If you control and/or occupy the center of a chess board, then you can move to any place of the board faster than your opponent. The board's center is the high ground of a chess battle.
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[Event "rated untimed match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Unknown"]
[Black "Unknown022"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "2r2rk1/pp1q1p1p/3p2p1/3Pp1Qn/4P3/2N2P2/PP3P1P/1K1R2R1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1. Qxh5 Rxc3 2. bxc3 Qb5+ 3. Ka1 { White wins with a large material
advantage. } 1-0