What is a Good Mid Game Book for a 800 ELO Player?

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There are 2 excellent publications:

500 Master Games of Chess

Zurich 1953

 

The main shortcut  to know and understand in order to read and digest these advanced books  is to know when the middlegame begins.  First you have to know and understand pawn breaks.  If you would like to read more about this  please let me know.   

I have never read GM John Nunn's book.  But based on other books he has authored it is probably very good.

See

https://www.chess.com/article/view/5-great-chess-books-for-beginners

Also Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course Volume 2

And Logical Chess Move by Move by Chernev

Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur by Euwe and Meiden might interest you.  It's an older book in descriptive notation, but if you're bright enough to play chess, you're bright enough to understand descriptive notation.

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Master-vs-Amateur-Dover/dp/0486279472/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

I might go with this, it may be a little advanced though at some parts

 

.https://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Imbalances/dp/1890085138

"How to Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition was designed for players in the 1400 to 2100 range." - IM Jeremy Silman (2010)

Here are some reading possibilities that I often mention:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf

Logical chess move by move by Chernev, Winning chess by Seirawan

If you're at the 800 level, any book that specialises in the middlegame is likely to be too advanced for you. Instead you should read any general beginner's guide which will have a few chapters on each major aspect of the game: opening, middlegame, endgame, tactics, and strategy. First learn the basic principles and ideas behind all parts of the game, apply them in practice and you should reach 1200 in a matter of months. Books that focus on just the middlegame would be more appropriate after you've reached this level.  

No matter what, a lot is likely to go wrong in the games of a near-beginner. For some people, tactical improvement can be a slow process and it can help one to feel better about one's games if one has a little bit of a feel for the look of sensible play. By the way, Seirawan gave a fair amount of attention to tactics in his writing.

"... In many ways, [Batsford's new edition of Logical Chess: Move by Move, written in 1957 by Irving Chernev] would a wonderful 'first' book (or first 'serious' book, after the ones which teach the rules and elementary mates, for example), and a nice gift for a young player just taking up chess. For one thing, the games are clearcut and instructive. ... they contain powerful thematic lessons for the beginning player. My only warning would be that the impressionable student should be gently reminded by a friend or mentor that most of the rules and principles Chernev so dogmatically states do not actually have any consistent validity in real-world chess, so that the book should be looked at as a way to get started thinking about positions, not as a reliable guideline to what chess is really about. With that proviso, I would recommend it heartily to anyone just starting to explore the game, ..." - IM John Watson (1999)

http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/assorted-recent-books

You could try Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess. It covers many aspects of the game during a Socratic-style dialogue between teacher and student. I'm reading it now and finding it illuminating. I daresay another good book would be Winning Chess by Seirawan, which introduces the student to a number of basic chess concepts.

For middlegame strategy at an 800 level, I recommend:

1. Weapons of Chess by Pandolfini
2. The Complete Book of Chess Strategy by Silman
3. Purchasing a membership here and doing all of the chess lessons at and under the 1000-rated level under these headings: Strategy, Attack, Annotated Games, and Opening
4. A First Book of Morphy by del Rosario
5. Chernev’s Logical Chess Move by Move.
6. Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking by McDonald

Other books that are good for this level, but not necessarily middlegame (not counting daily tactics)
7. Comprehensive Chess Course vol. I and II by Alburt (there are shortly annotated games in volume II)
8. Chess Steps Level 1 (workbooks)
9. Chess Tutor Level (disc)

I would put Seirawan’s series at a modestly higher level than the above (maybe 1000-1200).

 

And don't forget the twin to this rule:  "Don't Hang Your Pieces for Easy Capture 101"

I recommend Fred Wilson's Simple Attacking Plans.  

 

https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Attacking-Plans-Fred-Wilson/dp/1936277441

 

This is a perfect book for me!  Short, concise.  Memorable general principles illustrated with interesting specific games.  Commentary is engaging and informative throughout and he pauses and asks questions at perfect moments to allow you to be actively engaged in the game that you are playing through.  It's an incredible resource for a player like me who is beyond the beginner stage but is still groping his way toward club credibility.

 

-Mike

That's a good point and that's why I was about to suggest a book on tactics, but in the end I just answered the question about middlegame books.  Actually there are so many good tactics books that I wouldn't know what to recommend.

To the OP. If Max Euwe‘s books would be in algebraic notation I would recommend one of them to you. The second alternative is Logical Chess... by Cherney. Although I didn’t read it, I know that it is similar to Euwe‘s books and it received a lot of very positive reviews. Zürich 1953 is good but not for you.

When you solve tactics I think you should move pieces as little as possible. Focus on visualization.

Other's mileage may vary.  

I would suggest you to follow the study plan of chess.com! If you can, diamond subscription is awesome. I check their study plan and their skill check list is pretty much what I face (without knowledge or solution) in daily online games at my level, no more no less.

Descriptive notation isn't difficult ... look at my rating.  In fact, I think it is a little easier, because of the symmetry.  I often mess up algebraic notation on the Black side, thinking ...h7 is ...a7 or ...e5 is ...d4, etc., then have to backtrack once my flawgic reveals itself in the course of the annotated game.

I have also a suggestion to the OP: go to Chessable, and there you will find great books on openings, tactics, endgames, and even one book on strategy. I think you will like the website, as you can learn everything by spaced repetition. You save time and are efficient in your learning process.

 

I can recommend by my own experience : "My System" from A. Nimzowitsch. It is good structured, quite easy to read (In contrast to S.Tarrasch), and timeless until today. But this is my personal opinion, You may go to a public library and find out the chessbook which suits best to You. Me, I use to do so when a textbook is needed...