Both Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen drew this weekend, but third placed Schalke were defeated at Wolfsburg.
Schalke coach Felix Magath had an unhappy return to Wolfsburg as the reigning Bundesliga champions dealt a blow to his team's title hopes with a 2-1 win.
Magath was making his first visit back to the club he led to a surprise league triumph last term.
Wolfsburg have struggled without him while Schalke went into the match three points behind Bayer Leverkusen and four adrift of pacesetters Bayern Munich.
Leverkusen could only draw 2-2 with Werder Bremen today but Magath's side could not take advantage despite taking the lead through Kevin Kuranyi on the half-hour mark.
It stayed that way until 19 minutes from time when Grafite headed the equaliser. And Wolfsburg wrapped up the win six minutes later as the striker grabbed his second.
Leverkusen returned to the top of the table with their point but they would have hoped for more after Bayern's draw with Nurnberg on Saturday.
Eren Derdiyok put Leverkusen ahead in the 29th minute but Claudio Pizarro equalised five minutes later.
Toni Kroos put Leverkusen ahead again in the 57th minute but Per Mertesacker earned Bremen a draw in stoppage time.
The point still extended Leverkusen's unbeaten record to 23 games, equalling the record set by their own coach, Jupp Heynckes, in the 1988/89 season with Bayern.
Hertha Berlin gave their survival hopes a huge lift with a convincing 3-0 defeat of fellow strugglers Freiburg today.
Adrian Gustavo opened the scoring before two goals from Cicero gave Friedhelm Funkel's bottom-of-the-table team a morale-boosting victory - only their third of the season.
On Saturday Bayern Munich 's winning run came to an end with a 1-1 draw at Nurnberg.
Bayern looked set for a 14th consecutive victory in all competitions when Thomas Muller gave them the lead after 38 minutes, but Ilkay Gundogan levelled nine minutes into the second period to hand Nurnberg an impressive point.
The draw left Bayern a point clear at the top but, with Leverkusen travelling to Werder Bremen on Sunday, their rivals have a chance to re-establish a two-point cushion.
Borussia Dortmund ended a three-match losing streak with a comfortable 4-1 win at home to Hannover.
Neven Subotic scored a late first-half opener before an own goal and Nelson Haedo Valdez's strike made it 3-0. Arouna Kone pulled one back late on before Kevin Grosskreutz completed the rout.
Striker Cacau scored four times to triple his Bundesliga goal tally for the season and lead Stuttgart to a 5-1 win over Cologne.
The Brazilian-born Germany striker's hat-trick put his side 3-1 up by half-time and, after Pavel Pogrebnyak made it 4-1, Cacau rounded off the win in the 74th minute.
Hamburg failed to follow up their Europa League victory over PSV Eindhoven with another win in the Bundesliga as they maintained their unwanted record as Germany's draw specialists, being held 0-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
The swift return to action following Thursday's win against the Dutch giants was clearly not to Hamburg's suiting as they failed to find a goal and had to settle for a 10th draw in 23 German league outings this season.
Bochum inched further away from the danger zone with a credible goalless draw at Mainz.
The sides cancelled each other out in a drab affair at the Stadion am Bruchweg but the visitors will be the happier after the point carried them up to 12th, nine points off the drop. Mainz remain in eighth.
On Friday, Hoffenheim and Borussia Monchengladbach played out a thrilling 2-2 draw.
Match Reports
Werder Bremen 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen
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