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Ecclesiastes is excellent for studying this topic and numerous others.

Of course we need to review the whole thing to understand verses within context.

The opening of Chapter 9 is in the voice of "the preacher", speaking to the listener:

"For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them."

I found the commentary of M. Henry helpful in contemplating the message of verse 1:

"though good and evil seem to be dispensed promiscuously, yet God has a particular care of and concern for his own people: The righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God, under his special protection and guidance; all their affairs are managed by him for their good; all their wise and righteous actions are in his hand, to be recompensed in the other world, though not in this. They seem as if they were given up into the hand of their enemies, but it is not so. Men have no power against them but what is given them from above. The events that affect them do not come to pass by chance, but all according to the will and counsel of God, which will turn that to be for them which seemed to be most against them. Let this make us easy, whatever happens, that all God’s saints are in his hand"

Verse 1 indicates that though we may or may not realize it, all is in God's hands.

Chapters 10 and 11 have an incredible amount of doctrinal signifance in them which is both informative and comforting.

It's not until verse 11:5 that we see a direct reference to God again.

"1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
3 If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.
4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."

Clearly verse 5 implies that for all the good things we obediently try to accomplish, though we do not know specifically what their end result is, during all of our efforts in this life, God is working all things according to his sovereign will. The help given to one person may be used by God in various ways and have other indirect effects that the original giver is never aware of, "thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all". Of course, regardless of our joy or pain in this life, the true believer's reward is beyond the grave. The wicked, after death, have only to look forward to what is described back in verses of Chapter 9, like verse 9:5.

So if we consider Chapters 9-11 altogether, we find that the "chance" spoken of in 9:11 is indeed from the human perspective. Men certainly do not have very much information about the future. However there is no indication anywhere in the Bible that history unfolds as "random events" from God's perspective.

I wholeheartedly recommend M. Henry's expostion on Ecclesiastes.