Crossword Genius

Venomous American chess player opening with sacrifice of knight (5,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

black widow

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'venomous american' is the definition.
(I know that black widow is American)

'chess player opening with sacrifice of knight' is the wordplay.
'chess player' becomes 'black' (one of the two players in a game of chess).
'opening' indicates taking the first letters.
'sacrifice of knight' becomes 'idow' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The first letter of 'with' is 'w'.
'black'+'w'+'idow'='BLACK WIDOW'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for black widow that I've seen before include "American spider, the female of which eats her mate" , "she's usually the bereaver" , "Poisonous spider" , "venomous creature" , "Venomous American spider" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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