In courtyard feel bitter about knight's performance (12)
I believe the answer is:
presentation
'performance' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'in courtyard feel bitter about knight's' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'courtyard' becomes 'patio' (a patio is an outdoor space or courtyard).
'feel bitter about' becomes 'resent' (synonyms).
'knight' becomes 'N' (chess abbreviation).
'patio' going around 'resent' is 'presentatio'.
'presentatio'+'n'='PRESENTATION'
(Other definitions for presentation that I've seen before include "show" , "when gifts are handed out?" , "Illustrated formal talk" , "Formal introduction" , "Display" .)