  We study flat bands in bipartite tight-binding networks with discrete
translational invariance. Chiral flat bands with chiral symmetry eigenenergy E
= 0 and host compact localized eigenstates for finite range hopping. For a
bipartite network with a majority sublattice chiral flat bands emerge. We
present a simple generating principle of chiral flat band networks and as a
showcase add to the previously observed cases a number of new potentially
realizable chiral flat bands in various lattice dimensions. Chiral symmetry
respecting network perturbations - including disorder and synthetic magnetic
fields - preserve both the flatband and the modified compact localized states.
Chiral flatbands are spectrally protected by gaps, and pseudogaps in the
presence of disorder due to Griffiths effects.
