Can you start the fire using two pieces of wood?

In the Chess Board picture below white army is arranged. You need to add a black army on the board such that no piece is under any threat.
Note: Army comprised of 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, and 8 pawns.

You along with your friend are standing in front of two houses. Each of those houses inhabits a family with two children.

Your friend tells you the below two facts:
1) On your left is a family that has a boy who likes accounts but the other child loves science.
2) On the right is a family with a seven-year-old boy and a newborn baby.

You ask him, "Does either of the family have a girl?"

To this, he replies, "I am not quite sure. But can you guess that? If you are right, I will give you $500."

Which family do you think is likely to have a girl?

I live in a bowl. I can swim. I have a tail. I also have fins and big eyes. What am I?

Jessica is telling her friends this story and asks them to guess if it’s the truth or a lie: “There was a man sitting in a house at night that had no lights on at all. There was no lamp, no candle, and no other source of light. Yet, he sat in the house and read his book happily.” Her friends say she’s lying, but Jessica corrects them and says she’s telling the truth. Jessica’s story is true—but how?

There are a number of books on a shelf. If one book is the 4th from the left and 6th from the right, how many books are on the shelf?

How can one talk without saying a single word?

What is next number in the pattern below:

131 517 192 123 ?

Two friends were stuck in a cottage. They had nothing to do and thus they started playing cards. Suddenly the power went off and Friend 1 inverted the position of 15 cards in the normal deck of 52 cards and shuffled it. Now he asked Friend 2 to divide the cards into two piles (need not be equal) with equal number of cards facing up. The room was quite dark and Friend 2 could not see the cards. He thinks for a while and then divides the cards in two piles.

On checking, the count of cards facing up is same in both the piles. How could Friend 2 have done it ?

Complete the following series. It.s very logical:

1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, __?