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. 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.Divya is excited to make her debut alongside a well-balanced team. 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. So it was a very happy moment for me when I found out that they took me. And I am looking forward to it. I am especially happy about Murzin because we also share a team in World Rapid, Blitz and of course he’s very good.”
Divya Deshmukh at Norway chess
Divya is also looking forward to learning some tricks from World No. 1 Carlsen, the team leader. “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. He has a lot to teach and he’s one of the best,” she said.With India on the verge of getting its 100th Grandmaster, Divya is excited. “I don’t know who’s in the running. I’m hoping that there will be more female GMs from India. Right now, I’m hoping that a woman becomes India’s 100th GM.”
Divya Deshmukh in action
On adapting with teammates who are also her opponents, Divya said, “It’s not difficult to adapt because I’ve played against them. 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.”On being the youngest Arjuna Awardee, Divya said, “After a shaky year, it was nice to win the Arjuna Award. I just hope to attend the ceremony. I’m hoping it’ll be held in Dec, because in Oct I’ll be representing India and playing GCL in Sept.”
Divya Deshmukh in action
Asked about the flexibility of pairings in GCL where a team comprises mixed genders, Divya said, “It’s fun to mix things around. 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.”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. On her overall performance, she said, “It was very average, I would say. I had a good tournament till I lost to Tan (Zhongyi), which was an unfortunate game 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. Overall the games that I played were actually very good. Since I didn’t feel any pressure I played very good chess.”
