Question on chess commentary in written form I'm new to English chess notation and have never read or heard chess commentary in a broadcast or publication form.
I'm trying to decipher the following commentary

ICGA's footnote to caption:
ACM CCC, Washington DC, Round 4, Dec. 5th, 1978: ECO C48, Four Knights. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Nxe5 Qe7 7. Bxf7+ Kf8 8. Ng6+ hxg6 9. Bc4 Nxe4 10. O-O Rxh2!! {cf. the photo} 11. Kxh2 {hastening the loss} Qh4+ 12. Kg1 Ng3 13. Qh5 {ineffectual delay} gxh5 14. fxg3+ Nf3# {perhaps uniquely blocking a check, giving a double check and mating simultaneously; &quot;the most beautiful combination created by a computer program to date... computer chess witnessed the start of a new era.&quot; (Levy and Newborn, 1991)}.

I think I have figured out the series of moves in paired notation. But what does the parenthesized part (e.g. {hastening the loss}, {ineffectual delay}, etc.) exactly refer to? Are they a part of commentary (spoken during the match) or additional information that has been added afterward?
The  comments in braces means that the move before had the effect noted in that set of  { }s  .  It is just annotating the game to explain the moves. 

It may have been spoken during the match if it were broadcast,  but it was definitely  printed in the game summary later at the link you provided to bell labs.   

The !!  means that the move was excellent, often unexpected, and winning. 

In this case the #  means mate.