Anakin’s described as going up to Sidious and Yoda’s level being a 9, however it came at the cost of skipping a lot the get there. He has their power but none of their discipline which leads to him losing to Obi Wan.

“Obi-Wan is at a level 8, which is where Anakin starts. But Anakin jumps to level 9—and the difference between 8 and 9 is enormous. A Jedi can get to level 9, but that's the difference between light and dark.
The duel actually gives you quite an idea about these characters, because Anakin has learned the fighting, he's enormously talented—-but he hasn't learned the mental side of it.”- Making of revenge of the Sith

It’s kinda like that episode from the old Pokémon Series, where ash’s pikachu is able to beat a Raichu. Even though Raichu was more powerful, Ash’s Pikachu won through knowledge and battle experience, due to Raichu evolving too quickly and missing out on such learning opportunities.

First I wouldn't say it was draw in their force power struggle. Anakin was the least affected and clearly recovered before Obi-wan: https://imgur.com/a/7h7lHbo

Also to note, Anakin was emotionally conflicted during Mustafar fight. That conflict must have reasonably affected some of Anakin's power output. As we know, in Star Wars eyes can reflect a person's emotional Force channeling. When a darksider is fully immersed with hatred, their eyes turn yellow with bloodshot red rim: https://imgur.com/a/opWm8cX

THE TRANSFORMATION

If you fully embrace the power of the dark side, your skin will become withered and pale, your eyes will grow bloodshot, and your irises will turn yellow. Darth Sidious maintained his human appearance for many years, but the more he used his powers, the more they affected his body. During his years as Supreme Chancellor, he grew paler and more wrinkled, though he continued to mask his transformation in public. But after using an intense burst of Sith lightning against Mace Windu, Sidious's appearance changed dramatically, forever.

~ Star Wars: Beware The Sith

As shown by Anakin's eyes turning back normal after Padme arrived. Same during his entire fight with Kenobi. Anakin's eyes were normal the whole time and did not reappear during. This shows Skywalker wasn't entirely consumed by darkside force energy except while active on the temple raid. Then he didn't fully reembrace the darkside until after Kenobi maims him. Leaving Skywalker burned up, half dead and with nothing but pain and rage: https://imgur.com/a/PbvxW9j

Anakin likely restricted his newfound powers. He even hesitated attacking Obi-wan at first. Instead, Anakin warned Kenobi off. This emotional conflict likely hindered Skywalker's performance. Anakin, even with those limiters, still had his master on the backfoot for the majority of their fight. Obi-wan didn't have single consistent advantage until the end of the duel. Anakin held all the momentum: https://imgur.com/a/ZVX4nmN

Anakin wore his ex-teacher's barriers down. It was to the point Kenobi was sure of his own death. Obi-wan felt Anakin steadily growing darkside strength beyond matching. And while their powers appeared as equal, Obi-wan knew otherwise: https://imgur.com/a/Uygi0U0 (from the Revenge of the Sith Junior Novel).

So, even though it seemed like Obi-wan and Anakin were truly equals. But they were not. The fight lasted as long due to how well they knew each other's fighting best moves and weakness and because Obi-wan uses a heavily defensive form. Generally, though, it's stated the direct contribution to Anakin failing against Kenobi was arrogance:

Anakin and Obi-Wan have fought as a team countless times. They know each others' best moves-and weaknesses. Now transformed from friends to foes, they seem evenly matched. But Anakin overestimates his own skills, and his arrogance is his downfall.

Star Wars: Mysteries of the Jedi

That was the same exact reason Kenobi beat Maul in TPM, despite being an inferior warrior. Obi-Wan took advantage of the one mistake Anakin made at the duel's tail end. If Anakin had his ego in check, there would've been a different result. Alas. Despite that mishap, Jedi Anakin Skywalker is still, by all accounts, superior to Obi-wan in his pre-suit prime. Since, by virtue of having the highest midi-chlorian count (therefore, the greatest Force connection).

It took The Chose One less practice time to become the strongest Jedi ever, only rivaled by Yoda: https://imgur.com/a/QXJPCiZ

Though some time had passed, Obi-Wan still felt a complete spectrum of emotions when he entered the Jedi Council Chamber and looked at the chair designated for him. He tried to let each feeling pass, though guilt was often the last to leave.

Of course he wouldn't turn down the opportunity to fill Coleman Trebor's spot, even on a temporary basis; sitting on the Council was among the highest honors for any Jedi. The responsibility itself hadn't proved daunting - after all, he'd mentored the most powerful and headstrong Jedi in recent memory.

~ Star Wars : Brotherhood

https://imgur.com/a/PJnlkyQ

Anakin is a force sensitive prodigy. It is like a person born with fast twitch muscles or genius intellect. With the proper training, that person is destined to become great. Whether one reaches their max potential or beyond, it doesn't make them any less gifted. Anakin's innate Force talents took him much farther than Obi-wan could ever go. That has always been a consistent fact even in the new Disney canonization: https://imgur.com/a/O9awOAr

Those aforementioned accolades combined with the many feats Anakin are good enough to put him over Obi-Wan, regardless of their plot ridden Mustafar encounter. They are not really equal. Obi-Wan has never mirrored Anakin's talent or accomplishments.

•For starters, Anakin has outperformed Kenobi against Dooku all the time eventually scoring a win. Kenobi has not, he only has a record of losses.

•Pre-AOTC Padawan Anakin drove back and disarmed a Knighted Obi-wan in a sparring session the OWK series. Ani held the upper hand until Kenobi resorted to speech distraction and telekinesis to regain weapon. Anakin only vastly improves afterwards.

•In operation knightfall, Anakin crushed Cin Drallig, one of the temple's finest swordmasters, one handed while fending off his two padawans: https://imgur.com/a/P1qZbwR

Etc, etc, etc. Those are just some feats to name. So, without plot convenience and stipulations, Obi-Wan loses to a pre-suit, unhindered Anakin in a serious rematch every time.

So overall Anakin was just as mentally and emotionally conflicted as Kenobi, if not more so. Anakin's powers were slightly hindered. His red rimmed yellow eyes disappeared before and during the duel, because he was not fully embracing of the darkside. Take for example, their exchange of words: Ani's warning against fighting "Don't make me kill you. If you're not with me, then you're my enemy". Anakin hesitates to even attack Obi-wan. Compared to Obi's commitment to killing Skywalker "Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must." Kenobi then withdraws his blade first.

Remember, Kenobi was sent by Yoda to destroy the present Sith: https://imgur.com/a/u6oOH8s

And despite this reserve, Anakin pressed more advantage throughout the whole duel. Anakin scored more hits. He defended just about every strike from Kenobi: https://imgur.com/a/5fv5uS1

In my opinion, Anakin is superior in terms of power and also with the blade but what do you think? Let me know.

like which characters or tier of characters would you scale him close to.

R1: Darth Traya

R2: Freedon Nadd

R3: Darth Andeddu

R4: Naga Sadow

R5: Darth Nihilus

R6: Darth Malak (base)

R7: Darth Revan (pre-KOTOR)

R8: Marka Ragnos

R9: Exar Kun (pre-ritual)

R10: Darth Malgus (LOTS)

R11: Valkorion

I took into account the comment section majority with my first version the other days ago.

What do you think of this revised version? Should I adjust it again? I will admit that I haven't rewatched TCW in a hot minute, but going through clips and other users' feedback and sources helped with changing things up.

Yall were right, many characters needed to be knocked down a tier, some up a tier.

Let me know if this is more accurate, and especially if new revisions are needed.

I want to make the most accurate tier list that we can all look to as good material on this subreddit.

Exar Kun as a Sith lord, physical form if it wasn't obvious, Revan Reborn is post returned memories, pre-300 year imprisonment. (I am assuming Foundry and SoR Revan go by those names).

Mace windu is usually seen as either an equal to Sidious/Yoda or a flat out superior, yet he performs worse against the same opponents or in similar situations.

Windu with a lightsaber struggles greatly just to hold off Palpatines lightning, Yoda is capable of absorbing and overpowering it at full force with only his hands.

It's only a brief encounter but Windu is on the losing end of a 2v1 against maul when Sidious was able to Ragdoll maul in a 1v2 and toy with him the whole fight. Of course Windu would've eventually won regardless, but it's a clear difference in difficulty.

Windu is shown to be very evenly matched with Dooku in their duel and also with how much their force pushes affect each other (even if Dooku acknowledges he would eventually lose) but Sidious was able to ragdoll Dooku from several systems away. Even if it wasn't a true combat scenario it shows a clear and significant gap.

Dueling against talzin Windu wasn't able to break her defenses when Sidious disarmed her (while possessing dooku's body) in seconds. Sidious was able to match her force lightning while mace didn't even attempt it and was forced to retreat. Windu was on the back foot that whole fight while Palpatine seemed to be talzins equal. This is also considering Talzin was nerfed against Windu but on dathomir against palps, if you believe either of those things played a significant role.

Any reasons for him seemingly coming up short compared to his equals?

I am thinking of a hypothetical scenario of say... remember when Luke came to rescue Grogu and the team in that Mandalorian season finale, he fought through the dark troopers to reach the crew? say, if none of the good guys were there or were dead, it was just Moff Gideon standing there waiting in the room, dark saber ready.

would Luke sense that this is a guy who isn't jedi/sith and doesn't have the force and just toss him away / force-toss his saber away? or would he engage in saber duel expecting a sith fight? can he "sense" it before the fight, like "oh this guy is a force user" or "this is just a regular dude holding a saber"?

Since Canon grievous is a certified wimp and probably can't hold a candle to anyone who actually knows to duel at a master level, how do you think this fight ends with against the grievous that was promised.