Protected man on board ushered past players (7)
I believe the answer is:
castled
'protected man on board' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to competing as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'ushered past players' is the wordplay.
'ushered' becomes 'led' (to usher someone is to lead them somewhere).
'past' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'players' becomes 'cast' (group of actors).
'led' after 'cast' is 'CASTLED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for castled that I've seen before include "moved to protect king" , "Made a chess move" , "have moved on board" , "made move in game" , "Performed chess move" .)