Relatively older Russian in play against a New York ace (5)
I believe the answer is:
vanya
'relatively older russian' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'in play against a new york ace' is the wordplay.
'in play' becomes 'va' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'against' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a new york' becomes 'ny'.
'ace' becomes 'a' (abbreviation).
'va'+'ny'+'a'='VANYA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for vanya that I've seen before include "'Uncle --', work of 19" , "Uncle - - (Chekhov)" , "Uncle making dramatic appearance" .)