Crossword Genius

Draw companion who's out of condition? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stalemate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'out of condition?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'draw companion' is the wordplay.
'draw' becomes 'stale' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'companion' becomes 'mate' (I've seen this before).
'stale'+'mate'='STALEMATE'

'who's' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for stalemate that I've seen before include "situation without a winner" , "Unresolvable position" , "Possible outcome of chess game" , "Situation offering no way forward" , "Chess game deadlock" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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