Chess, like olympic sports, is weirdly nationalistic and a source of national pride. I'm not much of a history expert, but I suspect that was largely caused by the soviet union deciding that they would be the best at it.
As for not using his name, try and write the headline both mentioning his name, and his age. It's just clunky.
As for not using his name, try and write the headline both mentioning his name, and his age. It's just clunky.