On a ground last season where they secured the top-flight title for a first time in 50 years, Chelsea virtually snuffed out any lingering hope Manchester United had of taking the crown.
And the title race will almost certainly be over before United get to Stamford Bridge at the end of the month.
Whether Bolton will still be challenging for a UEFA Cup place by then looks highly unlikely.
This defeat was their fifth in a row - one of the worst spells under England managerial candidate Sam Allardyce.
And for a third successive game Wanderers failed to score. No wonder Allardyce was scouting for new talent last week at Spain's Copa del Rey Final between Espanyol and Real Zaragoza.
This was supposed to be the game that gave United a glimmer of hope of overhauling the Londoners at the Premiership summit but Jose Mourinho's side won at a canter once John Terry had headed the visitors in front just before half-time.
Fittingly it was season-long talismen Terry and Frank Lampard who steered Chelsea through their potential banana skin. Unlike the Arsenal side of 2003, they didn't prove to have soft centres.
Bolton had the early territorial advantage, winning a series of free-kicks in promising positions.
However, Wanderers lack an out-and-out goalscorer to make the most of these situations. Indeed, Allardyce lamented this very fact for costing them at Liverpool the weekend before.
The game came to life in the final five minutes of the half. Claude Makelele was booked for unsporting behaviour and Mourinho was furious when Spaniard Ivan Campo didn't pick up a yellow for his challenge on Lampard.
But Chelsea had the final say as Lampard's free-kick found its way into the net via Terry's head.
Allardyce's half-time response was to bring off the ineffective Jared Borgetti and Ricardo Vaz Tae for Stelios and Henrik Pedersen.
It didn't really make much difference to a Chelsea side that had hammered their Lancashire hosts 5-1 earlier in the campaign.
And it was game set and match to the champions in the 59th minute when Lampard doubled his team's advantage.
Hernan Crespo did the hard work with a strong run and slide-rule pass and England man Lampard did the rest.
The goal knocked all the stuffing out of Bolton whose decline has been quite remarkable for a side harbouring a dream of Champions League soccer next season.
There was still fun and games before the final whistle. Ivory Coast fall-guy Didier Drogba was booked for handball by referee Mr Dowd and when he was substituted just before the end he went off to a cacophony of boos. Robert Huth replaced him but he too was cautioned for the same offence.
There was still time for Tal Ben-Haim to be sent off and he now misses the game against FA Cup semi-finalists West Ham on Easter Monday.
Ben-Haim was initially booked for a foul on Chelsea sub Arjen Robben in the 84th minute and there was clearly some lingering resentment from a challenge on him at Stamford Bridge as the Israeli weighed in to Michael Essien and was promptly dismissed.