Man of Kent (3)
I believe the answer is:
ken
'man of kent' is the definition.
'Ken' can be an answer for 'man'. I'm not sure about the 'of kent' bit.
'man of kent' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'k' (abbreviation for king, a chess man).
'of kent' becomes 'en' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'k'+'en'='KEN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ken that I've seen before include "Know; man's name" , "Notice" , "One's range of knowledge" , "Identify; -- Livingstone" , "Awareness" .)