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 "Unknown401"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "r2qk3/2p1nR2/1pn1P2p/p2pBbp1/3P4/2P3N1/P1P3PP/5RK1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1. R1xf5 ( { White can try: } 1. Bg7 Bxe6 2. Rf8+ Kd7 3. Rxd8+ Rxd8 4. Bxh6 Rg8 { Black wins with a large material advantage. } ) 1... Nxf5 2. Nxf5 Qc8 3. Ng7+ Kd8 4. Bf6+ Ne7 5. Bxe7# 1-0