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 "Kapfenberg"]
[Date "1976.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kociev"]
[Black "Maric"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "6k1/1qrRb1pp/1p2Pn2/5p2/1P6/PQ2P1P1/1B3P1P/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1. Rd8+ Bxd8 2. e7+ Kh8 ( { White can try: } 2... Qd5 3. Qxd5+ Nxd5 4. exd8=Q+ Kf7 5. Qxd5+ { White wins with a large material advantage. } ) 3. exd8=Q+ Ng8 4. Qbxg8# 1-0