This game is from a long gone era. Chess was sort of in its infancy. The combatants were Adolf Schwarz (white) and Louis Paulsen (DSB Kongress / Meiserturnier Leipzig, 1879). Shall we have a look? Who is better in this position? I guess white thought ‘that’s me!’ and went for it with 42. a4. Is this the right approach?

In itself 42. a4 looks fine. White is doing what he is supposed to do: push the passer as quick as he can. But he forgot a tiny detail. His king is not in a save place. It doesn’t have any escape square. His train of thought might have been:

If I play a4 and white takes on f2, I have an escape square for my king. For sure Kb1 or even a2 will be a safe haven. 

Problem is: black has something much better: 

42. … Nd3!!

Surprise! He surely didn’t expect this move. 

In fact it is game over. If white takes with queen or rook he will be mated with 43. … Qc1 . And if he takes with the king he loses his queen after: 

43. Kxd3 Qf1+

White played:

43. Qb5

and resigned after he saw that he will also be mated:

43. Qb5 Qd2+ 44. Kb1 Qxb2#

What should he have done? Now we know that an escape square is very important, he could have given his king a life line with

42. Bc4.

In fact that is winning. So his idea “I am better” was correct. Only the execution was faulty. Here you can have a look at the whole game and some analysis.