Opening move not initially in range (5)
I believe the answer is:
ambit
'range' is the definition.
(I know that range can be written as ambit)
'opening move not initially' is the wordplay.
'opening move' becomes 'gambit' (I've seen this before).
'not initially' means to remove the first letter.
'gambit' with its first letter taken away is 'AMBIT'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for ambit that I've seen before include "Limits" , "Scope or confines" , "Scope, extent, or bounds of something" , "Range, scope" , "Range - surroundings" .)