What does it take to play at a 1400 level?

Honestly, 1400 is not something to be proud of. You should set your goal higher than that.

Well 1400 CC isn't but a 1400 rating on live chess is very above average. I mean if he's 1100 now it's not really realistic to ask how to get to 2300 is it?

Of course, but it's not a great long term goal as there is still a ton to learn for a 1400. My short term goal is class A and my long term one is master (I would be happy if I got as far as here some point in my lifetime). I would be very happy to become class A soon, but I wouldn't be so proud though if all I could do was reach class A in my whole lifetime when I think I can do better. If that's his short term goal that's fine, but I just thought it was a little funny how he seems to worship 1400s. I suppose when I was 1200 I looked upon 1400s pretty highly too though.

Play more. Just take your time and win games, theres no big secret.   

Don't get caught up thinking about what you want to do with your own pieces (very common mistake), You've got to work a plan around what your opponent actually does.  Look hard at what your opponent does and how it impacts the game.  Keep it tight and opportunities will come, let them expose the board.

Lots of moves in Chess are actually forced, to see this is to understand how the game flows.  Sometimes you will be forced to move something you'd rather not just to keep balance in the position, you've got to be able to see that coming and adapt accordingly. 

I look at Chess like this.  If I'm black or white, doesn't matter, I want control of the board.  I control all my pieces on the board and my opponents to an extent. I have limited control over his pieces and what he does so whenever he does anything I must pay attention to it to see if I can exercise some control over it.  (Obviously this all applies to the opponent too.)  The more control I have over his pieces the more I have of the board, giving him less chance of formulating a plan.

I'm looking to gain that control every single move. Whether its forcing him to move whatever piece so that I can have material gain, or forcing him to move so I can have positional pressure it all applies. 

Don't get caught up in the ratings.  At the end of the day 1400 doesn't mean much, you'll realise this when you surpass it. 

Just learn how to move the pieces. learn how to fork with knight, skewers etc..

Learn all mate in 1 mate in 2 combinations ...There is a book Bobby Fischer teaches chess .. very elementary and simple ... you will be past 1400 if you finish that book.

simple elementary stuff.. the chess.com puzzle here is good too though some may be too hard...

1400 is basically knowing how to move the pieces and not blundering them every move

1400 turn-based here is kinda like that I think. 1400 USCF is not though. Not much blundering away material on one movers in their games, or close to it.

Not a sophisticated knowledge but not a beginner either.

You clearly haven't been a 1400 USCF player for a looooong while.

Blundering pieces away is definitely your biggest challenge and will remain with you far past 1400.  Practice with the tactics trainer.  Practice with it a lot.  I would venture half of my progress is owed to tactics trainer practice, the other half because of book study. 

Just to give you an example, I've been with Chess.com since March 2008, started off with a rating at roughly 1150.  Since then I've gradually worked my way up to around 1950 or so.  In this time period I've completed over 10,600 tactics problems with the tactics trainer.  Had I not practiced tactics so much, I'd wager my rating and understanding of the game would be far less.  I highly recommend this approach.

Well there are alot of 1400 players who know nothing about the game. When I was 1400 I knew a decent amount, but I had way too many tactical blunders. USCF 1400 is much more respectable (at least I think) than not only correspondence but also live chess here.

i would also suggest along with all the other great advice here is to pick an opening and stick with it for a while.

Really learn the motives / in-outs of a particular opening. You will begin to develop and see your own personal style of play come forward and see where you are weak and where you may be strong.

Openings - tactics - and beyond anything else LEARN ENDGAME PATTERNS.. 

Good luck!

Not all 1400's (or players of any other rating for that matter) are created equal, so it's hard to generalize too precisely.  The following are only my personal impressions, FWIW: 

One way (my way at least...  ) to get to 2000+ here is to be tactically strong enough to not give away material and have good enough endgame technique to win most pawn-up engames you find yourself in.  My openings and middle games leave a lot to be desired, but I never have trouble with players below 2000.  Or more accurately, I've never lost to one (and I've mentally blocked out any trouble I may have actually had in some game or other...  ).  My archieve shows a number of draws with folks in the 1800-2000 range, so I don't mean to imply that they're pushovers for me.  They're not, but they don't seem able to press me into making mistakes and usually commit one themselves that proves to be fatal in the end.

As a group, players in the 2000-2200 group here don't drop material -- at least they don't give away easy freebies due to unforced errors.  Personally, while I've never lost to anyone below 2031, I've never beaten anyone rated higer than 2045.  It's not that I'm good at winning games, I'm just good at not losing them (due to tactical skill) until I run into players strong enough to beat me positionally and then I'm toast...   

In my experience, players in the 1600-2000 range here drop pawns far too easily -- specifically losing a pawn at some point without any significant compensation to show for it.  Folks in the 1800-2000 range do it less and have better openings, positional understanding, endgames, etc. (of course -- that's why they're rated higher...), than the folks in the 1600-1800 range, but ultimately it's the same basic problem. 

Playing against those below 1600, in my experience the unforced freebies are often pieces -- again with no compensation.  Below 1400 there is a real lack of positional understanding in addition to the (at that level more frequent) tactical problems.

Anyway, my point is to underscore what many have said here and elsewhere.  Below 2000 it really is (almost) all about tactics.  Truly.  If you want to break through 1400 (or 1600 or 1800 or 2000), then you have to become tactically strong enough to not give away those freebies and to exploit the freebies your opponents give you.  It really is that simple.  Along the way, a little study of openings, positional considerations, and endgames will certainly help -- but all those things require ever greater tactical skill to pull them off successfully against ever stronger opponents.

And when you figure out how to break through 2200, be sure to let me know... 

Tactics is a cliche, but i think learning a few openings is also important.

I went from 1200 to 1650 in one year (USCF rated) and mainly the way I did it was thus;

1. Slow DOWN.  I went from using very little clock to using almost all of my clock.

2. Play up.  I spent all of 2008 playing in U1400 sections at tournaments.  I noticed when I played stronger players (>1400) I always played great. So I figured if I play to the level of my competition I might as well play up, this definitely helped me to become a stronger player.

3. Read, "Reassess Your Chess" cause my middlegame was awful.  I dropped about 50 rating points for a month or two and then gained picked up 120.

I know a player who does not seem to ever move above the 1400s USCF, although he knows many openings, can play the endgames well, understands basic strategy, and has been competing for more than forty years.

He should be over 1600 but he hangs pieces, plays for traps, and lacks emotional stability at the board (he wears his emotions on his sleeves during OTB chess tournaments).

Last year, I learned of a serious and significant hang-up that blocks his progress. While I and a few others were going over a game that he had won with his opponent, he came by to watch. Both players made errors. We were looking at improvements for both. We discovered a flaw in the plans of the winner and were looking at how it should have been met: "White could have played ..." The perpetual 1400 said, "But. he didn't. He played here."

I learned that a quest for the truth of a position, for the best moves, was anathema to him. He cared only for the result. As he had won, his strategy was sound. End of story. Until he can accept suggested improvements in his wins as well as his losses, he will remain on the plateau he has occupied for decades. When old age dementia sets in, he will decline.

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Pretty soon you'll have to change your name

add to that:

(1) avoid all gambit openings and sacs till you understand their principles

(2) create a opening repertoire from simple, uncomplicated openings

 Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps Elubas.  You get to a tier, you set a new goal.  For him, reaching 1400 might be something to be proud of.  It's all relative.