MOSCOW, March 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russian women in the Volga region city of Nizhny Novgorod are set to play chess using men as pawns, rooks and other figures on March 8.

March 8 is International Women's Day, celebrated as a national holiday in Russia and several ex-Soviet countries.

The young men from local universities who have volunteered to take part in the unusual chess matches will wear specially-designed masks and gowns as the women command them around the chess board. The board has been drawn out on a large 'carpet' which will be rolled out on a city square on Saturday.

"We had difficulties in finding men to volunteer. It was hard to convince young men to be under [women's] control for the games," a spokesman for the organizing committee said, adding that he hoped the event would increase young people's interest in "intellectual pastimes."