18 – 27 February 2017 / Sharjah, UAE
Starting rank
| No. | Name | FideID | FED | Rtg | |
| 1 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 623539 | FRA | 2796 |
| 2 | GM | Aronian Levon | 13300474 | ARM | 2785 |
| 3 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2016192 | USA | 2785 |
| 4 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 13401319 | AZE | 2766 |
| 5 | GM | Ding Liren | 8603677 | CHN | 2760 |
| 6 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 14102951 | UKR | 2759 |
| 7 | GM | Adams Michael | 400041 | ENG | 2751 |
| 8 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 4168119 | RUS | 2749 |
| 9 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 4126025 | RUS | 2742 |
| 10 | GM | Wei Yi | 8603405 | CHN | 2725 |
| 11 | GM | Li Chao B | 8604436 | CHN | 2720 |
| 12 | GM | Tomashevsky Evgeny | 4147235 | RUS | 2711 |
| 13 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 4122356 | RUS | 2709 |
| 14 | GM | Vallejo Pons Francisco | 2205530 | ESP | 2709 |
| 15 | GM | Rapport Richard | 738590 | HUN | 2692 |
| 16 | GM | Riazantsev Alexander | 4125029 | RUS | 2671 |
| 17 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 9301348 | UAE | 2656 |
| 18 | GM | Hammer Jon Ludvig | 1503707 | NOR | 2628 |