The Power of Centralized Pieces

GM Puli12346 Oct 2025608 viewsEnglish (US)

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Centralization of pieces is very important principle of chess strategy. Usually that helps increase the power as it controls more squares and adapt more easily according to the need of the position.

Centralization is not always simple and easy. I have written this blog to discuss different principles of piece centralisation to help you improve your positional chess!

[Quick note: If you are reading the blog from a mobile device, Click on the "Analysis Board" for reading the annotations and exploring the variations. ]

Centralization Piece by Piece

The Knight in the Centre

https://lichess.org/study/DTEtN8iG/tkrJpsZZ#0

[White To Move]

Nd4* - This move helps white in centralizing the knight with a tempo! They have the pawn majority on the kingside and this is the beginning of their plan of increasing the pressure on black's kingside!

The Queen in the Centre

https://lichess.org/study/DTEtN8iG/uT9h0pYU#0

[White To Move]

Qe4* - Black's kingside is quite weak and centralizing the queen helps white in increasing the pressure!

The Bishop in the Centre

https://lichess.org/study/DTEtN8iG/xJuifIwg#0

[White To Move]

Bd5* - This position is from the game between IM Liyanage,R-FM Goh,Z Fujairah Masters 2025. With this move, white centralizes the bishop to put pressure on black's queenside!

The Rook in the Centre

https://lichess.org/study/DTEtN8iG/JVcZWlri#0

[White To Move]

e5* - White gains space and restricts black's bishop with a tempo!

The King in The Centre

https://lichess.org/study/DTEtN8iG/0uPEvnAG#0

[White To Move]

Kd4 - With this move, white's planning to improve their king's position by bringing it to e5! It would help them in not only defending the e6 passed pawn but also in pushing the other pawns!

Learn More Strategies Like

How to Achieve Centralization
- How to use Pawm play, Exchanging pieces strategy ..
How to Maintain the advantage of Centralization
- Avoiding exchanges, Restricting pieces ...

If you’d like to dive into above strategies for Centralization, read the full blog on ChessNeurons for free

https://chessneurons.com/blogs/the-power-of-centralized-pieces

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