It was won by British grandmaster Gawain Jones, who also ruled the Dubai Open Blitz Cup 2016.
[7] China's Wang Hao celebrated his 16th birthday during the seventh edition of the tournament in 2005 and went on the claim the championship as an untitled player ahead of 53 grandmasters and 30 international masters.
[8] Wesley So won his first major international tournament when he topped the Dubai Open in April 2008, just a few months before he turned 15.
[11] Nigalidze's opponent, Armenian Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian, complained to the officials about the Georgian's suspicious behaviour and upon inspection Chief Arbiter Mahdi Abdul Rahim found Nigalidze had stored a mobile phone in a cubicle, behind the pan and covered in toilet paper.
The device was logged into Nigalidze's social networking account and had one of his games being analysed by a smartphone chess app.