 In March 2012, Ni Hua came first in the 2nd HDBank Cup tournament in Ho Chi Minh.In the subsequent month, he won the 14th Dubai Open scoring 7/9 and edging out on tiebreak Baadur Jobava, Mikheil Mchedlishvili, Normunds Miezis and Sandipan Chanda.In June of that year, he tied for first with Bu Xiangzhi in the 3rd Hainan Danzhou tournament after both scored 6/9, and finished second on tiebreak.