Old pal giving tie (9)
I believe the answer is:
stalemate
'tie' is the definition.
(stalemate is a kind of tie)
'old pal' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'stale' ('stale' can be a synonym of 'old').
'pal' becomes 'mate' (I've seen this before).
'stale'+'mate'='STALEMATE'
'giving' is the link.
(Other definitions for stalemate that I've seen before include "a position on board" , "situation without a winner" , "where moving is impossible" , "Blocked position" , "A no-win situation in chess" .)