Goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller and Toni Kroos helped Bayern cruise to victory over Hamburg at the Volksparkstadion, and they are now seven points clear in first place.
 
Schalke lost ground as they went down 3-2 away to Hoffenheim, who twice gave up the lead to be drawing 2-2 with the final whistle approaching, only for Sven Schipplock to snatch all three points when he netted in the 91st minute.
 
Defending champions Borussia Dortmund slipped further behind in the title race as they were held 0-0 at home to Stuttgart.
 
Two dropped points mean Juergen Klopp's fourth-placed side are now 11 points off the pace after 10 games played in 2012/13.
 
Elsewhere, Timo Gebhart scored the only goal as Nuremberg defeated Wolfsburg 1-0 at home, while goals from Mame Biram Diouf and Lars Stindl earned Hannover a 2-0 win against visiting Augsburg.
 
Finally, Daniel Caligiuri's penalty saw Freiburg draw 1-1 away to Borussia Moenchengladbach, who had led through Igor De Camargo's goal.