Robert Chaperon has a distinguished snooker career as both an amateur and professional. He began playing snooker at age 13 and emerged a prominent player in his region early on. In 1979/1980 at age 21 he won the Ontario Snooker Championship. The following year he won the 1981 Canadian Amateur Snooker Championship and demonstrated his versatility with cue sports by also winning the 1981 Canadian Billiards Championship.

Chaperon turned professional in 1985 and played snooker on the World Professional Tour for 13 years; from 1984 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2003. He also participated in the World Snooker Americas Tour from 1998 to 2003, winning the title two times. Renowned for his break building, during the 1999/2000 World Snooker Americas Tour he made a world-first in his quarter final with Bill Cooper by compiling four consecutive centuries in the last four frames: 101, 119, 115 and 100 a feat that had never been accomplished in a competitive snooker match.

The crowning achievement of his career came in 1990 when he won the British Open. Chaperon's 10-8 victory over Alex Higgins marked him as the only Canadian, besides 1980 World Champion Cliff Thorburn, to win a World Ranking Tournament. And 1990 continued to be a banner year for Chaperon, as he also won the World Cup with teammates Cliff Thorburn and Alain Robidoux by defeating the Northern Ireland team of Alex Higgins, Dennis Taylor and Tom Murphy 9-5.

During his time on the World Professional Tour he represented Canada at the World Snooker Championship 13 times between 1984 and 2003. His highest World Ranking was 25, achieved in the 1990/1991 season.

Robert Chaperon is a multiple-time regional and provincial champion and a two-time national champion who continued to compete at a high level even later in his career. In 2019 he won the Canadian Amateur Snooker Championship for the second time. He made his return to the world stage at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 2022 to play in the World Seniors reaching the final 24.

He remains the most notable Canadian snooker player to come from Northern Ontario. He is respected for both his achievements and longevity in the sport. He was named the 1991 Northern Ontario Sportsman of the Year after his British Open win. Chaperon was inducted into the Canadian Snooker Hall of Fame in 2022 and the Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame in 2024, cementing his legacy in Canadian sports history.