Here's a short game I played as black, that was entirely decided by by fighting for position in the middle squares.
6. Ng1f3
He attacks my currently defenseless pawn as well.
6... Bc8g4
Hoping to frustrate him a little bit, by pinning his knight. More importantly, I'm hoping to trap him, by using my bishop as an annoyance. I want him to try to repel my knight with his pawn.
7. h3
Yes! Protecting the knight with his King's bishop would've been a better move, since it would advance his position to being able to castle. But the annoyance of a bishop this deep in the opponent's rank, led him to making a move that worked out into my trap.
7... Bg4xf3
I figure he'll capture with his queen, rather than mess up his pawn structure.
8. Qd1xf3
The trap worked. Now for my move.
8... exd4
His knight and bishop are forked by my pawn, protected by my queen; moving his queen left him doomed to lose a knight or bishop, to a mere pawn. I think the best move here would've been to move his rook over and attack the pawn. This would've prevented me from taking one of his pieces, since I don't want to lose a queen. Ever since the first move, the entire battle has so far taken place in the middle.
9. e5
He decides to try to try to minimize the damage, by attacking my knight; if my pawn takes a bishop or knight, he'll take a piece of equal value. But that won't work. Here's why:
9... dxe3
I now have mate in one move, via moving my queen to his second rank. He has no choice but to prevent this. I think his best move would be to attack my queen with his rook. This would be a good move, because I currently control the middle in commanding fashion; attacking with the rook can definitely turn tide on that. But most likely, he'll capture my pawn, deep in his third rank, with his queen.
10. exf6
?! He didn't see it! He was so focused on being down a piece and taking my knight, that he didn't notice my queen way down on the other end of the board, which hasn't moved the whole game. Interestingly, even though the queen hasn't moved, it was still an integral part of the action. So, time to do what the queen does better than any other piece:
10... Qd8d2
Check mate! An entire battle decided by winning the middle, ended in ten moves. Thanks for watching this game.
