Novice sees a chess finale nearly run over (7)
I believe the answer is:
amateur
'novice' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'a chess finale nearly run over' is the wordplay.
'chess finale' becomes 'mate' (I've seen this in another clue).
'nearly' means to remove the last letter.
'over' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'run' with its final letter taken away is 'ru'.
'ru' backwards is 'ur'.
'a'+'mate'+'ur'='AMATEUR'
'sees' is the link.
(Other definitions for amateur that I've seen before include "Athlete who performs without payment" , "Tum area (anag.)" , "A non-professional sportsman" , "Inexpert" , "Unpaid (sport)" .)