Winboard 4.5 is a free, accessible Chess program for the blind, low sighted or those who can not use a mouse. For the blind it works automatically with the JAWS or the free NVDA screen reader to provide vocal announcements of position changes and other selectable board conditions. Blind players also use a separate "tactile chess board" to keep track of positions. The program has full keyboard access to menu items. Partial sighted players use high contrast mode and adjust board, piece and most font sizes and colors. Available languages are English, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Russian. Installed "Chess Engines" supply challenging play and quality move analysis. Internet Chess Server (ICS) play with humans is at the "FICS" or "Free Internet Chess Server", get a free account at freechess.org. Read "Setting Up WinBoard 4.5 for JAWS.doc" for a short guide or "Winboard 4.5 for JAWS.doc" for the full manual. All keyboard shortcuts are provided in the "keystrokes.doc". All help files are place in the "docs" folder of the Winboard installation directory on your computer's "C" drive, after the downloaded program file is run and setup is completed.
We thank Sourceforge for their kind provision for a free stable distribution point for our free program that has made it easy for anyone to access it and all other useful programs here. Best Regards from the Winboard 4.5 Accessible Chess Development Team
Last edit: Chess for the Blind 2020-04-17