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 "Unknown170"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "4r2k/4r3/2Q1R1pb/1p3pq1/3P4/1BP5/P3RPP1/6K1 b - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1... Qc1+ 2. Kh2 ( { White can try: } 2. Re1 Rxe6 3. Qxe8+ Rxe8 4. Rxc1 Bxc1 { Black wins with a large material advantage. } ) 2... Bf4+ 3. g3 Rh7+ 4. Kg2 Qh1# 0-1