Unlike 1997, there was no faculty component to this match, but like 1997, the result of the match was very much one-sided. Woody, Nick, Jon, and Lu each won two games against their opponents, while Dan split his two games with Peter Nasuti, and Jacob drew his two games with FM Michael Mulyar, leading to a 10-2 rout of the Yale chess team!

Having won the match, Harvard gets to retain the Wolff Cup for another year. The Wolff Cup is named for two-time United States Chess Champion Patrick Wolff, who is the only grandmaster to play on both sides of the Harvard-Yale match (two years at Yale undergraduate; two years at Harvard undergraduate). The Wolff Cup is a beautiful, silver Paul Revere Bowl on which the winners' names since 1986 are engraved. The Cup was endowed in 1996 by Professor Andrew Metrick, Professor Chris Avery, Danny Edelman, and Chris Chabris, all match alumni. Dan Benjamin, the lone senior on the team, will leave Harvard as only the third person to participate in four consecutive Harvard victories (NM Matt Bengston '96 and NM Jeremy Martin '96 were the first two).

While the history of the Match apparently dates back to 1906, 1998 marks the 13th consecutive Match since Harvard Chess Club member Chris Avery and Yale Chess Club president Andrew Metrick arranged the 1986 Match. Victory bounced back and forth in the first six years, with Harvard winning in 1986, 1988, and 1990, and Yale winning in 1987, 1989, and 1991. Harvard has now won in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998.