Throughout his career Chappel produced some notable wins. Some of the players he managed to beat include: Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, John Parrott, Stephen Hendry, Alan McManus, Stephen Lee and Ken Doherty. However he could not consistently produce that kind of form and his best finish was one semi-final appearance in 1990, where he lost just 6–5, on the black, to Dennis Taylor. He also reached the quarter-finals and last 16 of many tournaments throughout his career, his last run to this stage of an event being the last 16 of the 1997 Regal Welsh Open.  The highest break of his career was a 143 which he compiled in the qualifying of the 1999 World Championship.