TN wrote on 07/20/10 at 06:52:09:
In LeeRoth's variation, White should play 6.Nf3 e5 7.d5 Nc5 8.Nd2 or 6.Be3 e5 7.de5 de5 8.c5. If Black tries 6...0-0 then a 6.Bg5 player can still play 7.Bg5, albeit with the king's knight committed to f3.
I'm not sure I follow:
After 5.h3 Nbd7 6.Nf3 e5 7.d5 Nc5 the move 8.Nd2 looks like a mistake that buries the Bc1. In my database, almost everyone plays 8.Qc2 here.
After 5.h3 Nbd7 6.Be3 e5 the capture 7.dxe5 seems fine for Black and, again in my database, almost everyone plays 7.d5 here.
And after 5.h3 Nbd7 6.Be3 0-0, I don't think you meant to suggest 7.Bg5 as that just wastes a tempo.
I should, perhaps, note that Like TicklyTim, I'm still exploring these lines and haven't decided whether to start with 5.Nf3 or 5.h3. So the purpose of my earlier post wasn't to suggest that one is better than the other, but just to point out that there are some differences between them.
I'll also say that I'm not too worried about these early Nbd7 lines because in practice nearly everybody plays ..0-0 first. I do note that if you start with 5.Nf3 and someone plays 5..Nbd7 against you, you don't necessarily have to play 6.h3. You can try 6.e5!? dxe5 7.dxe5 Ng4 8.e6 instead (or even play 6.Be2, but that's a whole different system to learn).
Another difference that I did not mention above, but Breutigam also notes, is that after 5.h3, if Black so desires, he can dispense with 5..Nbd7 and play 5..e5 immediately. The point is that 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Qxd8 Kxd8 is fine for Black. Breutigam notes that White normally tries to play f4 in these types of positions, but here, with h3 already in, f4 can be met with Nh5, aiming at g3. And, of course, if White chooses 6.d5, then something like 6.. Na6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Be3 Nc5 transposes to the position I gave above.