"Can anyone understand or explain this? What are all these NINE CS grades. How do I tell one from another?"

The system that ICG and other grading/slabbing companies are touting is flawed. They are trying to adopt a grading system that has been abused in the coin "industry" and apply the same system to the chip "hobby".

Here is why it won't work; Coins have a reflective surface which depening upon how "deep" the mirror image is on a coin .. or the amount of light the surface of the coin reflects ... influences the graders as to what number to assign a coin. Chips don't reflect light, nor do they exhibit "Mint State Lustre" that coins do. Chips simply don't shine like coins do because they are not made of silver or gold or nickel or copper or any combination or the forgoing.

A Morgan silver dollar may be graded Unc. MS60 because it is dull and does not have that "pop" or brilliance, but does not show any wear. In fact, a lesser grade (say MS55 uncirculated) may have superior eye-appeal because of it's surface luster that is absent on a MS 60 ... but may have some wear in the high spots (such as Miss Liberty's cheek) that may be detectable under magnification.... or a minute oxidation spot from saliva that dropped on a coin's surface while someone was talking. (A 2x2 flip would offer the same protection as a slab... before anyone advances that argument).

Is our hobby about to be reduced to a bunch of paranoid collectors carrying magnifying glasses from table to table to detect minor imperfections such as fly sh*t on our chips or a very insignificant tiny scratch hardly visible to the naked eye? Not in my hobby! I'll give it up the day that arrives.... ala ground hog chips.