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 "Vrnjacka Banja"]
[Date "1966.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Minic"]
[Black "Honfi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "r2r2k1/2q2ppp/8/pp1RP3/8/1pP1Q3/1P3PPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1. Qa7 Rdc8 ( { Black can try: } 1... Re8 2. Qxc7 h6 3. Rd8 Rexd8 4. Rxd8+ Rxd8 5. Qxd8+ { White wins with a large material advantage. } ) ( { Black can
also try: } 1... Rxd5 2. Qxa8+ Qd8 3. Qxd8+ Rxd8 4. Rxd8# ) ( { Black can also
try: } 1... Qc8 2. Qxa8 Qxa8 3. Rxd8+ Qxd8 4. Rxd8# ) 2. Qxc7 Rxc7 3. Rd8+ Rxd8 4. Rxd8# 1-0