Severny Vestnik
His first articles appeared in the Kazan newspaper "Volga Herald" in 1885. He published his first story "Red" in January 1886, in the same paper. That same year, he met Maxim Gorky while living in Tsaritsyn. A few months later, after moving to Astrakhan, he met radical writer and critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky. He continued to publish his works in the provincial papers until 1894, when one of his stories was accepted by Nikolay Mikhaylovsky for publication in the Saint Petersburg magazine "Russkoye Bogatstvo". This publication allowed Chirikov to begin publishing in other major magazines, including "Vestnik Evropy" and "Severny Vestnik".