You could also have certain flickering colors represent certain pieces, but overall it would require good color vision from all players.
Alternatively, you could have an 8x8 character grid; monochrome if you represent things like:
rnbqkbnr pppppppp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PPPPPPPP RNBQKBNR
♜♞♝♛♚♝♞♜ ♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ _█_█_█_█ █_█_█_█_ _█_█_█_█ █_█_█_█_ ♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙ ♖♘♗♕♔♗♘♖