Safin shared first place with Mikhail Gurevich and Victor Mikhalevski in the Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament in Vlissingen. He finished third on tiebreak score. In 2001, Safin won the Uzbekistani Chess Championship. In late November of the same year, he took part in the FIDE World Championship. Here he was knocked out in the first round by Predrag Nikolić. In 2002 Safin tied for 1st–3rd with Mikhail Ulibin and Evgeny Gleizerov at the Masters tournament of the 12th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival. In 2008 he came third in the Kolkata Open. In 2009, he tied for 5th-10th with Chakkravarthy Deepan, Georgy Timoshenko, Sundar Shyam, Saidali Iuldachev and Andrei Deviatkin in the Mumbai Mayor Cup.