Born in
Sharjah, Saleh won three titles at the Asian Youth Chess Championships: under 14 in 2007, under 16 in 2008, and under 18 in 2009. He won the
Emirati Chess Championship in 2008, 2011 and 2012, and the
Arab Chess Championship in 2008, 2014 and 2018. Salem Saleh won the Arab Individual Blitz Chess Championship 2017 and 2018. In August 2015, in
Al Ain, he won both the
Asian Chess Championship and the Asian
blitz chess championship. In 2017, he finished in a tie for first place in the 1st Sharjah Masters international championship with
Wang Hao,
Adhiban Baskaran,
Martyn Kravtsiv,
Yuriy Kryvoruchko and
S. P. Sethuraman. Saleh has played for the UAE's national team on the top board in every
Chess Olympiad from 2008 to 2016. He also participated in the Asian Nations Cup in 2016. In August 2021, Saleh won the 2020 Biel MTO edition with a score of 7.0/9 and a rating performance of 2790. In April 2022, Saleh won the 27th Sharjah International Rapid with a score of 8.0/9 ==Personal life==