In google webmaster my rank is 9 for keyword chicken recipes but when i check manually and use seotools.com key position checker tool then i was not in top 100.
It works but it can be off sometimes. I see what you are saying all the time. I use other tools for keyword ranking and use Web tools as a guide only.
Rankings vary depending on user location. You rank 9th in Google.com or some other regional Google domain?
It's obviously not 100% perfect. It's only a computer making calculations on popular keyword searches and price on what the popularity of keywords are now. Humans can easily change their searches, so don't base everything on what it says. Use Google Webmaster as a handy guide though, it does offer nice results.
Google webmasters tool is correct most of the times as it caters to the location you have specified. Most non-google tools return inaccurate geo-targeted results..
Even i have faced this issue.. Sometimes in webmaster tools it will show correct as well as wrong position