BERMUDIANS are used to a regular turnover of young accountants from the UK and Ireland, and the occasional Canadian or Australian, but the gentle and feminine Zuzana Kovacova (say it Ko-VATCH-uv-uh) is surely the first Slovak accountant to grace these shores.

Zuzana is tall and slender, and speaks English precisely but softly with an attractive accent. But she is much more than just a pretty face. She is not only a university graduate and qualified accountant, but also, this week Zuzana played her final Swiss pairings match to win the Bermuda Chess Championship at her first attempt (see chess report on page 27).

In fact, she had the title sewn up the previous week, because by then her point count was unassailable. Zuzana is too modest to expand on the secrets of her success, but Chess Club member Nick Faulks was clearly not surprised by Zuzana's winning ways.

"Zuzana is the strongest player to arrive in Bermuda for at least ten years."

In fact, it was chess that gave Zuzana the idea of coming to Bermuda. Two years ago, the 30 year old from the Slovakian capital of Bratislava noticed that a Bermuda team was playing at the Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia.

She was intrigued by the idea of a change from life in land-locked middle Europe, arranged to be seconded from KPMG's Bratislava office, and arrived at KPMG's Bermuda office in November 2002. She had found details of the Chess Club on the Internet, and contacted Nick Faulks when she arrived.

"I had been working for KPMG in Bratislava for five years. I wanted to go somewhere on secondment for a year or two, and Bermuda seemed very different and exotic. I had expected to go back in September or October this year, but now I have signed to stay here for another two years."

Her KPMG partner in Bratislava was not overly pleased by this change of plan, but then Slovaks, recently admitted to Europe, can now travel wherever they desire, an impossibility before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent rending of the Iron Curtain.

"I was back in Bratislava last December, and I told the partner that there was a possibility of extending my stay in Bermuda by at least a year, and he was not very happy about it, because he needed me there, but he agreed that the experience would be good for me."

Like most of us, Zuzana wasn't sure what profession she wanted to pursue, but during five years of study in the Faculty of Management at Comenius University, she started to work at KPMG on a part-time basis, and in her last year before graduation, was working there two or three days a week.

"There is quite a choice of business and financial institutions in Bratislava but, having already worked at KPMG while at university, I decided to join the firm full-time. My clients were mostly banks and leasing companies and other financial institutions, almost entirely in the capital. It was similar to the work I am doing here in Bermuda."

After World War One, Czechoslovakia was cobbled together, at the Versailles conference in 1919, from parts of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire. Zuzana was very diplomatic about the recent split with the Czech Republic, and suggested that it had been mostly inspired by politicians, rather than the two peoples.

"People have friends and relatives in both countries, and we are very much the same. The languages are very similar, or seem so to people my age or older, because we used to have programmes in Czech and Slovak on television. Since the split, Czech children do not get Slovak programmes, so they may end up not understanding us."

However, both countries were among the ten new members admitted to the European Union on May 1, and Zuzana is sure that a large majority of her fellow Slovaks were happy to join the EU.

"Most people were happy to join, and now we can travel anywhere in Europe without all of the bureaucracy which used to be involved, and we don't even need a passport for most of the countries. Of course, Slovak friends need a visa to come here."

ZUZANA'S enthusiasm for chess was kindled when she was seven. Neither her parents nor her brother had any interest in the game, but after learning how to play at primary school, she was determined to take the game more seriously.

"I came home from school, and told my father that I would like to play chess, because I had learned it there, and he took me to my first tournament. I was invited to join a chess club, but I was so young, that I did not understand very much of the initial training, and it was too much for me.

"But after another year, a guy who played chess came to our house, and I played him, and that got me started again."

She did more than that. She played in the appropriate age categories every year, and her game improved to the point that, in 1991, when she was only 17, she won the Slovak Women's championship.

Zuzana is very modest and gracious when asked to compare the standard of play in Bermuda.

"Of course, compared to Slovakia, it is lower, but I must point out that there are more opportunities to play there. People here play good chess, but they don't get to play enough. We are all better if we play stronger players."

KPMG Bermuda senior partner Greg Haycock was delighted by Zuzana's chess success.

"The partners are very proud of Zuzana's success as Bermuda chess champion. It has been a great way for her to meet many people in Bermuda from different walks of life.

"At KPMG, we actively encourage and support our staff's extracurricular activities. Over the years, we have been pleased to support a number of top athletes in various sports, but I think that Zuzana is our very first chess champion."

ZUZANA is keen to point out that the Chess Club meets every Tuesday at the Chamber of Commerce, above the Visitors' Service Bureau at Albuoy's Point. Sixteen members played in the Championship, and about that number play every week, a mix of Bermudians and foreign residents.

The club is always delighted to welcome new members, and Zuzana and her friends are developing ideas to encourage more people to play this cerebral game.

Zuzana, who expects to be promoted to KMPG Audit Manager on July 1, likes the island, and is making the most of the sub-tropics before life takes her back to cooler European climes.

"In January, I took classes to learn to dance salsa. I have started a scuba diving course, and I am learning how to sail. I also like to play tennis at Bernard Park. I love the beaches here, and that beautiful clear water. I must make the most of it while I am here. Back home, it would be a long day's drive to the Adriatic.

"Of course, Bermuda is very small. In Slovakia, at the weekend, we can get in the car and go off to the lakes or the mountains. I have made short trips to New York and Boston, where old high-school classmates are living, and I went to Philadelphia to visit friends, and to play in a chess tournament."

Zuzana does miss her parents and brother, and close friends, but she is looking forward to her next two years here, acquiring valuable business experience and giving her clients and KPMG the best possible effort. Her brother, a European champion-level white-water rafter, visited last March, and her parents and brother will visit in June.

Nick Faulks had hoped that Zuzana would play for Bermuda at the next Chess Olympiad, to be held this October in Majorca. Zuzana said she was keen to play for the island and the Slovak chess federation has confirmed it has no objection.

It looks like Slovakia's loss is Bermuda's gain, except if you are a local chess player longing to win the championship in the next two years. In that case, it may be "checkmate".