"Chess is a terrible game. If you have no centre, your opponent has a freer position. If you do have a centre, then you really have something to worry about!" - Siegbert TARRASCH.
- On an empty board, every piece controls more squares from a central square than one on the side or in a corner. (Well, not the Rook.) (Spassky-Nikolaevsky)
- This is especially true for the short-stepping Knight, which will find it easier to join a fight anywhere on the board if it starts from the centre. (Georgadze-Kupreichik)
- Control of the centre bodes well for whatever plan you want to follow. It is often said that in opposite-side-castling positions, the result goes to the player who has better control of the centre. (Farre-Gudmundsson)
- If you lose control of the centre, you can be pushed off the board (Boleslavsky-Scitov)
- Centres can be open or closed (or semi-open). A closed centre has big consequences for the scope of your pieces, especially bishops and rooks, and for how fast you can get pieces from one wing to the other.
- The issue of the centre in the opening has had an interesting history. We have moved from classical openings (1.e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5) which try directly to seize (White) or challenge (Black) the centre, to the semi-open (French, Caro-Kann, Sicilian) and Indian defences which go for unbalanced counterplay rather than going head-to-head, to hypermodern systems which hang back and pick the right moment to strike at or occupy the centre (English/Reti for White, Alekhin/Grunfeld for Black). If classical ideas were correct, the Alekhin and Grunfeld defences would be losing strategies, but they have proved viable. Yet they are always difficult and always a risk! I suggest that young players stick to the classical stuff and get the hang of that first -- skills that will useful in all positions -- and move to the more complicated ideas later.
- Control of the centre is connected with having more space.
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "URS-ch sf"]
[Site "Kharkov UKR"]
[Date "1963.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Spassky, B."]
[Black "Nikolaevsky, Yuri V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D27"]
[Annotator "centralisation"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "1963.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. a4 cxd4 8. exd4
Nc6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qe2 Nb4 12. Ne5 b6 13. f4 Nfd5 14. Rad1 Bf6 15.
Ne4 Bb7 16. f5 exf5 17. Rxf5 {[#]} Nxe3 18. Nxf6+ gxf6 19. Qxe3 fxe5 20. Qxe5
h6 21. Rf6 Kh7 22. Rdf1 Bd5 23. Qf5+ Kg8 24. Qg4+ Kh7 25. Rxh6+ 1-0
[Event "URS-ch47 Final"]
[Site "Minsk"]
[Date "1979.12.??"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Georgadze, Tamaz"]
[Black "Kupreichik, Viktor D"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2535"]
[BlackElo "2365"]
[Annotator "centralisation"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "1979.11.29"]
[EventRounds "17"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[EventCategory "12"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 a5 8. O-O Na6
9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Qe8 {[#]} 11. Nd2 Nh7 12. a3 Bd7 13. Rb1 a4 14. Nb5 h5 15. f3
Bh6 16. Bf2 Qe7 17. b4 c6 18. Nc3 Qg5 19. Rb2 Bh3 {[#] Black wins the exchange,
but the attack doesn't hit home.} 20. g3 Bxf1 21. Bxf1 f5 22. c5 {[#] The two
sides strike their characteristic blows on each side.} cxd5 23. Nxd5 dxc5 24.
bxc5 h4 {[#] White's Bishops support the King, and keep a keen eye on the
centre and Queen's-side. White's Knights are also fulfilling a dual role in
attack and defence from the central files, and in fact this centralisation of
pieces is what wins the game for White. First Georgadze pauses for another,
final, defensive move on the King's-side.} 25. f4 exf4 26. Nf3 $1 Qd8 27. Bc4
Rf7 28. Ne5 fxg3 29. Bd4 {[#] A striking formation! The scattered Black army
cannot cope with the many threats generated by the combined White minor pieces.
} Ng5 30. Nxf7 Nxf7 31. Rxb7 Bg5 32. Rxf7 Kxf7 33. Nf4+ Ke8 34. Qxa4+ Qd7 35.
Bb5 Bxf4 36. Bxd7+ Ke7 37. exf5 Nc7 38. Bf6+ Kxf6 39. Qxf4 1-0
[Event "Olympiad-13 Preliminaries B"]
[Site "Munich"]
[Date "1958.10.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Farre Mallofre, Miguel"]
[Black "Gudmundsson, Arinbjorn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[Annotator "attack: opposite sides pawn storm"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "1958.10.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[WhiteTeam "Spain"]
[BlackTeam "Iceland"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ESP"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ISL"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
a6 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 Rc8 11. Be2 O-O 12. h4 {[#] opposite-side castling and
asymmetric pawns/files usually adds up to a race to mate the opponent's King.
Both sides will throw pawns forward to open up lines for the attack.} Nxd4 13.
Bxd4 Qa5 14. Kb1 e5 {!} 15. Be3 Be6 16. a3 Rfd8 17. Bg5 Rd7 18. h5 Rdc7 19. h6
Rxc3 {!?} 20. hxg7 R8c6 21. Bxf6 Rb6 {[#] ! exciting stuff!} 22. Bb5 {!!} Rxb5
23. Qxd6 Rc8 24. Qf8+ Rxf8 25. gxf8=Q+ Kxf8 26. Rxh7 1-0
[Event "Moscow"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1933.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Boleslavsky, Isaak"]
[Black "Scitov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[Annotator "centre and space"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "1933.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb6 {[#]} 7. e5 Ng4
8. h3 Nh6 9. d5 Ne7 10. d6 Ng6 11. Bg5 f6 {[#]} 12. exf6 gxf6 13. Qe2+ Kf8 14.
Bxh6# 1-0
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Classical openings"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "2"]
1. e4 (1. d4 d5) 1... e5 *
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Counter-attacking defences"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "4"]
1. e4 (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 (2... g6 3. Nc3 d6 {King's Indian}) 3. Nc3 Bb4 {Nimzo-Indian}) 1... e6(1... c6 2.
d4 d5 {Caro-Kann Defence} ) (1... c5 {Sicilian Defence} ) 2. d4 d5 {French Defence} *
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hypermodern systems"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "8"]
1. e4 (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 {Grunfeld Defence} ) (1. c4 {English Opening} ) (
1. Nf3 {Reti Opening} ) 1... Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 {Alekhin Defence} *