system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars]If the rule of 2 ensured only the strongest Sith would rule, why is Darth Maul defeated by a padawan?
gpt
Several Reasons, actually;

Obi-wan was very advanced for a Padawan. There were almost certainly some politics around him not having faced the trials yet, seemingly centered around Qui-Gon butting heads with the council.

Obi-wan was completely outclassed by Maul; Obi-wan won because he pulled off a maneuver far above his skill level, and he got away with it because Maul was arrogant and assumed he had already won.

Darth Sidious believed he was the culmination of the rule of two, so he didn't bother to teach any of his apprentices everything he knew. In reality, none of them were "true" Sith apprentices, merely pawns in Sidious' new paradigm, "The Rule of One."