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 "Carlsen Invitational"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "rn1q1rk1/pp2bppp/4bn2/2pNN3/2B5/8/P1P2PPP/1RBQR1K1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1. Nxf7 { This line was played in the actual game. } ( { White can win with: } 1. Nxe7+ Qxe7 2. Nxf7 Nc6 3. Rxe6 Qxf7 4. Re4 Nxe4 5. Bxf7+ Rxf7 { White wins
with a large material advantage. } ) 1... Bxf7 2. Nxe7+ Kh8 3. Qxd8 Rxd8 4. Bxf7 1-0