Skilful guy capturing a pawn (7)
I believe the answer is:
capable
'skilful' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'guy capturing a pawn' is the wordplay.
'guy' becomes 'cable' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'capturing' is an insertion indicator.
'pawn' becomes 'p'.
'a'+'p'='ap'
'cable' going around 'ap' is 'CAPABLE'.
(Other definitions for capable that I've seen before include "accomplished" , "Of a person, competent" , "Able, competent" , "Competent, having a certain ability" , "qualified" .)