailing in her wake.
The pupil at Sacred Heart Primary School in Girvan, South Ayrshire, has been playing since she was two and is causing a sensation in Scottish chess, landing two major titles in one month.
“The practice of chess promotes values such as tolerance, critical thinking and self-esteem,” her mother, Cristina, 49, said. “Carolina knows that chess is a game of strategy that requires concentration of attention, memory, creativity, imagination, sense of responsibility and emotional control.
“She knows that talent is 10 per cent of the base and the remaining 90 per cent is work.”
Advertisement
The chess prodigy comes from a long line of champions and was taught by her father, José Miguel Espinosa, 53, an entrepreneur, who said that she was “just in the beginning of her chess career”.
She follows the success of her older siblings, Miguel, 20, Cristina, 19, and Monica, 15, who are all already international chess players.
Last month she won the 2016 Scottish Junior Chess Tournament, competing in the under-nine section. She played for five hours to take the title.
Just over a week later she scooped another Scottish junior title at a championships held in Croy, Lanarkshire.
Carolina is also the first ranked girl in the Grade Rise category among all Scottish active chess players aged from 5 to 18 years old. Next week she will compete for the Scottish Girls Championship for girls 18 and under in Angus.
Advertisement
When she is not busy winning competitions, she enjoys singing along to Annie, her favourite musical, or the soundtrack to the Disney film Frozen.
However, her hobbies are interspersed within a gruelling schedule in which she practises chess for two hours every day.
Despite her rigorous work ethic, she is modest about her success.
“I like chess because I can learn from my dad,” she said.
“When I’m playing I concentrate very hard and have to be serious. But when I’m winning I get really excited.
Advertisement
“I don’t feel bad when I lose because I just tell myself I’ll try harder next time and beat the next person.
“I play my brother and sisters all the time but they never let me win. We have to play properly or else it would be cheating.
“I don’t talk to my friends much about chess but one of my friends said she saw my picture with my trophies, so that was exciting.”
Mr Espinosa said of his daughter: “She has the passion for chess, it’s just a matter of progressing little by little. It will be a long, hard journey to become grandmaster but she is very talented.”