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 "Unknown646"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "6k1/pb3pp1/1pq1p2p/8/2P4r/6Q1/PPB2PP1/4R1K1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1. Qb8+ Qc8 2. Qxc8+ Bxc8 3. Rd1 f5 4. Rd8+ Kh7 5. Rxc8 { White wins with a
large material advantage. } 1-0