Placing Chekhov among some of his contemporaries

One way to appreciate the excellence of Chekhov's stories - their sorrow, their pacing, their strangely open endings - is to compare them w the work of Chekhov's contemporaries, even the best of them. Reading further in the 3e of the norton anthologynof short fiction I read stories by three near contemporaries - Saki, Stephen crane, and Edith Wharton - each of them fine but each still embedded in the tradition of the well-made story, w a formal conclusion, a central action, and to some degree w a twist of fate. saki's open window is a short piece that has a surprise ending but is more of a romp or a quip about a mischievous young woman who delights in tricking house guests - I won't give it away, it's worth reading and will take two minutue. Crane's story, the blue hotel,  best of these three, is a long tale about a fight among gamblers in a Nebraska town in deep winter - leading to a death foreshadowed at the outset. The conclusion, in which we sense the complicity of several men in the killing is strong and surprising and raises the story above the level of western adventure. The Wharton story, the muse's tragedy, is her take on a more famous story (the aspern papers) by her friend h James and tells of a young man infatuated w the woman who was presumably the use and inspiration for his favorite poet. Story has potential but wharton wrapped it in a long and unlikely letter from muse to the young man thanking him for loving her but breaking it off - sad in its way (reminds me a little of rosencavlier, a great opera) but a little schmaltzy as well. This was a random selection and is not to say that these are the greatest short stories by Chekhov's contemporaries- esp if you count near contemporary Joyce - but they give perhaps a sense of the typical English-language literary piece of the time. Today of course the open stories of Chekhov, Joyce, Hemingway are the norm -  and much abused by fledgling writers who think a story can end effectively w protagonist gazing at the sea or the stars.