Magnus Carlsen loses to Alireza Firouzja as American Gambits miss GCL 2026 finals

Magnus Carlsen and Javokhir Sindarov (GCL Photos)

BENGALURU: Saturday was the final day of the preliminary stages of the 2026 Global Chess League (GCL). Two teams, Viswanathan Anand's PBG Alaskan Knights and Alireza Firouzja's Triveni Continental Kings, had already been eliminated. Javokhir Sindarov's American Gambits had an outside chance of qualifying for the finals on Sunday here in Bengaluru. And the gods were listening to their prayers, for some time indeed. The top two positions were occupied by Ian Nepomniachtchi's Ganges Grandmasters and Magnus Carlsen's APL Pipers. Both teams lost their matches on the day against Triveni and Alaskan Knights, respectively. Carlsen, playing at the Icon board for the Pipers, suffered his first loss of the tournament at the hands of Alireza. Before the start of the GCL, Carlsen warned Alireza that he would "flag the s***" out of him. But when they met earlier in the tournament, with the Norwegian playing the black pieces, the game ended in a draw. On Saturday, however, Alireza, playing with black, defeated Carlsen, earning his first win of the tournament. "The tournament was up and down. I think our team had the potential to win the finals, but we just had a few unlucky matches where we lost by one point," the 23-year-old Grandmaster told reporters after the win over the current World No. 1. "I enjoy time scrambling. But yeah, (it was) a special win, of course." Nevertheless, the win was not enough to turn their fortunes around in terms of qualification, as the two-time GCL winners ended up in fifth place, ahead of only Alaskan Knights, who won their game against table-toppers Ganges Grandmasters in the second match of the day.

American Gambits suffer heartbreak

Gambits, the home favourites, had a chance to win their game by a respectable margin of eight points and topple Pipers to make it to the finals in the final game of the day. And with the black pieces, it was expected that they would go all in. And they did. It worked for a moment. Sindarov beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and pocketed three points, Bibisara Assaubayeva held Harika to a draw, and Daniil Dubov drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. But Sara Khadem, Marc'Andria Maurizzi, and Nihal Sarin lost their games to Carissa Yip, Bardiya Daneshvar, and Pranesh M, respectively.

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The most shocking defeat came on the Superstar Men board, where Nihal had a good advantage over Pranesh but eventually lost on time, ensuring that the team will play for third place against the same opponent on Sunday. 'It's always fun to be a spoiler in general. And of course I like winning. I like winning with the team even more. So it's just a great way to end the double round robin stage," Yip told the reporters after the match. Suggesting that they have beaten Gambits both times, Yip added ahead of the third-place match: "So right now the track record is on our side. I think we have a lot of momentum, so hopefully we can capitalise on that for tomorrow."

GCL 2026 Season 4 Standings

TeamMWLDMPGP1Ganges Grandmasters1064018952APL Pipers1064018883American Gambits1055015864Mumba Masters1055015855Triveni Continental Kings1046012816Alaskan Knights104601280

GCL 2026: Schedule for Sunday, September 13

3rd Place Battle -- 3:30 PM: American Gambits vs Mumba Masters

Finals -- 6:30 PM: APL Pipers vs Ganges Grandmasters

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