A short man, related (4)
I believe the answer is:
akin
'related' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'a short man' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'man' becomes 'King' (man can mean a chess piece).
'king' with its final letter taken away is 'kin'.
'a'+'kin'='AKIN'
(Other definitions for akin that I've seen before include "Seemingly related" , "Having similar characteristics" , "Related by blood" , "not totally similar" , "Of similar character" .)