Destroy with moving victory at beginning of winter (8)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Times for the Times have:

DEC 1 (beginning of winter), MATE (moving victory at chess). I think by now we all know the original meaning of decimate, but usage allows for changes of meaning and ‘destroy’ is fine. The astronomical first day of winter in the northern hemisphere is December 21, but according to the meteorological calendar, the first day of winter in the UK is always December 1. Every play in chess is a move, so with a bit of a squint one might claim that a checkmate is a ‘moving victory’. Incidentally, I was surprised yesterday when several experienced QC solvers including at least two TfTT bloggers were caught out by MAR I clued as Beginning of month.  I wonder if they fared better with this one.