I have two related points of reference. The first is a chess game, the shifting long-term tensions of which become more perceptible and enjoyable in the opening

I have two related points of reference. The first is a chess game, the shifting long-term tensions of which become more perceptible and enjoyable in the opening phase as one increases in skill; and the second is another article posted not so long ago on HN about linguistic studies measuring the distance in sentences between the main subject data and the main predicate data (or similar, I may be abridging it). At the time the focus was on how much more comprehensible sentences are when that distance is short, but I kept thinking about how many of our celebrated authors and poets display virtuosity by extending that distance from time to time, building and exercising suspense.