Chess player weary, showing sign of defeat (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
white flag
'sign of defeat' is the definition.
'white flag' can be an answer for 'sign' (I have seen 'Sign of surrender' mean 'white flag' so perhaps 'sign' could also mean 'white flag'). I'm not certain of the 'of defeat' bit.
'chess player weary' is the wordplay.
'chess player' becomes 'white' (I've seen this before).
'weary' becomes 'flag' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'white'+'flag'='WHITE FLAG'
'showing' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for white flag that I've seen before include "Sign of surrender" , "Token of surrender" , "Symbol of truce" , "Signal of truce or surrender" , "It signals surrender" .)