Chilled out swimmers play chess in their underwear

Russian winter swimmers have bizarrely played chess in a frozen lake to prepare them for competition.

In a lake in Russia's Ural mountain region, the swimmers stripped down to their underwear and jumped into the water of arond 5 degrees Celsius for a chess game to test their mental and physical strength.

The game has a 10-minute time limit with players admitting it had great benefits.

"The benefit of this is that you get to work on your physical and mental stamina , to see how your body is prepared to withstand any obstacles that life brings on," said winter swimmer Denis, as his rival contemplated his next move across the board.

"Playing in icy cold water, it helps to concentrate. One can even work out a technique to enable one to stay in the water for longer, this is a big benefit of chess."