A reader of my book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," which includes writing advice from more than 100 clasic and modern authors, asked if I had to choose just one to study in order to write well, who would I choose?
That's a tough question when the candidates include Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, etc.
However, my choice would be Anton Chekhov not only because he's brlliant but because his style works just as it stands today.
With most of the others you have to take into account that the taste for extensive descripton was different in their eras; or, as with Shakespeare, you have to immerse yourself in the events of his time and of the times from which he drew his stories, as well as the change in language. So I'm not saying Chekhov's writing is superior to that of those greats, but it is ready to use as a model today with very little extra work on our part.
If you haven't read his short stories, or haven't read them for a long time, take another look, I think you'll share my appreciation.
(The "Your Creative Writing Masterclass" is available in a print version and as an ebook.)