Divya Deshmukh is set to make her debut in the Global Chess League with the defending champions, Alpine APL Pipers. The team is captained by world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, adding significant prestige to her first appearance in this high-stakes competition.
1 Magnus Carlsen . With a lineup featuring the positional precision of Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrathi, the experience of Koneru Humpy and reigning world rapid champion Volodar Murzin, the addition of 20-year-old Divya makes Pipers one of the strongest contenders in the fourth season of the GCL. At her debut appearance in the 2026 Cairns Cup in St Louis, USA, recently, Divya had a strong start but finished tied fifth to seventh.
Because i was pressing the whole time and then did not manage my time well and went down on time and ended up making a mistake, i had a good tournament till I lost to Tan (Zhongyi), which was an unfortunate game.
On her overall performance, she said, “It was very average, I would say. Nagpur: Women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh will make her Global Chess League (GCL) debut with defending champions Alpine APL Pipers, led by world No. Overall the games that I played were actually very good. Since I didn’t feel any pressure I played very good chess.”
1 Carlsen, the team leader. Because we also share a team in World Rapid, Blitz and of course he’s very good, i am especially happy about Murzin. Because i’ve played against them, on adapting with teammates who are also her opponents, Divya said, “It’s not difficult to adapt. Because in Oct I’ll be representing India and playing GCL in Sept, i’m hoping it’ll be held in Dec,.
Speaking with TOI , Divya said, “I am very excited that Alpine Pipers chose me and it was the team that I was secretly hoping I would get selected in. He has a lot to teach and he’s one of the best,” she said. On being the youngest Arjuna Awardee, Divya said, “After a shaky year, it was nice to win the Arjuna Award. Asked about the flexibility of pairings in GCL where a team comprises mixed genders, Divya said, “It’s fun to mix things around.
Divya is excited to make her debut alongside a well-balanced team. So it was a very happy moment for me when I found out that they took me. And I am looking forward to it. Divya is also looking forward to learning some tricks from World No. “It’s my first time being a teammate with Carlsen. We’ve met before but haven’t interacted much. Now that I’m a teammate, it’s a nice opportunity to learn some things from him. It feels nice that we will be playing on the same team. And also in the Olympiad, we’ll be playing on the same team. So we’ll be teammates for a month. I just hope to attend the ceremony. So maybe something like we can have a board order on. Let’s say something like we play on any board and opposite team can do the same. So we can never know the pairing. It would be quite chaotic, but it would be fun.”
