Crossword Genius

Expert at managing men on board? (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

grandmaster

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'board?' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'expert at managing men' is the wordplay.
'expert' becomes 'master' (master is a kind of expert).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'managing men' becomes 'grand' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'master' put after 'grand' is 'GRANDMASTER'.

'on' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for grandmaster that I've seen before include "Senior chess player - senior mason" , "Chess player of the highest class" , "A top chess player" , "Expert on board" , "Exceptional player" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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