In 1462, George took Samokalako (Kutaisi and the surrounding area) from its owner, a royal kinsman, Bagrat for his support to the rebel prince Qvarqvare II Jaqeli, a powerful atabeg of Samtskhe. In 1463, Bagrat allied himself with other oppositionist royal subjects, dukes ("eristavi") of Mingrelia, Guria, Svaneti and Abkhazia. The rebels met and defeated the king at the Battle of Chikhori. Subsequently, the king lost all western provinces and Bagrat was crowned king of Imereti. In 1465, George attempted to subdue Qvarqvare II of Samtskhe, only to be attacked and taken prisoner at Lake Paravani. The situation was immediately exploited by Bagrat of Imereti, who seized control of Tbilisi and declared himself king of Georgia. Atabeg Qvarqvare, who now considered Bagrat as his major rival, freed George. The latter, unsuccessful in his attempt to recover his crown, was only able to establish himself as a separate king in the easternmost province of Kakheti. There, he substantially reorganised the administration, subdividing the kingdom into much smaller and easily controllable "samouravo" (counties) instead of autonomous "saeristavo" (duchies). Unlike to other Georgian polities, he put ecclesiastic lords (bishops of Bodbe, Alaverdi, Rustavi, and Nekresi), generally more loyal to the crown than secular nobles, in charge of special military districts, "sadrosho".