All Euwe books on the middle game offer a very static view on positions. That is handy, because it offers an easy way to look at positions. But it is also quite limited. You won't find hypermodern strategies or those of the Soviet-School.
If Judgment and Planning is too difficult there is a still easier one: General Hints on Opening, Middlegame and Endgame. I don't know if it is available in English though. I really don't understand why Katar rates Master vs. Amateur higher. I thought it a non-structured mixed bag of lightly annotated games.
No matter which Euwe book you pick, always realise that it is only a first step, not the alpha and omega. Indeed don't spend too much time yet on positional themes. It does not make sense learning how to get a big positional advantage if you are going to screw it up by bad tactics. So keep it basic.

Definitely avoid Baburin, avoid Euwe's Judgmt and Planning, avoid Nimzowitsch.

Stean is written in a simple style so even though you will understand it, i don't think the lessons will really "stick".  

The one book i can recommend is Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess.  Also a Morphy game collection, or Art of Checkmate.  These are not just about tactics, but about piece coordination, development, dynamic compensation.

As an alternative i think Chess Master vs Amateur by Euwe is a better choice than some of the suggestions given above.  Solid grounding in fundamentals will take you very very far, so keep things simple.  Better too easy than too hard.  Too hard is either a waste of time or possibly even counterproductive!  (just my op.)

Then I am making a mistake to get it, if what Donaldson says is true.

sagwa

DD-OK wrote on 07/06/09 at 16:35:27:


This book is totally about king attack.  It's good if somewhat stilted in its verbiage, but I wouldn't call it a positional text.

I'll buy what somebody said about Baburin being too advanced.  However, I forgot to mention Euwe's Judgment and Planning in Chess, which is both inexpensive and very likely to be useful to 1230s.

A couple of my personal favorites in this vein are the aforementioned Stean book and Larry Evans' "New Ideas in Chess."  (I think I might have been in the 1200s when I went through the latter one.)

Not that I would argue against e.g. the Seirawan book.

I would agree with:
Logical Chess: move by move (chernev's original)

and Stean's: Simple Chess. This title puts a lot of people off, but is a quality book for this level.

I think Baburin is way too advanced and specialised for a 1230 player.


Best on strategy around 1230 
Logical chess move by move by chernev

or the similar but more modern move by move book by Mcdonald ( I cant remember title) is the correct level IMHO

Then go on to the Modern translation of My system by nimzovich.