I am quite hot but become too cold if you remove the first two letters. What am I?

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.

In order to complete the racing competition, the Mexico racetrack has to submit its top and the most famous three horses to win the competition. Due to an electrical storm, all the records are cleared and no one knows which horse holds the record. They all look identical and it becomes even more difficult to differentiate the horses. There are 25 horses in the Mexico racetrack. But there can be only five horses at a time on the track. What will the least number of races that can be conducted to find out the three fastest horses?

Can you convert the number zero(0) into a positive number using just one mathematical operator ?

In a contest, four fruits (an apple, a banana, an orange, and a pear) have been placed in four closed boxes (one fruit per box). People may guess which fruit is in which box. 123 people participate in the contest. When the boxes are opened, it turns out that 43 people have guessed none of the fruits correctly, 39 people have guessed one fruit correctly, and 31 people have guessed two fruits correctly.
How many people have guessed three fruits correctly, and how many people have guessed four fruits correctly

A man is found dead in his bathroom naked with blood scattered all around him. The bathroom was locked from the inside and there is no trace of any struggle. There is nothing in the bathroom except his pant with the belt still around and his shirt. Also, the medic team can't find any incision in his body that may have been the reason behind so much blood loss.

The Police department is clueless regarding this murder mystery.
Can you?

There is one thing that goes round the house and also inside the house but never even share a brief touch. What is it?

What always comes into a house through the keyhole?

The teacher told the student that if he told a lie then he will be expelled from school and if he told the truth then he still is expelled from school.

What can a student say to prevent his being expelled from school?

A chess tournament is taking place on knock-out terms (the one who loses the match is out of the game).
(a) If 10 matches are played in total, how many players participated?
(b) If 20 players took part in the tournament, how many matches were played?